Recent Denison University graduate and women’s golf student-athlete Megan Wong (Columbus, OH/Columbus School for Girls) has been selected as the recipient of the 2021 North Coast Athletic Conference Pam Smith Award.
A four-year member of the Denison women’s golf team, Wong ended her career on a high note, helping the Big Red capture their first-ever NCAC women’s golf title. Individually, she finished fifth at the 2021 conference championship series with a 36-hole score of 168, earning first-team All-NCAC honors for the second time in her career. As voted on by the league coaches, Wong was named the 2021 NCAC Women’s Golfer of the Year. She departs Denison with the single-round scoring record in program history, 69 (-3), which she set on Sept. 8, 2019, at the Ohio Wesleyan Fall Invitational. This past spring, Wong was recognized by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) as an All-Region Great Lakes selection and earned All-American Scholar distinction for the fourth time in her career. She was tabbed to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District team on July 8, which advances her to the Academic All-America ballot that will be released in August. Wong was a three-time NCAC Academic Honor Roll honoree and Denison’s 2021 female selection for the NCAC Scholar-Athlete Award.
A biochemistry major, Wong graduated summa cum laude from Denison with a 3.97 grade point average. She was inducted into the Denison University chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the Big Red’s inaugural class of the Chi Alpha Sigma National Scholar-Athlete Honor Society. Wong worked in Denison’s biology lab as a student researcher for two years, performing experiments that culminated in a senior research thesis. She also served as a teaching assistant in the chemistry department and as a Health Ambassador on campus during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wong interned with Nationwide Children’s Hospital and shadowed several medical specialists throughout her time as an undergraduate. In 2020, she served as the public relations officer for Denison’s Alpha Epsilon Delta (AED) pre-health club, while volunteering her time with Meals on Wheels. Wong also spent time as a volunteer with Big Brothers, Big Sisters and at the Grant Medical Hospital.
Awarded the 2021 Denison University President’s Medal, the highest accolade given out to any student, Wong also received the James T. Glerum, Jr. Presidential Award, which goes to the senior who has displayed superior athletic and academic accomplishments in addition to service that goes above and beyond to the University. For the third time in her career, she was selected as a Denison Top 50 Scholar-Athlete, while also being honored with the Asclepius and Philip F. Dye Memorial awards from the University’s biochemistry/chemistry department. The Departmental Fellow, received the Columbus Chapter of the American Chemical Society award during both her junior and senior years. In 2021, Wong was a co-recipient of the R.C. & E.M. Miller Health Science Scholarship and earned the Founders Scholarship throughout her four years at Denison.
Wong was one of six outstanding nominees considered by the selection committee. The other candidates included:
Elise Freeland, Softball, Wittenberg University
Caylee Hamilton, Women’s Swimming & Diving, Kenyon College
Molly Hutter, Women’s Soccer, The College of Wooster
Jaya Martin, Women’s Volleyball, Hiram College
Rebecca St. Germain, Softball, DePauw University
The NCAC Woman of the Year Award commemorates former Wittenberg women’s basketball Head Coach and Associate Director of Athletics Pam Evans Smith, who had a profound impact upon the athletes she coached and the students she taught over an illustrious career that spanned more than two decades. She was the architect of the women’s basketball program with the most wins and highest winning percentage in NCAC history through 2007. A 1999 Wittenberg Athletics Hall of Honor inductee, Smith earned seven NCAC Coach of the Year awards and compiled a 401-170 record after taking the reins of a struggling program prior to the 1986-87 season. She led the Tigers to eight NCAA Division III tournament appearances, twelve 20-win seasons, and 11 NCAC regular-season championships.
As the NCAC winner, Wong will be nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, one of the most prestigious honors the NCAA bestows. The award recognizes senior student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service, and leadership. Each NCAA conference, and independent institutions, can nominate one distinguished female student-athlete for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. The Woman of the Year selection committee will now meet to select the top 10 winners in each division. In September, the selection committee will then evaluate the 30 honorees and choose the top three in each division. Finally, the members of the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics (CWA) will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the Woman of the Year. The 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced later this fall.
NCAC Pam Smith Award Winners
2021 - Megan Wong, Denison
2020 - Sydney Kopp, DePauw
2019 - Hannah Orbach-Mandel, Kenyon
2018 - Julia Wilson, Kenyon
2017 - Ellie Crawford, Kenyon
2016 - Haley Townsend, Kenyon
2015 - Maggie MacPhail, DePauw
2014 - Paige Gooch, DePauw
2013 - Leah Sack, Kenyon
2012 - Alisa Vereshchagin, Kenyon
2011 - Katie Navarre, Denison
2010 - Sarah Shinn, Ohio Wesleyan
2009 - Tracy Menzel, Kenyon
2008 - Erin Gorsich, Denison