Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina's
Jake Peacock was today named the Southern Conference Men's Golf Freshman of the Year, while also collecting All-Southern Conference and SoCon All-Freshman team plaudits as chosen by the conference's head coaches and officially announced by the league office. Peacock was among 10 golfers selected to the all-conference team and one of five named to the all-freshman team – the only golfer in the league to be named to both honorary squads.
Peacock is the first WCU men's golfer to earn SoCon Freshman of the Year plaudits since the league started handing out that award in 1992. He is just the fourth Catamount – joining JT Poston in 2012, Tumi Kúld in 2019, and
Pierre Viallaneix in 2021 – to earn all-freshman team honors. Peacock is also the 14th different Catamount to earn All-SoCon plaudits since 1978 – and the second-consecutive WCU freshman to land on both the all-conference and all-freshman squads.
Peacock finished the 2021-22 season ranked ninth in the SoCon in scoring average with a team-best 72.03 – the fifth-best, single-season stroke average in WCU history. He paced the Catamount scoring side in 10 of the squad's 12 seasonal tournaments including scoring individual medalist honors in his collegiate debut at the season-opening EKU Intercollegiate. A product of Milton, Ga., Peacock matched a school record with a 10-under par 200 (67-67-66) at his first tournament, equaling the 200 fired by Dylan MacQueen in the fall of 2017.
Peacock rattled off three-consecutive Top Five finishes in the fall semester to open his career, closing the year with four Top 10 individual showings. In addition to the win at the EKU Intercollegiate, he also finished tied for fourth at the home JT Poston Invitational, third at the Carolina Collegiate Invitational, and tallied a sixth-place showing at Chattanooga's Battle at Black Creek. A combined 33 of his 34 rounds were carded in the 70s or better with eight rounds shot in the 60s over his freshman campaign and a team-best 18 rounds posted at par or better.
Through 34 rounds over 12 events, Peacock debuted on WCU's career stroke average chart at No. 2, just ahead of third-place Matt Cook (72.11 over 107 rounds, 2005-08) and only behind the program's all-time leader, Poston (71.73 over 135 rounds, 2011-15).
Western Carolina men's golf closed the 2021-22 season with three Top Five finishes and finished inside the Top 10 in 11 of its 12 seasonal tournaments. Paced by Peacock in ninth, the Catamounts had three golfers among the Top 30 individually in scoring average in the SoCon this season.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount men's golf and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountMGolf).
2021-22 All-Southern Conference Men's Golf Team
Player of the Year: Nick Lyerly, Gr., UNCG
Freshman of the Year: Jake Peacock, Fr., Western Carolina
Coach of the Year: Jake Amos, ETSU
2022 All-Southern Conference
Remi Chartier, R-So., ETSU
Archie Davies, R-So., ETSU
Mats Ege, R-Fr., ETSU
Jack Crosby, Sr., Furman
Ross Funderburke, Jr., Furman
Tobias Jonsson, Jr., Mercer
Nick Lyerly, Gr., UNCG
Paul Conroy, So., Chattanooga
Jake Peacock, Fr., Western Carolina
Harry Jones, So., Wofford
2022 SoCon All-Freshman
Algot Kleen, ETSU
Will Morlan, Furman
Brian Boles, Samford
Braedon Wear, Chattanooga
Jake Peacock, Western Carolina
