Pictured: Meghan Symonds (C’19). Photo courtesy of @SewaneeGolf on Twitter.
By Richard Pryor, III
Executive Staff
As I was preparing to write this article, I searched The Purple’s website to see if we had written about my top pick for athlete of the week at some point during her four years here. I was shocked to find out we hadn’t written about golfer Meghan Symonds (C’19) or literally any of her teammates, or her colleagues on the men’s golf team over the last six or so years.
Often on the course for Sewanee in her first season, Symonds was overshadowed by Emily Javadi (C’16), who, in her senior season, was the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Woman of the Year and was selected as part of the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Division III First-Team All-Americans.
With Javadi graduating in May 2016, Symonds quickly became the leading player on the team, leading the team to their first SAA Championship, where she was a co-medalist, and a 10th place finish in the 2017 D-III Championship.
In 2018, while the team did not make the D-III championship, Symonds was selected to compete individually, as she was second in the SAA. She finished 24th overall out of 130 golfers.
This season, the Cary, North Carolina, native has led the team to a current ranking of 25th in Division III. In GolfStat’s player rankings, Symonds, along with her teammates Mary Elizabeth Benton (C’19), Natalie Javadi (C’19), and Sophie Morrill (C’19), are all ranked in the top 150 players in Division III.
As she prepares to finish her final season, the Biology major leaves Sewanee with a sterling record – at least three appearances in the D-III championships and a long list of achievements to be proud of and for all Tiger fans to thank her for.