Women's Golf | August 23

DeKALB, Ill. – The contract of Northern Illinois University women's golf coach Kim Kester has been extended through the 2024-25 season, NIU associate vice-president and director of athletics Sean T. Frazier announced Friday.
 
Kester, who begins her 10th season at the helm of the Huskie women's golf program in 2021-22, has seen the NIU record book rewritten during her tenure while building the team into a contender in the Mid-American Conference.
 
"I am very pleased that Coach Kester will continue to lead our women's golf program for the next four years," Frazier said. "The team has reached new heights under her leadership over the past nine seasons. She continues to bring in quality student-athletes who excel athletically and academically. I'm excited with the direction and confident that the future is bright for NIU women's golf."
 
The Huskies have posted top three finishes at each of the last four conference championship tournaments, the top placings in school history. NIU has won seven tournaments and recorded 12 runner-up finishes and seen the team scoring average mark lowered to a school record 300.9 following the 2020-21 season.  She was voted the MAC Co-Coach of the Year by her peers following NIU's second-place finish at the MAC Championships in 2021 as the Huskies held a one-stroke lead over nationally-ranked Kent State after the first round. The five lowest team scoring averages in school history have been posted over the last five seasons, and NIU's Top 10 18-hole and 54-hole scores all have come during the Kester era.
 
"I would like to thank Ryan Sedevie [Senior Associate Athletic Director and Sport Administrator] and Sean Frazier for continuing to believe in me and our program," Kester said. "I am very lucky to work alongside some of the greatest people in college athletics. The outpouring of support from donors and the Huskie faithful has been amazing. We are excited about the future of the NIU Golf programs that allows us to continue to build champions on the course and in the classroom."
 
Three newcomers join seven returnees on the 2021-22 NIU women's golf roster. Sophomore Jasmine Ly returns to campus after winning the Ontario Women's Amateur Championship earlier this week and played in the U.S. Women's Amateur for the second time over the summer. Upperclassmen Ahra Ko and Sofia Gomez Enriquez both rank in the Huskies' Top 10 for career scoring average with Ly poised to join that list after meeting the minimums rounds requirement this year.
 
The Huskies open the 2021-22 season on September 5-6 at the Redbird Invitational in Normal, Illinois.   
 
-- NIU --