Mary Joiner

Western Kentucky women’s golfer Mary Joiner was named one of 14 recipients of the C-USA Spring Spirit of Service Award, the Conference USA office announced Wednesday.

The award is designed to recognize community service efforts of the league’s student-athletes, based upon significant public service, good academic standing and participation in their sport. The award is presented three times throughout the season, with Wednesday’s honorees representing spring sports baseball, golf, softball, tennis and outdoor track and field.

Joiner, a Franklin native, competed in all 11 events for the Lady Toppers as a sophomore and led the team with a stroke average of 73.9, the best single-season average in program history. She was named to the All-Conference USA First Team and was picked as C-USA Golfer of the Week three times in a five-week span.

Joiner finished the season with nine top-25 performances, five top-10s and four top-fives, including individual victories at the Spring Break Shootout and the EKU Colonel Classic. She has a program-record four individual wins in two seasons and has recorded five of the top seven 54-hole scores in program history.

She was also selected to the C-USA All-Academic Team for women’s golf. Joiner was one of 41 WKU student-athletes named to the C-USA Commissioner’s Academic Medalist list and was previously named to the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll. She has a cumulative GPA of 3.88 and is majoring in finance.

Joiner is a member of WKU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and also participates in community service initiatives as part of the “Hilltoppers with Heart” program. This season, Joiner participated in National Girls and Women in Sports Day and in Dance Big Red, a 12-hour fundraiser to support Norton’s Children’s Hospital.