BATON ROUGE – Four members of the LSU Women’s Golf team and their coach, Garrett Runion, were honored Wednesday as the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s All-Louisiana women’s golf team was announced.
Head Coach Garrett Runion was named the coach of the year as he led the Tigers to the NCAA Championship in Carlsbad, California for the sixth consecutive year. Runion is the only current league coach with an active streak of six straight years and the Tigers are just one of just eight Division I women’s teams to advance each of the last six years.
Also making the All-Louisiana team were Player and Newcomer of the Year Francesca Fiorellini, Freshman of the Year Ryleigh Knaub and seniors Taylor Riley and Elsa Svensson.
Fiorellini, who transferred to LSU from UCLA this past year, led the team in stroke average at 72.09 for 33 rounds. That included a school record round of 9-under 63 at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic in the fall of 2025. She had two top five finishes, three top ten finishes and 15 rounds of par or under. She finished T5 in the Golfweek event and posted 5-under par to finish T3 in the NCAA Waco Regional.
Knaub in her first season, was just behind Fiorellini in stroke average at 72.22 for 27 rounds, including a unique six round spring set of two tournaments in which she posted 70-70-70 for a 3-under 210 to finish fourth at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate and followed it up in her next event, shooting 69-69-69 for a 9-under 207 and a T3 finish in the ULM Invitational. The Debary, Florida native had 15 rounds of par or under.
Riley earned All-Louisiana honors in her final season, averaging 72.65, and finishing her career with a five-hole playoff win to advance to the final stroke play round of the NCAA Championship where she finished T30 in a field of 156. Riley had 17 of 37 rounds of par or under, including 68 and 69 in the Championships as she finished with the lowest stroke average of her career.
Svensson participated in 33 rounds and was the fourth Tigers to average under 73 at 72.70 strokes per round. Svensson had three top three finishes, taking second at the Illini Women’s Invitational (-9 207) and tied for third at Moon Golf Invitational (-2, 214) and at the Betsy Rawls Invitational (+3 219). She posted 12 rounds of par or under during the season.
The team was selected by the communications director for golf around the state.
2026 All-Louisiana Women’s Golf Team
Johanna Sjursen, ULM
Francesca Fiorellini – LSU
Ryleigh Knaub – LSU
Taylor Riley – LSU
Elsa Svensson – LSU
Women’s Player of The Year: Francesca Fiorellini – LSU
Women’s Freshman of The Year: Ryleigh Knaub – LSU
Women’s Newcomer of The Year: Francesca Fiorellini – LSU
Women’s Coach of The Year: Garrett Runion, LSU