DURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina Central University redshirt senior golfer Natasha Ainsley-Thomas has been named the NCCU Student-Athlete of the Month for March 2022 in recognition of her outstanding performance on the golf course and in the classroom.
 
Ainsley-Thomas led the NCCU women's golf team to numerous benchmark records over the course of the programs inaugural 2021-22 season. She paced the Eagles with a scoring average of 77.3 strokes per round for the season, including a season-low round of 70 in her collegiate competition.
 
For the season, Ainsley-Thomas had NCCU's best results in six different tournaments while accumulating five top-10 finishes. Her top results included medalist honors at the Hawk Spring Invitational and a runner-up showing in the Black College Golf Coaches Association (BCGCA) Houston Invitational, followed by back-to-back top-five results at the National Women's Collegiate Golf Championship and the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship.
 
Ainsley-Thomas was named team MVP and was an Eagle Excellence Award recipient in her only season at NCCU, while being selected to attend the Black Student-Athlete Summit.
 
Ainsley-Thomas, who hails from Whittlebury, Northamptonshire, England, played three seasons at McKendree University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science and sports performance, and captured all-conference honors multiple times before making a positive impact on the first season of NCCU women's golf.
 
Ainsley-Thomas boasts a 4.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA) as a graduate student at NCCU. She is on schedule to earn her master's in kinesiology with a concentration in athletic administration in the summer of 2022, and plans to either work for a nonprofit in Durham as a golf coach for underprivileged kids or as a Diversity, Inclusion and Equality Specialist for the University of Arizona.
 
For a complete list of award winners, visit NCCUEaglePride.com.