UNI men's golf preps for 2022 MVC Championships

UNI men's golf at MVC Championships
Country Club of Paducah | Paducah, Kentucky

Saturday, April 23 -- Practice Rounds
Sunday, April 24 -- Tee Times, beginning at 9:30 am CT (all teams off No. 1)
Monday, April 25 -- Tee Times, beginning at 9 am CT (all teams off No. 1)
Tuesday, April 26 -- Tee Times, beginning at 9:30 am CT (split tees)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The UNI men's golf team is set to compete in the MVC Championships that start Sunday.

UNI played in just four events in the spring heading into the championships. The Panthers were led by Griffin Parker, who averaged 73.08 in those 12 rounds with a low round of 67. His stroke average including the fall tournaments is the sixth-best in the MVC. Over 23 rounds, he averaged 73.22 and has one tournament title under his belt.

Parker was UNI top finisher in the 2021 championship with a 10th-place finish.

The 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Golf Championship is set for April 24-26. Teams will play 54 holes over three days at the par-72, 7,014-yard layout at the Country Club of Paducah, in Paducah, Kentucky.

Illinois State entered the spring season as the coaches top choice, and the Redbirds enter the championship as the top-rated MVC program in GolfStat's team rankings (121). Illinois State has one regular-season championship to its credit.

Drake (2) and Valparaiso (1) have also earned a team title during the 2021-22 campaign. Southern Illinois (160) follows ISU in the GolfStat rankings, with Valparaiso (161) right behind. The Salukis had the league's best team statistical ranking, with an average team score of 4.50 strokes over par. Valpo's average team score of 291.67 was the league's best.

UNI AT THE MVC CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Panthers have taken runner-up honors twice since joining the MVC in 1992. UNI was second in 2015 and 2001.

UNI was eighth at last year's championships:
Team scores: 312, 319, 318 (949)

T10 Griffin Parker 76, 79, 73 (228)
T28 Alex Pries 76, 80, 83, (239)
32 Tommy Doyle 78, 81, 82, (241)
T41 Carter Stochl 82, 86, 80 (248)
45 Ben Bermel 83, NA, 90 (173)

AROUND THE VALLEY

Junior Josh Kirkham emerged as Bradley's leader in the fall, pacing the Braves in each of their six fall outings. Owning a career-best 74.25 stroke average, Kirkham shot 75 or better in 12 of his 16 rounds, with a pair of sub-70 efforts this fall. Kirkham's season average would be the lowest by a Brave since 2018-19. Jacksonville transfer Aaeri Krishnan helped bolster the Bradley lineup in the fall, posting a 75.57 stroke average over Bradley's final three tournaments.

Drake's Tim Lim leads the Bulldogs. He was All-MVC and an MVC Men's Golf Scholar-Athlete Team member as a senior in 2021. Lim shared the Zach Johnson Invitational title Sept. 27-28 with North Dakota State as Lucas Scherf tied for second overall (208-69-71-68). And he placed third in the Early Yestingsmeier Match Play event Feb. 7-8 with match victories over Loyola and Dayton. Freshman Nikko Ganas won all three of his matches to take MVC Golfer of the Week honors. Drake has earned two team titles in 2021-22 so far.

Evansville opened its spring season last week. Michael Ikejiani recorded the lowest average last fall among those on the team who played over seven rounds. He registered a 76.22 average over the course of his nine rounds with a low of 71 coming in the opening 18 holes at the Alabama A&M Fall Invite. That event saw him come home in the 8th position. Isaac Rohleder completed the fall with a 76.86 stroke average while playing in all 15 rounds. Rohleder picked up a pair of top 17 finishes, including a tie for 16th at the Valpo Fall Invitational.

Last spring, Illinois State nearly overcame a 21-stroke deficit heading into the final round of the 2021 MVC Championship. The Redbirds gained 17 strokes overall in the round, but could not come all of the way back, taking runner-up at the championship. This past fall, Valentin Peugnet led the Redbirds in stroke average (73.7), and he had two top-10 finishes.

Coming off a 2021 season in which it captured first Missouri Valley Conference team title in program history; the Loyola Ramblers welcome back four members of the starting five from league meet, led by reigning MVC Individual Champion Devin Johnson, who posted a team-best 72.1 stroke average through 15 rounds of action during the fall. The Ramblers earned a pair of top-five finishes during the 2021 fall season, highlighted by a third-place effort at the Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate.

The Missouri State Bears started their spring season in early February. In the fall, MSU was led by senior Alex Locke and junior Max Kreikemeier, who finished 1-2 on the team in scoring average at 73.60 and 73.87, respectively. Both qualified for last summer's U.S, Amateur and Kreikemeier advanced to match play. He is the Bears' only returning all-conference performer, while Locke is a graduate transfer from Maryville University.

Southern Illinois' Matthis Besard has been at top form in the Salukis' last five events, finishing in the top 3 each time, with three individual titles. He won both the Zach Johnson Invitational and the Grover Page Classic in the fall. This week, Besard led the Salukis to a second place finish at the Savannah Harbor Invitational. Besard carded 15 birdies on the weekend and fired a season-best round of 64 (-8) to capture the individual title with a mark of 200 (-16) for the all-time low 54-hole score in SIU men's golf program history.

An all-conference honoree in each of his first two collegiate seasons, Caleb VanArragon of Valparaiso finished his fall season with five straight top-five finishes and was the individual runner-up or medalist in four of his six tournaments this fall. The reigning MVC Elite 17 Award winner and MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year has finished as the individual medalist or runner-up eight times in his collegiate career, including seven times in the calendar year of 2021. As a team, Valpo closed the calendar year of 2021 by finishing in the top five in 10 consecutive tournaments. Valpo boasted a pair of team runner-up finishes during the fall slate and three total during the calendar year. Valpo finished the 2020-2021 season with a team scoring average of 296.5, a mark that ranked second in modern program history and narrowly behind the 2014-2015 record of 296.2.

PRESEASON POLL

UNI was picked to finish seventh.

Illinois State
Valparaiso
Drake
Loyola
Southern Illinois
Missouri State
UNI
Bradley
Evansville

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