Behind tri-medalist Meaghan LeBlanc, Bradley won its third Valley title in five seasons by edging Illinois State by two strokes at the 2006 State Farm MVC Women's Golf Championship at Reflection Ridge Golf Club, April 17-18, in Wichita, Kan. The Braves shot a three-round 915, to Illinois State's 917, and earned the league's automatic berth into NCAA Regional competition in May.
For the fifth year in a row, a team from the Illinois I-74 corridor (ISU or BU) won the women's golf championship, this time it was Bradley, which also has titles in 1999, 2002, and 2003. ISU was the two-time defending team champion, having won its sixth and seventh team championships in 2004 and 2005. Notably, only three league programs have previously earned three women's golf titles in a five-year span (SIU from 1984-88; ISU from 1989-93; and Tulsa from 1994-96).
For the first time, however, the league had tri-medalists at the women's golf championship. As LeBlanc, Samantha Richdale of Illinois State, and Missy Linnens of Missouri State tied for the title with three-round 225's. It marked only the second time players shared the top honor. Richdale, who became the first-ever three-time MVC medalist, also shared the honor with Southern Illinois' Kelly Gerlach in 2004. In the only other tie for first after 54 holes, the league used a playoff for medalist honors, as Filippa Helmersson of Tulsa edged two TU teammates for the top award in 1996 after a three-way 54-hole tie.
LeBlanc, Linnens and Richdale were joined on the 10-person all-conference team by Dana Moening and Stef Nelson of UNI; Rikki Sobel and Bari Erais of Bradley; Hilary Anderson of Illinois State; Sally Hinton of Missouri State; and Catalina Guacaneme of Wichita State.
Bradley's Bo Ryan earned Women's Coach of the Year honors for the second time in his career.
The all-league honors for LeBlanc and Richdale marked their fourth in a row, as they became the third and fourth league players to win all-conference honors for four-straight seasons (Ann Vandermillen of Wichita State from 1986-89 and Illinois State's Jen Cully from 1988-91 were the others).
1 Bradley University 300 308 307 915 +51
2 Illinois State Univ. 303 304 310 917 +53
3 Southern Illinois U. 305 307 310 922 +58
4 Northern Iowa, U. of 310 308 311 929 +65
5 Wichita State Univ. 303 308 320 931 +67
6 Missouri State 311 303 321 935 +71
7 Evansville, Univ. of 318 327 317 962 +98
8 Creighton University 327 324 339 990 +126
T1 Meaghan LeBlanc, BU 72 77 76 225 +9
T1 Missy Linnens, MSU 74 73 78 225 +9
T1 Samantha Richdale, ILS 78 72 75 225 +9
T4 Dana Moening, UNI 75 79 73 227 +11
T4 Stef Nelson, UNI 73 74 80 227 +11
6 Rikki Sobel, BU 77 76 75 228 +12
7 Samantha Sutzer, SIU 73 77 79 229 +13
8 Ashlie Rose, ILS 76 78 76 230 +14
9 Kaitlin Troop, ILS 76 75 80 231 +15
T10 Hilary Anderson, ILS 74 79 79 232 +16
T10 Bari Erais, BU 80 77 75 232 +16
T10 Braidy Hood, SIU 80 79 73 232 +16
T13 Megan Bartlett, WSU 75 81 77 233 +17
T13 Sally Hinton, MSU 78 74 81 233 +17
T13 Christine Zoerlein, SIU 77 76 80 233 +17
T16 Helen Cuffe, UE 77 82 75 234 +18
T16 Catalina Guacaneme, WSU 77 74 83 234 +18
T18 Tara Goedeken, WSU 79 77 79 235 +19
T18 Nicole Lloyd, WSU 75 79 81 235 +19