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Final Results (PDF)
TUESDAY (April 17) RECAP -- Missouri State captured the 2018 MVC Women’s Golf Championship and will represent the MVC in the NCAA Regionals. It marks the fourth team title for MSU and second-straight after leading from wire-to-wire on the par-72, 6,018-yard layout on Sand Creek Station Golf Course in Newton, Kan. Missouri State fired a three-round 305-295-287—887 to win the title by 14 strokes.
The Bears were led by medalist Rachel Johnson who fired a three-round 75-73-67—215 to eclipse runner-up finisher Frankie Saban of Bradley (78-68-73—219). The 67 established a school single-round record for MSU and tied a conference record for lowest 18-hole score.
Two other MSU golfers joined Johnson on the 10-golfer All-Conference team – Stine Pettersen and Verena Gimmy. Gimmy was voted as the league’s Golfer of the Year by a vote of the head coaches. Other specialty award winners included Moyea Russell of Southern Illinois (Newcomer of the Year) and Ashley Childers of Missouri State (Elite 17 Winner, given to the best finisher with the highest GPA. Childers has a 4.0 in Operations Management). Gimmy is the third Missouri State golfer to earn the league’s top individual honor, while Russell became the first SIU golfer to take home Newcomer of the Year honors (it’s the 12th year for the award). MSU’s Kevin Kane was voted Coach of the Year – it marks the sixth time he’s won the honor, more than any coach in MVC history.
UNI took second place in the team standings after starting Tuesday’s round tied for 6th. The Panthers shot a team-best 285 on the final day and had a 901 total. The second-place finish ties the best finish in UNI history (UNI last finished second in 2002).
All-Conference Team
Verena Gimmy, Missouri State
Stine Pettersen, Missouri State
Rachel Johnson, Missouri State
Taylor Ledwein, Bradley
Ally Scaccia, Bradley
Frankie Saban, Bradley
Alice Ho, Southern Illinois
Hanna Netisingha, Southern Illinois
Jessie Staed, Loyola
Elayna Bowser, Loyola
Elite 17 Award Winner – Ashley Childers, Missouri State
Newcomer of the Year – Moyea Russell, Southern Illinois
Golfer of the Year – Verena Gimmy, Missouri State
Coach of the Year – Kevin Kane, Missouri State
DAY TWO (Monday, April 16) RECAP -- Teams played under kinder weather conditions on Monday with mild winds, sunny skies and temperatures that approached 60 degrees. Missouri State holds a three-stroke advantage in the team standings after the Bears fired a round of 295 on Monday. Southern Illinois, though, had the best round of any team, as the Salukis shot a 291 to climb into second place with a 36-hole 312-291--603. Three other league schools eclipsed the 300 barrier, including Bradley (294), Illinois State (296) and UNI (296).
Indiana State, which was in second place after 18 holes, slipped to third (610), while Bradley (614), Illinois State (615), UNI (616), Loyola (616) and Drake (619) are all within striking distance entering Tuesday's final round. Valparaiso is in ninth place (638) and Evansville is in 10th (651).
Bradley's Frankie Saban vaulted into the individual lead as she fired a tournament-low 68 in the second round. Her 78-68--146 is two strokes better than Missouri State's Rachel Johnson (75-73--148). Three golfers are tied for third place with identical 149 scores, including Southern Illinois' Hanna Netisingha (77-72), Missouri State's Stine Pettersen (79-70), and Loyola's Jessie Staed (75-74). Johnson continues to lead the 50-player field with the most pars, collecting 28, while Indiana State's Sierra Hargens is second-best in that statistical category, with 27 pars. Stine Pettersen (MSU) Paige VanDyk (UNI) and Saban (BU) have the most birdies, with seven apiece. While Taylor Ledwein has the tournament's only eagle.
Notably, the 68 in Round 2 by Saban tied for the third-lowest 18-hole score in league history, trailing only the 67 carded by Alisha Matthews of Southern Illinois (2012) and Kayla Katterhenry of Evansville (2016).
DAY ONE (Sunday, April 15) RECAP -- Battling 37 degree temperature and 25 mph winds, the Missouri State women's golf team took on day one of the MVC Championship in Newton, Kan. The reigning MVC Champs proved dominant through the course in round one, leading the pack of 10 teams with 305. The Bears are led by Verena Gimmy and Rachel Johnson each firing off a three-over par 75 as part of a five-way tie for first. Loyola's Jessie Staed, Valparaiso's Kayla Krueger and Indiana State's Thilda Staubo also share the individual lead.
Missouri State, voted second in the pre-tournament poll with four first-place votes, took a four stroke lead over Indiana State (309). In third with 310 is Loyola, followed by Southern Illinois (312), Drake (317), and Illinois State (319). Pre-tournament favorite Bradley is tied for seventh with Northern Iowa, each team shooting 320. Valparaiso (322) and Evansville (332) wrap up the field in ninth and 10th place respectively.
Individually, Madison Chaney of Evansville and Sam Paulak of Drake led the field by notching four birdies in the first round. Indiana State's Thilda Staubo and Southern Illinois' Alice Ho followed closely behind with 3 birdies each. MSU's Johnson led the 50-player field with 14 pars. Hole No. 2 played the easiest of any hole on the course, with 11 birdies and a scoring average (relative to par of +0.14). The hardest hole was the par-4 393-yard No. 1, which failed to produce a single birdie while players averaged a +1.02 score, relative to par.
PRE-SEASON POLL/STORY
Bradley, which last won an MVC women's golf crown in 2006, is the favorite to win the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Golf Championship, according to a pre-championship poll of league coaches. In addition to Bradley, Missouri State, UNI (both received first-place votes in the poll) and Southern Illinois figure to be among the leading contenders at this year’s championship, which will be played at Sand Creek Station in Newton, Kan. The championship begins Sunday, April 15, and concludes Tuesday, April 17. Teams will play 18 holes each day. The MVC's 54-hole tournament champion will advance to the NCAA Regionals.
The Braves will look to deliver on a consistent trend in recent Valley history in which the pre-championship favorite has won; notably 11 of the last 15 pre-championship favorites have won the title. The pre-championship favorite Braves have four all-time team titles in MVC women's golf, and only three schools have more (Illinois State, Southern Illinois and Wichita State).
2017 REVIEW: Missouri State earned its third all-time league women’s title with a wire-to-wire run at the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Championship, contested at the par-72, 6,214-yard layout at the Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The Bears fired a three-round 302-314-297—913 to outdistance pre-championship favorite Wichita State (933) by 20 strokes. The 20-stroke margin was the largest at an MVC women’s golf championship since 1996 when Tulsa earned a 47-stroke victory. Missouri State had previously claimed MVC crowns in 2001 and 2012.
Kayla Katterhenry of Evansville established a league record by winning her 11th career tournament, and she became the first UE golfer to earn medalist honors at the MVC Championship after firing a three-round 72-72-74—218. Marissa Uradomo of Indiana State and Verena Gimmy of Missouri State tied for runner-up honors, as each had a 54-hole total of 222. Katterhenry and Uradomo completed their MVC careers having earned first-team all-MVC honors four times each (joining six others who previously accomplished the feat).
2018 PREVIEW: Bradley enters the tournament as the league's top-rated team in the GolfStat team head-to-head team ratings. Missouri State is second in the ratings, while UNI and Southern Illinois follow close behind. MVC teams combined for nine team championships this year, including three each by Loyola and Southern Illinois. Missouri State's Gimmy, meanwhile, sits atop the league's head-to-head standings, and has the league's best stroke average at 75.19 through 27 rounds -- it's the 15th best individual single-season stroke average on record in MVC history. She has two medalist wins this year. She's joined by teammates Rachel Johnson and Stine Pettersen among the league leaders in stroke average. Bradley has a pair of MVC Golfer of the Year candidates, including Taylor Ledwein and Ally Scaccia, both are among the league best in stroke average this year at 76.19 and 76.15, respectively. Picked third in the poll, UNI has had leadership from a newcomer, Emily Snelling, who is fresh off medalist honors in the Indiana State Spring Invitational this past week. Other individuals who figure to be in the mix for top league honors include Southern Illinois' Hanna Netisingha (76.18 stroke average), Loyola Chicago's Elayna Bowser (76.47), Indiana State's Thilda Staubo (76.37), and Illinois State's Kiley Walsh (77.59).
Sand Creek Station plays on the town’s railroad history, and many holes are, as they say in Scotland, “hard by the cinders,” continuing a century’s old tradition of golf bordering railways. The course has also recreated the famous Road Hole green on our 16th hole, which once sat adjacent to a railway. Another replicates the famous “Redan” from North Berwick, Scotland. Other holes have characteristics of early American holes, which also fronted railways at one time. The 12th hole for example, is similar to the fourth at the National Golf Links of America, one of our early classics. The ninth features a small platform green; typical of early American courses while the green on the par 5 fourth has some wild contours, seldom built these days. Despite playing on these old style characteristics, the course is thoroughly modern in other ways. The 10th is a long par 5 requiring negotiation of water on all three shots. The 18th is a long par 4 requiring a tee shot to a narrow fairway between flanking fairway bunkers. On the front nine, the long sixth may be the toughest hole.