This week's Missouri Valley Conference golfers of the week include Jane Grankina of Evansville and Tanner Dinnebier of UNI.
WOMEN'S RECAP
Wednesday’s final round of the Golfweek/Stifel Women’s Spring Challenge saw the University of Evansville women’s golf team record a 13th-place finish at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club. Leading the way for the Purple Aces was Jane Grankina. Posting her low score of the week, Grankina’s 73 gave her a 3-round total of 222. She finished in a tie for 18th. Middle Tennessee State took the team championship with an 876. They came in three strokes ahead of Coastal Carolina. Grace Engel of Samford and Katie Stephens from Charleston Southern tied for the individual win with final scores of 208.
MEN'S RECAPS
The UNI men's golf team wrapped up play at the WIU Intercollegiate on Tuesday, turning in their best finish of the season. The Panthers finished second in the field. Indian Hills CC claimed the team title with a score of 840 (-12), while their own Miles Bollinger took home the individual title shooting 207 (-6). Tanner Dinnebier led the Panthers with a career-best second-place finish in second place. Dinnebier shot 76-69-64=209 (-4) in three rounds, while carding a new best low round score of 64 (-7) in Round 3 and finishing with the second-lowest 18-hole score in program history (JD Pollard, 63, in 2023-24.) Dinnebier tallied 14 birdies over the two-day tournament, carding eight of those in Round 3.
A pair of MVC teams (Drake, Illinois State) competed at the Tiger Intercollegiate in Columbia, Mo. TJ Barger was Illinois State's top finisher at the event with a three-round score of 216 (67, 74, 75), as he had eight birdies and one of eight total eagles over his 54 holes, as he finished six shots over par. His par five scoring for the tournament, at 4.67, was tied for the fifth lowest in the field, as he tied for 35th overall in the tournament. Drake's Nate Spear had the best finish for the Bulldogs and tied for 51st. Spear tallied a total score of 8-over, 218 with the senior sitting at even par after 36 holes firing a 1-under, 69 in round one and a 1-over, 71 in round two. He then ended his tournament shooting an 8-over, 78 on Tuesday.
Four MVC men's programs (Belmont, Bradley, Murray State, Southern Illinois) competed at the Racer Intercollegiate, hosted by Murray State in Paducah, Ky., from April 6-7. Trey Wall of Murray State was the highest-finishing MVC individual at the event as he tied for fifth place with a three-round 70-70-74=214. SIU's Lucas Lasley, while completing as an individual, tied for 8th at 215. Bradley's Carter Stevenson and SIU's Anthony De Schutter tied for 18th on the individual leaderboard with 217. Conner Brown was the top finisher for Belmont (220, t27th).
Omar Khalid posted the top finish of the weekend for the University of Evansville men's golf squad at the Golfweek/Stifel Men's Spring Challenge at True Blue Golf Club. Completing the final round with a score of 71, Khalid posted a 3-round tally of 216, which tied him for the 18th finishing position.