This week's Missouri Valley Conference golfers of the week include Evansville's Jane Grankina, Belmont's Sloane Biddle, and Murray State's Trey Wall.
MVC WOMEN'S GOLF
All 11 MVC women's golf programs were in action for a final event prior to the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference Golf Championship (April 19-21) at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill. Three MVC teams (Belmont, Murray State, Southern Illinois) were at the Jan Weaver Invitational in Murray, Ky. Indiana State hosted its Spring Invitational in Terre Haute, which included league schools Evansville, UIC, Indiana State, and Valparaiso. Bradley and Illinois State competed at the Boilermaker Spring Classic in West Lafayette, Ind., on Monday & Tuesday. And Drake and UNI rounded out their spring schedule at the Stampede at the Creek in Omaha, Neb., on April 13-14.
Murray State (Jan Weaver Invitational), Drake (Stampede at the Creek), Evansville (Indiana Spring Invitational) all took home team titles, while UE's Jane Grankina earned medalist at the ISU event.
Evansville junior Jane Grankina and the Purple Aces women's golf team swept the individual and team championships at the Indiana State Invitational on Monday at the Country Club of Terre Haute. Evansville led the field by two strokes entering the final day. The Aces combined for a 298, the lowest team round of the tournament, to defeat Indiana State by 15 strokes. UE completed the event with a 604 while the Sycamores finished with a 619. Grankina, who was tied for the lead following the opening round, registered the low sore of the day to win by three shots. Posting a 1-over 73 in the final 18 holes, Grankina completed the event with a 147. She bested Renae Jaeger of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods by three. Indiana State's Yang Tai led the way for Indiana State, tying in fourth place with a score of +8 (152, 76-76). The senior shot even on par-5 holes on the course, tying for third best. UIC's team took third, while Monserrat Ramirez delivered the team's best individual round of the tournament, firing a 76 (+4) in round two that included a back-nine of 35 (-1), the lone under-par nine holes recorded by any Flame across both rounds. She finished the tournament at 151 (+7) on rounds of 75-76. Valpo senior Taylor Skibinski closed out a top-10 finish in the tournament field. Skibinski finished with a 36-hole score of 155, two strokes away from cracking the program's all-time top 10 in terms of 36-hole tournament score.
Murray State tied for first at the Jan Weaver Invitational at par-72, 6,109-yard Miller Memorial Golf Course as the team set three program records during the event. The Racers set new records for team single-round score with a 280 during the second round of the event, team 36 hole score with a 566, and team 54 hole score with a 863. Elin Tynan and Ella Scherer finished tied for fifth and completed the weekend at even par across three rounds. SIU delivered a record-breaking performance, surging to a third-place finish against a competitive field. Southern Illinois climbed two spots on the leaderboard during the final round, powered by the lowest team round (285) in program history. Individually, Calli Smith led the way with a seventh-place finish. Belmont's team finish was fourth, but sophomore Sloane Biddle (Old Hickory, Tenn.) was the top MVC individual finisher at the event. She took fourth place on the individual leaderboard with a three-round 73-71-71=215. It marked her fifth top-5 finish of the season, and she now has six top-10 showings. Biddle has eight rounds of par or better this year, which ties the program record for a season. Her 73.3 average lead the Bruins, and she's had no worse than a a top-15 finish in every event this season.
Drake took home the team title at the Stampede at the Creek. The Bulldogs won the 10-team tournament by four strokes over host institution Omaha with a final score of 906 (295-309-302). The victory marked the first outright team title for the Bulldogs since the Battle at Boulder Creek in February of 2020. Drake had a trio of competitors finish inside the top-10 on the leaderboard and were led by Amber Henson. The senior tallied a solo third place result after carding a 54-hole total of 225 (70-83-72). Henson, along with her teammate Kate Connolly, led the field in scoring average on the par-3's at 2.92 and she was second in the field in par-4 scoring average at 4.17. UNI tied for seventh at the event. Senior McKenna Mallow led the way for the Panther women in a four-way tie for 19th place, shooting a 233 (+17). Mallow recorded a new low-round score of 76 in the third round, while sinking three birdies.
Bradley and Illinois State competed in the competitive Boilermaker Spring Classic. ISU's third-round 307 gave them a three-round score of 927, as the Birds pushed ahead of MVC foe Bradley, and finished just outside of 10th place. Illinois won the event with an 870, while tournament host Purdue (873), USF (891), Princeton (897), and Minnesota (900) rounded out the top five. Elise Fennell was ISU's top overall finisher in the event, as her final-round 75 pushed her to a 223 54-hole score, tied for the 16th-best individual score in the tournament field. She had nine birdies in the tournament, including two in the final round, while her par-three scoring average (2.92) was tied for the third-best in the tournament field. Allison Pacocha led Bradley on the Ackerman-Allen course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex, placing tied for 35th at 230.
MVC MEN'S GOLF
Four MVC men's golf programs (Belmont, Evansville, Murray State, and Valparaiso) competed in the Bluegrass Collegiate Invitational in Lexington, Ky. Murray State was the top finishing MVC team at the event, taking fifth place in the team standings with a three-round 297-299-303=899. Trey Wall led the Racers on the individual leaderboard with a tie for ninth. He shot 70-76-72=218 at the par-71, 7,013-yard layout on the University Club of Kentucky in Lexington, Ky. Evansville was seventh on the team leaderboard. Omar Khalid and Julian Kiessling finished in the top 15 for the Aces. Khalid finished in a tie for 12th place with a 220. After opening with a 70 on Monday, he posted scores of 72 and 78 to complete the event. Belmont took 12th. Leading the way for the Bruins was junior Chris Harpum. The Kentucky native tied for 34th place at 226. He shot rounds of 76 and 75 on Tuesday. Valparaiso's Rob Politza posted the team's top score in the final round with a 4-over 75, his best round of the tournament. He led the team for the event with a 228 and finished tied for 40th of 92.
The Salukis men's golf team finished 15th at the Robert Kepler Invitational in Ohio, one of its final two events before the MVC Championship. The team shot 13 over par. Anthony De Schutter led the team with a 1-over-par performance, finishing tied for 38th overall.
Bradley finished the regular season strong, placing fourth at the Arkansas State Spring Invitational. Carter Stevenson led all Braves in Jonesboro, placing tied for 16th. Stevenson carded a 70 in the tournament's first round and two 74s in the final two rounds, finishing with a two-over-par 218. Stevenson has logged finishes of 16th or better in each of the team's last five tournaments, including all four this spring.