This week's Missouri Valley Conference golfers of the week include Valparaiso's Caleb VanArragon; Missouri State's Hampus Wijkstrom; Dasa Urbankova of UIC; and Chloe Tarkany of Belmont. Each won individual titles in their respective tournaments.
Valpo fifth-year senior Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn.) pulled away from the field with a dominant performance to take medalist honors at this week's Valpo Fall Invitational, hosted by the Beacons at the par-72, 7054-yard Sand Creek Country Club course in Chesterton, Ind. VanArragon shattered a modern program record for 54-hole tournament score in relation to par by finishing the event at 15 strokes under. He compiled a 201 (66-67-68) to top the 63-player field while battling back-to-back days of rainy and wet conditions. VanArragon finished the tournament 16 strokes clear of the closest competitor, runner-up Artemiy Yalovenko of DePaul. His record-setting performance helped Valpo hoist the team title despite the fact that two of the squad's top three golfers did not compete this week due to injury (Mason Bonn) and illness (Anthony Delisanti). Bradley and Evansville also competed in the event. The Purple Aces clinched the second position in the team standings with Valparaiso taking top honors by 13 strokes. Nicholas Gushrowski and Daniil Romashkin led the way for UE, tying for third on the individual side with 3-round totals of 219. The Braves, shooting a combined 899 (+35) came in behind Evansville and Valparaiso for third place. Bradley's Connor Hamm remained consistent throughout the tournament coming away with a seventh-place finish, shooting his best round of 71 (-1) since the Cotton Farm Intercollegiate last season.
Three men's golf programs were at the Grover Page Classic (Belmont, Missouri State, Murray State). Missouri State senior Hampus Wijkstrom cruised to a four-shot victory Tuesday (Sept. 19) to lead the Missouri State men's golf team to a runner-up finish and its second-best three-round score ever at the Grover Page Classic at Jackson Country Club. A senior from Saltsjobaden, Sweden, Wijkstrom fired a school-record 54-hole score of 202 and led wire-to-wire on rounds of 67-65-70. He entered the final round with a five-shot lead and was never challenged as he shattered the previous school record of 205 by three shots. That mark was previously held by Carter Lee in 2022 at the Loyola Intercollegiate.
As a team, the Bears tied for second with SIU Edwardsville in the 14-team field, eight behind tournament host UT-Martin. They posted 287-277-285--849, just one stroke shy of the school-record 848, which has been shot twice -- at the 2015 Austin Peay Intercollegiate and the 1999 SEMO/Drury Invitational. Presbyterian and Belmont rounded out the top five with 853 and 854, respectively. Sophomore Jack Schoenberger of Belmont was runner-up in the 93-player field with his three-round 71-66-69=206. It was his second consecutive top-two finish of the season and fourth top-five finish of his Belmont career. Murray State's Kamaren Cunningham was a big mover for the Racers in the final round as he was 4-under-68 to help him from from 38th place to 14th . His score line was 73-73-68=214 and his 68 was the low score of the final round in the field of 91 competitors to become the Racers' top finisher in the 54-hole event with a spot in 14th place. Cunningham was the second biggest mover in jumping up 24 places.
Behind a final-round 287 – ISU's lowest round of the three for the tournament – the Redbirds placed 15th overall at the 2023 Bearcat Invitational, as Will Troy carded a team-tournament-low 69 over the final 18 holes. The strong 17-team field at the tournament, including a dozen schools inside of the top-100 in last season's GolfStat end of season rankings was paced by Chattanooga who won the tournament with a three-round 838. Alex McCulla was the team leader for the tournament, finishing with a three-round 219. His final round saw him finish with two birdies and 13 pars, tying for 40th.
Two league men's golf programs (Drake, Southern Illinois) competed at the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Kansas State at Colbert Hills Golf Course (Par 72 | 7,525 yards) on Sept. 17-18. The Salukis finished with three players in the top-15 on the individual leader board, while posting the second best scores in the second and third round. SIU had a second-place finish with a team score of 852 (-12), only 5 shots back of K-State. Saluki Sophomore Edouard Cereto continued his red hot start to his Saluki career, as for the second consecutive tournament he finished in the top three, this week finishing tied for third with a final score of 208 (-8). He was the highest finisher again for SIU. The Bulldogs finished eighth as a team (299-291-292--882). Host Kansas State (284-273-290---547) held on to win its own event. Toby Webb (76-69-73--218) led the way for Drake tied for 22nd place while Nikko Ganas (72-75-72--219) was only one stroke behind him.
Five MVC women's programs (Belmont, Evansville, Murray State, Southern Illinois, and UNI) competed in the The Velvet earlier this week, contested on the par-72, 6,076-yard layout at the Country Club of Paducah. The Velvet Championship honors Murray State coaching great Velvet Milkman who retired in 2022 after launching the program in 1993 and guiding it for 29 seasons. Sophomore Chloe Tarkany (Scottsdale, Ariz.) of Belmont was 1st of 67 (won playoff over Payton Carter of Murray State as she birdied the first playoff hole). Carter carried a three-shot lead into the final round and posted a 78 and also had a 226. Tarkany fired a three-round 76-75-75=226 to earn her second career individual title. With the win, she becomes the fourth Belmont women's golfer to earn two career individual titles, joining teammate Delia Gibbs, Cameron Fish, and Lorie Warren. Belmont won the team title with a score of 921, edging Murray State by two shots; it is the program's 10th team championship in the Division I era and the fourth under Head Coach Olivia Jordan.
At The Velvet, UNI was third as a team. Anna Jensen led the Panther pack with a fourth place finish in Paducah, carding a 74 (+3) in both the second and third rounds to finish with a final score of 228 (+15) with nine birdies. Five Salukis placed in the top 30 of the tournament, with Janie Samattiyadeekul leading all SIU golfers with a score of 232. Posting scores of 78 in the final round, Allison Enchelmayer and Kate Petrova helped Evansville earn a sixth-place finish. Enchelmayer earned the top finish for the Purple Aces, tying for the 11th spot. Her 78 in the final round gave her a final score of 233.
UIC's Dasa Urbankova won the individual title at the Brittany Kelly Invitational, shooting a 211. On Tuesday she shot a -4 (68), the program record for lowest round under par. The victory is Urbankova’s first individual title at UIC. She is the seventh UIC golfer to capture an individual title and the first Flames golfer to win an individual title since Megan Tang won the Briar Ridge Invitational in Sept. 2022. Urbankova’s three day total of 211 broke her own program record by three strokes for lowest 54 hole total. Her second-round score of 69 Monday is tied for the second-lowest round in program history. Notably, UIC's Lia Thomas hit a hole in one Monday on the 13th hole. Valparaiso was led by Madison Keil in the third and final round of the 13-team, 81-player competition hosted by Ball State at the par-72, 6226-yard Players Club in Yorktown, Ind. Keil stroked a 73 (+1) on Tuesday, the best round by a member of the Beacons during the season so far. That helped her climb into the top 20 at t-20 with a 54-hole output of 228 (+12). Keil was joined at t-20 by teammate Anna Fay, who posted scores of 77 or better in each of her three rounds including a 77 (+4) to close out the event on Tuesday.