This week's Missouri Valley Conference golfers of the week are Missouri State's Amy Phalaljivin and Wichita State's Ryan Spears.
WOMEN
Missouri State's Amy Phalaljivin took third in the Samford University Women's Intercollegiate in Oneonta, Ala. She fired a 69-76-75=220 to pace the Bears, who finished fourth as a team with a three-round 915.
Bari Erais was one of three Bradley women’s golfers to turn in career-low rounds as the Braves finished in a tie for seventh at the Samford Intercollegiate. Erais matched her career best round with a first round 70 and finished in a tie for seventh place. She is the only player in program history with three or more rounds of 70 or better. Senior Whitney Cox carded a career-best 71 in the second round and tied for 17th overall at 230. Freshman Caitlin Deeken fired a season-low 78 in the opening round.
Marisa Milligan, who joined the team in January and is Illinois State’s newest team member, posted back-to-back top-10 finishes in her debut week as a Redbird. At the Rio Verde Collegiate Invitational (March 7-9), Milligan tied for seventh following a three-round-total of 222 (74, 76, 72). Milligan then improved her standing later in the week, taking sixth at the Gainesville Shootout III (March 13-15) at the par-70, 5,907 yard Mark Bostick Golf Course. Milligan shot a 225 (75, 73, 77) while leading ISU to a fourth-place finish as a team.
Drake and UNI competed at the Diablo Grande Invitational, and the Bulldogs tied for fourth with Boston College. Olivia Lansing tied for seventh overall at 85-78-78=241. Molly Schemm led the Panthers this past weekend at the Diablo Grande Intercollegiate, hosted by Drake University in Patterson, Calif., tying for 15th place after firing a score of 247. The sophomore scored an opening round of 87 but continually improved her performance each day. She shot an 84 in the second and recorded a low round of 76 in the third.
Fueled by Top 10 individual performances from Breanne Smith and Kayley Bodine, the Indiana State Sycamores finished fifth at the El Diablo Intercollegiate held at the El Diablo Golf and Country Club, a par-72, 5.654-yard layout. The Sycamores followed up first day rounds of 317 and 331 with a final round score of 324 to complete the tournament with a total of 972 to finish fifth. Individually, Smith rounded out tournament play with a 78 as her total of 231 was good enough to share third place. Smith also carded an opening round 73 and followed that up with an 80 on the tournament's first day of play.
MEN
Wichita State was led by Ryan Spears at the Barona Collegiate Cup this week in Lakeside, Calif. Spears shot a three-round 70-70-68=208 to tie for fourth in the 60-golfer field on the par-72, 7,393-yard layout on the Barona Creek Golf Course. Wichita State took sixth place in the 12-team field.
Missouri State's Jay BcBride was the top Bear finisher at the UALR/First Tee Collegiate in Little Rock, Ark. McBride tied for eighth place on the par-72, 7,271-yard Chenal Country Club, while firing a 79-73-73=225 -- six strokes off medalist pace. The Bears took fifth place in the 15-team field. Meanwhile, Bradley's men's team was at the First Market Bank Intercollegiate as the Braves finished 18th. Creighton's Matt Kouri led the Bluejays to a second-place team finish at the GEICO Intercollegiate this week, taking fourth place individually. Kouri had a 73-68-80=221 to pace the Bluejays. And Drake was also in action last week, as sophomore Nick Shimon tied for 15th to pace the Drake golf team at the Diablo Grande Invitational Tuesday. He shot an 87-75-71=233 to lead the Bulldogs.
