KANSAS CITY – All-MIAA senior Jennifer Lawson took home second place as an individual, while the Truman women passed Missouri Western on the final day to also capture a second place finish. The Bulldog men, led by all-MIAA senior Chris Kovach's second place finish, concluded their event in sixth.
Men's Day Two Recap (Results):
Senior Chris Kovach and junior Nik Bentzinger stamped their places in the top-ten, as the Truman men's golf team capped its 2010-2011 team season with a sixth-place finish at the MIAA Championship. The Bulldogs posted a three-day total of 946, one shot ahead of Southwest Baptist and 11 strokes behind Missouri Western.
Kovach (St. Louis, Mo., Oakville) finished the three-round event with a 76 to finish tied for second in the individual race at 5-over par, while Bentzinger (St. Louis, Mo., Lutheran South) capped his tournament with a 78 to place seventh overall at +9. As a unit, the Bulldogs shot 324 on a final day marred by wet weather and gusty winds at Tiffany Greens.
Sophomore Zach Burklund (Omaha, Neb., Millard South) shot his lowest round of the tournament on Tuesday, turning in an 81, while fellow sophomore Jake Hanrahan (Fulton, Ill., Fulton) counted the fourth team score with an 89. Senior Andy Herington (Milan, Mo., Milan) wrapped up his career with a 92.
Central Missouri won the team event with a score of 889 with the squad's No. 1 player, Matt Miller, capturing medalist honors by eight strokes at 3-under par.
It was a day filled with second-place ties for Kovach, as he also locked in a tie for second in the season-long MIAA points race by finishing with 22.5. UCM's Miller won conference player of the year honors with 28 total points through the league's four sanctioned events. After earning all-conference honors last season, Bentzinger came up just short with a 14th-place season-long finish.
For the season, Truman finished seventh out of nine MIAA teams with 17 total points. The Bulldogs finished four points behind SBU but cruised past Lincoln (10) and Pittsburg State (7).
The NCAA unveils its 2011 men's golf tournament field on Friday, April 22, with Kovach looking to secure an individual bid after finishing the regular season with the current top spot of all MIAA players not affiliated with a regionally-ranked school.
The men's golf program, which began in 1933 and won 13 MIAA championships, is being discontinued after the 2011 academic year. The team was dropped in the winter of 1977 but brought back in 1979, beginning one of the best runs in program history under head coach Bill Richardson. From 1984-1991, Truman/Northeast men's golf won eight straight conference titles and finished as high as 12th in the nation during that span. The squad has produced two all-Americans with J.P. Velasco earning the award four times (1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989) and Dan Mulhearn (1989) once.
Women's Day Two Recap (PDF Results):
The Truman women's golf team jumped one spot to second after the final round of the 2011 MIAA Championships on Tuesday afternoon, posting a two-day team score of 706.
Senior Jennifer Lawson (Mahomet, Ill., Mahomet-Seymour) closed out the regular season with a second-place finish as an individual after posting the lowest round of the day at a wet and cold Tiffany Greens Golf Course. Lawson fired an 80 to back up her round one 81 to take second place on her own. With the second-place finish, Lawson was named to the all-tournament team after earning all-MIAA honors through a vote by league coaches.
Junior Liz Lestmann (St. Louis, Mo., Nerinx Hall) posted her second straight 87 to finish tied for eighth, while sophomore Kathryn Hogan (St. Louis, Mo., Villa Duchesne) wrapped up her tournament with a 97 to finish tied for 16th overall. Sophomore Lynn Dreisilker (Wheaton, Ill., St. Francis) turned in a 96 on day two after a 93 on Monday to finish 22nd, and sophomore Jessica Tomash (Swisher, Iowa, Prairie) carded a 101 to finish in 28th place.
The University of Nebraska-Omaha, ranked 16th in the nation and ninth in the region, won the event with a team score of 652. Danielle Suponchick captured medalist honors with her two-day total of 157.
Lawson will now await word from the NCAA selection committee on April 25th concerning a potential regional individual bid. The Bulldogs as a team finished the season with two team titles and three additional second-place finishes.
Day One Recap:
The 2011 MIAA Golf Championships have closed the book on the first day at Tiffany Greens Golf Club in Kansas City, and both Truman teams find themselves in the middle of the packs heading into Tuesday's final round.
The Bulldog men bounced back from a first round 322 to rocket past three squads into fourth with a second round 300. Meanwhile, the Bulldog women sit third after their first round 346.
The men circled the course twice for 36 total holes on day one, while the women played 18. Both will play 18 holes on Tuesday to wrap up the regular season.
Men's Day One (PDF Results):
The Truman men's golf team went pin-seeking on Monday afternoon in the second round of the MIAA Championships, as the 'Dogs put up their second-lowest round of the season with a 300 to jump to fourth in the team standings.
Junior Nik Bentzinger went under par for the second time in three rounds by shooting a 1-under par 71 to sit 6th overall at +3 (76-71) for the event. Senior Chris Kovach nearly matched him, carding a 1-over par 73 to go with his 72 earlier in the day. Kovach (+1) is tied for third in the individual race, just three shots back of Central Missouri's Matt Miller (-2) .
Senior Andy Herington rebounded from an 88 in the morning with a 75 in his second round to move into a tie for 30th, while sophomore Jake Hanrahan shaved five shots off his first round mark to shoot an 81. Sophomore Zach Burklund shot a 96 in the second round after carding an 89 in the morning.
Women's Day One (PDF Results):
Led by senior Jennifer Lawson's fourth-place 81, the Truman women's team sits third through day one of the 2011 MIAA Championships.
Through the first 18, Lawson is five shots back of leaders Amy Powell and Danielle Suponchick, both of team-leading Nebraska-Omaha. The Bulldogs recorded a 346 in round one, eight shots back of Missouri Western for second and three shots ahead of fourth-place Fort Hays (Kan.) State.
Sophomore Kathryn Hogan (85) and junior Liz Lestmann (87) finished second and third for the Bulldogs, with sophomore Lynn Dreisilker counting a 93 toward the team score. Sophomore Jessica Tomash shot a first-round 100.
