NORMAL, Ill. -- After being delayed a day because of rain, the 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Women's Golf Championship finally got underway Saturday and Bradley finished fifth in the 10-team, 36-hole event with a two-round total of 628 at the par-71 Weibring Golf Course.
Junior Kelly Amundrud (Calgary, Alberta/Strathcona Tweedsmuir) was named the 2010-11 Missouri Valley Conference Golfer of the Year and was joined on the all-conference team by senior Breanne Neufeld (Coaldale, Alberta/Kate Andrews). The pair are the eighth and ninth two-time all-conference selections in program history and the Braves had two all-league players for the second consecutive year. Bradley was one of four teams to have two all-conference performers.
The tournament was originally scheduled as a two-day 54-hole event with 36 holes on Friday and 18 on Saturday but extensive rain in the Normal, Ill., area postponed all of Friday's rounds and limited the event to 36 holes. It was the first rain-shortened conference championship since the 1996 event in Carbondale, Ill., was also shortened to 36 holes.
Amundrud was Bradley's top finisher in the event, tying for sixth as she tied the Bradley season record for top 10 finishes with her seventh of the year. She followed up an opening round 79 with a two-over par 73 to finish eight shots behind individual medalist Brianna Cooper of Illinois State (144) with a two-round score of 152. Amundrud's pair of sub-80 rounds pushed her school season record for rounds in the 70's to 27.
Neufeld capped off her stellar collegiate career with rounds of 79 and 74 to finish one shot behind Amundrud in a tie for eighth at 153. She broke her own school record for season stroke average, finishing the year with a 75.76 average to edge out Amundrud (75.79) for the season mark. Neufeld who is second in school history with 71 career rounds in the 70's, closed out her career third in career stroke average at BU with a 78.16 average round.
The Braves rebounded from a morning round 325 to card 303 in the afternoon and move up into fifth in the final team standings, thanks in part to senior Caitlin Deeken's (California, Mo./California) second round 75. Deeken tied for 18th in the field at 157 (82-75) and finished out her collegiate career tied for seventh in career rounds in the 70's (43). She ended her career 13th in school history with an 81.29 career stroke average.
Junior Erin Gorman (Rockford, Ill./Boylan) carded rounds of 85 and 84 to tie for 43rd at 169 in the rain shortened event, while sophomore Natalie Wisniewski (Williamsville, N.Y./South) rounded out play for the Braves with scores of 91 and 81 as she finished in 48th at 172.
Tournament-host Illinois State won its fourth consecutive team title with a two-round total of 597, finishing 19 shots ahead of second-place finisher Wichita State (616). Missouri State was one shot behind the Shockers in third (617), while Drake was 10 shots out of the top three in fourth at 627.
Bradley trailed the Bulldogs by one shot, placing fifth (628) and the Braves beat out sixth-place Southern Illinois (633) by five shots. Northern Iowa and Indiana State tied for seventh (634) with Creighton (9th - 663) and Evansville (10th - 680) rounding out the field, respectively.
