CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- For the fifth time this season all five players in the lineup shot in the 70's as the Bradley men's golf team carded a 297 Tuesday in the final round of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship to climb into fourth in the final team standings. The fourth-place finish was the highest finish for the Braves since placing fourth in the rain shortened 1995 MVC Championship in Des Moines, Iowa.
Bradley's final round 297 was tied for the third lowest round of the day and helped the Braves overtake Drake for fourth place in the final team standings with a 54-hole total of 908 at the par-72 Dalhousie Country Club. The 297 was the lowest round at the Valley Championship for BU since firing a 295 at the 2008 event.
Pre-championship favorite Wichita State ran away with the team title, finishing with a six-under par 858 to top second-place Illinois State (890) by 32 shots. Southern Illinois finished third overall at 896, 12 shots better than Bradley. The Braves edged Drake (5th - 909) by one shot and BU was three shots better than sixth-place finisher Evansville (911). Missouri State was five shots behind Bradley in seventh at 913, with Creighton (8th - 929) and Northern Iowa (9th - 931) completing the field, respectively.
Sophomore Danny Masrin (Palatine, Ill./Jakarta International) fired the low round of the day for the Braves with a one-over par 73, but junior Kyle Gunther (Dunlap, Ill./Peoria Christian) was the team's top finisher. Gunther's two-over par 74 helped him finish in a tie for 14th (227), while Masrin was one-shot back in a tie for 17th (228). The duo gave Bradley two players inside the top 20 of the final individual standings at the MVC Championship for the first time since 2010.
Fellow sophomore Seth Trolia (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour) joined Gunther as the only Bradley individuals to shoot all three rounds in the 70's and ran his streak of consecutive rounds in the 70's to nine with a final round 75. Trolia, who tied for 24th in the field at 229, finished the year with a team-best 75.88 season stroke average, which ranks 10th among Bradley season marks.
Junior Daniel Young (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) matched Trolia's third-round 75 with one of his own and finish in a tie for 29th (232). Junior Andrew Weisenborn (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) completed the team scoring for the Braves with a 79 Tuesday to finish in a tie for 34th at 238.
