INA, Ill. – The Vincennes University Golf team closed out their 2024 Fall schedule Monday and Tuesday at the 2024 Rend Lake College Fall Invitational hosted at the Rend Lake Golf Complex.
The Trailblazers closed out the season strong with a second place finish as a team and three individuals placing in the top 10.
Freshman Landon Gardner (Danville, Ind.) led the way for the Trailblazers on the links, opening the tournament Monday with an even par 72 before coming back Tuesday, battling strong winds to a final round 78 for a tournament total of 150 and a second place finish overall.
Freshman Brock Naile (Trico, Ill.) was the second VU finisher in the top five, bouncing back from an opening round 77 to shoot a 75 on Tuesday to finish with a total of 152 to take fifth place on the leaderboard.
Freshman Kadin Gibson (Franklin, Ind.) was the third Trailblazer in the top 10 with a first round 75 and a final round 81 to take seventh place in the tournament.
Sophomore Alex Nealis (Olney, Ill.) was the next VU finisher, having a very consistent tournament with an opening round 80 and a 79 in Tuesday's final round to finish in a tie for 12th place in the tournament.
Freshman Parker Steininger (Vincennes, Ind.) rounds out the Vincennes scorers with an opening round 80 and an 82 in the second round to finish in a tie for 20th.
Freshman Matthew Mills (Boonville, Ind.) and sophomore Jackson Stone (Vincennes, Ind.) competed in the tournament as individuals, with Mills posting scores of 80 and 79 to tie for 12th overall and Stone coming in with an 89 on Monday and 87 Tuesday to finish 41st overall.
The Trailblazers as a team finished with a team score of 304 in Monday's first round and a team score of 313 on Tuesday, with a tournament team score of 617 and a second place finish overall.
"We had a strong tournament, finishing second in the eight team field but was naturally disappointed in not winning it," VU Hall of Fame Golf Coach Dennis Chattin said. "We were playing well in the first round and then really struggled on the finishing holes 17 and 18. We had the lead going into these two holes but our top four scorers were nine over in those two holes and lost the lead."
"The second day wasn't much better when we were seven over par on those two holes," Chattin added. "Those two holes literally cost us winning the tournament."
"Landon had a really good tournament, finishing second in the tournament and had the low score of even par 72 in the first round," Chattin said. "He was two under par going into 17 and 18 but bogied them both for an even par round."
"Brock Naile had a good tournament as well, finishing fifth in the tournament," Chattin added. "We had a great start in the second round but when the wind started blowing, we just didn't handle it very well. We had gusts of close to 30 miles per hour. I knew scores were going to go up with that wind but we didn't flight the ball down very well to score better."
VU closes out a very strong 2024 Fall season and will look to continue to build and improve on this early success as Vincennes now prepares for the Spring season in 2025.
TEAM RESULTS
VU (2nd) – 304, 313 – 617
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Landon Gardner (2) – 72, 78 – 150
Brock Naile (5) – 77, 75 – 152
Kadin Gibson (7) – 75, 81 – 156
Alex Nealis (T12) – 80, 79 – 159
Parker Steininger (T20) – 80, 82 – 162
Matthew Mills (T12) – 80, 79 – 159
Jackson Stone (41) – 89, 87 – 176