Contest is the final tune-up before MVC Championship

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In its final tune-up before the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, the University of Evansville women’s golf team will play at the Jan Weaver Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

Hosted by Murray State, the tournament is scheduled to include 36 holes on Friday with the final 18 taking place on Saturday.  A shotgun start commences the action at 8:30 a.m. each day at Miller Memorial Golf Course.  Par is at 72 with the yardage coming in at 6,234.

The Purple Aces are one of 11 schools in the event, joining Austin Peay, Belmont, Fort Wayne, Murray State, North Carolina A&T, North Dakota, Samford, Southern Mississippi, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech.

UE is coming off one of its best performances of the season, taking second earlier this week at the Indiana State Invitational.  The Aces took second place behind Green Bay and led a group of four MVC schools in the event (UNI, Indiana State and Valparaiso).   Earning the highest finish for the Aces was Magdalena Borisova.  Scoring her first top five finish, the freshman carded a 78 in the final 18 holes to complete the tournament with a 152.  Her score was tied for fourth, just two strokes off the winning score.  One behind her was Allison Enchelmayer.  She registered Evansville’s low round of the day, totaling 75 strokes.  Her 3-over round lowered her final score to a 153, putting her 8^th in the final standings.

Tying for 14^th was Alyssa McMinn.  After shooting a 79 in Sunday’s round, McMinn completed the final 18 holes with a 78 to finish with a 157.  Mallory Russell and Caitlin O’Donnell tied for the 17^th position.  Russell tallied a 79 in each round while O’Donnell’s scores finished at 77 and 81.  Carly Frazier was second among the ten individuals.  Rounds of 81 and 80 saw her tie for 27^th with a 161.

EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The University of Evansville track and field teams will once again hit the road this weekend, as the Purple Aces will take part in the Jim Vargo Invitational hosted by Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky.  The meet will begin on Friday with field events beginning at 10 a.m. central time and conclude on Saturday with another day of competition beginning at 10 a.m. central.

For Evansville, it will mark the third-consecutive weekend in which the Purple Aces have competed outside.  Last weekend, Evansville set 15 personal-best marks, including a new school record in the hammer throw by junior Zach Dove (Princeton, Ind./Princeton Community) at Eastern Illinois’ Big Blue Meet.  Despite its name, last week’s meet only featured five teams.  That won’t be the case this weekend, as over 25 schools are expected to compete at Bellarmine.

“This meet will be a good challenge for us,” said UE track and field coach Don Walters.  “This is going to be a huge meet numbers-wise, and it should be a very good atmosphere to compete in.

“Our goal is still the same:  to set PRs.  It doesn’t matter the event or discipline, our goal is to always try to improve and get better.  We will see some very good individual competition this weekend.  Hopefully, that will help our athletes dig down even deeper and continue to get better.”

In addition to Evansville and the host Bellarmine Knights, the competing field is expected to include student-athletes from Aquinas College, Asbury, Centre, Campbellsville, Davenport, Eastern Kentucky, Ferris State, Illinois Springfield, Indianapolis, Kentucky State, Lawrence Tech, Midway, Morehead State, Ohio Christian, Purdue Northwest, Shawnee State, Spalding, Southern Indiana, Thomas More, Tiffin, Transylvania, Trevecca Nazarene, Wright State and Xavier.

Friday’s action will mainly consist of four field events for Evansville:  the pole vault, long jump, hammer throw and javelin.  The Purple Aces will compete in the “Open” events of every other discipline both track- and field-wise on Saturday.  While UE will not have a competitor in the 10,000-meter race this weekend, graduate student Anna Lowry (Taylorville, Ill./Taylorville) does own both the Jim Vargo Invitational and Owsley B. Frazier Stadium records in the event, as she posted a meet-record time of 34:44.38 last spring.

 Evansville, In.: Following a 3-game weekend on the road in Birmingham and Pensacola, the Thunderbolts finish up the 2021-22 regular season this weekend with a pair of home games against Vermilion County and Knoxville and a single road game in Knoxville before beginning the President’s Cup Playoffs next week. 

  Week In Review: 

  In a low-scoring contest in Birmingham on Thursday, the Thunderbolts fell 2-1 with a last-minute Bulls goal proving to be the game-winner.  Josh Adkins scored the lone goal of the night for Evansville.  Brennan Feasey’s two goals and assist led the Thunderbolts to a 4-1 victory in Pensacola on Friday, with Connor Chatham and Derek Osik adding a goal and assist each.  The Thunderbolts fell 4-2 to the Ice Flyers in Saturday’s rematch, with Scott Kirton scoring twice.  In goal for all three games was rookie goaltender Chris Janzen, who went 1-2 with a .913 save percentage, including a 31-for-32 save performance in the Friday victory. 

 The Week Ahead: 

The Thunderbolts host the Vermilion County Bobcats on Thursday and Knoxville Ice Bears on Friday, both games starting at 7:00pm CT.  For tickets, call (812) 422-BOLT (2658), go to EvansvilleThunderbolts.com, or visit the Ford Center Ticket Office.  The Thunderbolts wrap up the regular season this Saturday in Knoxville, starting at 6:35pm CT.  Saturday’s game can viewed online on SPHL TV with a paid subscription through HockeyTV, or can be listened to for free on the Thunderbolts Radio Network; via the Thunderbolts Mixlr Channel or at EvansvilleThunderbolts.com/fan-center/listen .  The SPHL President’s Cup Playoffs will begin next week, with Evansville’s opponent and schedule to be determined at this weekend’s conclusion.  The Thunderbolts will play on the road for the first game as soon as mid-week, and host the second game of the best-of-three series at Swonder Ice Arena on either Friday the 15^th or Saturday the 16^th at 7:00pm CT.  A third game, if necessary, will be on the road.