BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Vincennes University golf team got their first look at the course hosting the Mid-West Athletic Conference tournament in the spring this week, traveling to Crestwicke Country Club in Bloomington, Ill.

The Blazers came away with a fifth-place finish in the 36-hole, one day event, in a closely packed leaderboard.

VU sophomore Preston Broce (Indianapolis, Ind.) was the low-man for the Blazers Monday, coming up with his third top-10 finish of the fall season after shooting a four-over 76 in round one and a six-over 78 in round two, good for seventh place overall.

Sophomore Aaron Brink (Nashville, Ill.) was again in the two-spot for Vincennes, battling injury to a first round 82 and answering back to move up the leaderboard with a four-over 76 in round two. Brink was well within striking distance of another top-10 finish, coming in at 12th overall.

Freshman Alex Nealis (Olney, Ill.) was the next VU finisher, shooting an 83 in round one and an 80 in round two and finishing 19th overall.

Freshman Dakota Waskom (Louisville, Ky.) rounded out the VU scorers Monday, ending round one with an 85 and coming in with an 83 in round two, placing him 25th overall.

The fifth man for the Blazers was freshman Matt Slover (Salem, Ind.) who shot an 88 in round one and a 98 in round two.

“Preston continued to lead us and again had a chance to win it up until the last two holes,” VU Hall of Fame Golf Coach Dennis Chattin said. “He is a really good player and I believe he will win a tournament. Aaron had another good tournament, finishing 12th and was playing injured.”

“We were handicapped by not getting a practice round due to a scheduling conflict at the course and I think that could have made the difference for Preston and the rest of the game,” Chattin added. “Not trying to make excuses but three of the top teams were the ones that got the practice rounds.”

VU as a team shot a 326 in round one, before taking nine shots off their score in round two with a 317, good for fifth overall.

Vincennes does have the ability to really jump up the leaderboard in the Spring as fifth place and second place Monday were separated by only 14 shots.

The Trailblazers will look to continue to improve as the fall season begins to wind down, with VU heading to Ina, Ill. Monday, Oct. 9 and Tuesday, Oct. 10 to face-off against Rend Lake College at the Rend Lake Golf Course.

Vincennes will then have three weeks to prepare for the Fall season finale in Camdenton, Mo. for the Battle in the Ozarks at Old Kinderhook Resort, Monday, Oct. 30 and Tuesday, Oct. 31.

“The golf course was tough as shown by the high scores, even though the conditions were really good,” Chattin said. “The greens caused the most problems as they were quick and with a lot of slope. I asked the guys after if they could have saved two strokes a round, which would have been very easy to do, by just playing smarter shots and they all agreed. That would have been very easy but that would have moved us to second, so I continue to believe we are close to finishing much higher but we will find out next week at Rend Lake.”

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Parkland – 311, 302 – 613

Danville Area – 315, 314 – 629

Heartland – 323, 309 – 632

Illinois Central – 316, 320 – 636

VINCENNES – 326, 317 – 643

Lewis & Clark – 330, 326 – 656

Lincoln Land – 351, 341 – 692

VINCENNES RESULTS

Preston Broce (T7) – 76, 78 – 154

Aaron Brink (T12) – 82, 76 – 158

Alex Nealis (T19) – 83, 80 – 163

Dakota Waskom (T25) – 85, 83, 168

Matt Slover (35) – 88, 98 – 186