Schwomeyer places top-10 as Trailblazer Golf begins Fall season at Heartland Invitational

NORMAL, Ill. – Vincennes University sophomore Paxton Schwomeyer (Oakland City, Ind.) came away with a top-10 finish Monday afternoon as the Trailblazers began their Fall 2022 Golf season at the Heartland Invitational at Weibring Golf Course in Normal, Ill.

Schwomeyer ended his day with a first round 78 and a final round 74 in the one-day 36-hole tournament, which left him in a tie for ninth place on the leaderboard.

Sophomore Luke VanDeventer (Columbus, Ind.) was the next lowest VU scorer, shooting a first round 79 and a final round 80 for a tie for 23rd.

Freshman Nate Olsen (Greenwood, Ind.) had the largest improvement on the day for the Blazers, beginning his collegiate career with a first round 83 before ending his day with a final round 78 to jump up five spots on the leaderboard to finish in a tie for 29th.

Freshman Preston Broce (Indianapolis, Ind.) and sophomore Sam Stewart (Floyds Knobs, Ind.) finished even on the leaderboard, with Broce shooting 84 in the first round and an 82 in the second and Stewart finishing with an 81 opening round and an 85 to close the day.

Freshman Aaron Brink (Nashville, Ill.) rounded out the VU golfers Monday shooting an 85 in the first round of the day, before following up with an 83.

VU as a team did improve on their first round score, but still dropped on the leaderboard, with the Trailblazers posting a first round 327 and a final round 323, good for sixth place.

“One positive from the tournament was Paxton finishing in the top ten,” VU Hall of Fame Golf Coach Dennis Chattin said. “He battled and improved four shots from the first to the second round.”

“The field improved from the first to the second round in my opinion, not only from seeing the course and getting more comfortable on it, but also the wind died down considerably for the second round,” Chattin added. “Paxton shot a two under 33 on the back side in the second round, which is great.”

“However, as a team, I was pretty disappointed in our play,” Chattin said. “This was the worst round we had as a team since school started in the fall. We may have had some freshman jitters with three of the top five being freshmen, but that’s not much of an excuse. These guys have played a lot of tournament golf by the time they get here, so it shouldn’t have been that much different. I just know we are a much better team than we displayed.”

The Trailblazers will look to improve their next time out when VU travels to Rend Lake Golf Course Tuesday, Sept. 6 to take part in the Rend Lake Fall Preview in Ina, Ill.