Championship Central
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Bellarmine University senior James Inman capped off an incredible career at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Men's Golf Championship by defeating University of Indianapolis sophomore Oliver Mast with a par on the 18th hole in a playoff Monday at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Illinois.
Inman and Mast both fired a 54-hole total of 7-under-par 209, which tied the GLVC Championship record set by Northern Kentucky University's David Shearer in 2006 and UIndy's Justin Hueber - a 2019 GLVC Hall of Fame inductee - in 2009.
With his 7-under total at the 2019 GLVC Championship, Inman finished his four-year career 7-under in GLVC Championship stroke play, which includes a 4-under-par runner-up effort at Panther Creek as a freshman in 2016, a 3-under performance which won him the 2017 title, and a fifth-place tie last year at 7-over.
Inman (69-69-71-209) fired a 1-under 71 on Monday but was bested by three shots by his group partner Mast (73-68-68-209), whose 3-under 68 was the second lowest of the day and tournament. Drury University senior Craig Stefureak carded a tournament-low 67 in the final round.
The rally by Mast nearly mirrored the final round of the 2016 GLVC Championship at Panther Creek when then-freshman Inman (69-72-71-212) was edged by one shot by UIndy's Graham McAree (75-70-66-211), who finished with a final-round 6-under 66.
Following the 54 holes, the top-five finishers were named to the first half of the All-Conference squad. Joining Inman and Mast were Stefureak (73-72-67), his Drury teammate Clayton Larsen (71-70-71), and University of Missouri-St. Louis' Reilly Ahearn (73-69-70) at 212.
In addition, 13 honorees were recognized as the GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners for their sport, having distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These individuals are also in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The honorees are now eligible to become one of their school's two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced in May.
The remaining five positions on the All-Conference team, along with Player-, Freshman-, and Coach of the Year awards, as well as the team winner of the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award, will be announced following a coaches' vote prior to NCAA Regional competition.
On the team side, Missouri-St. Louis (293-286-286-865) beat UIndy (296-287-283-866) by one stroke to earn the top seed in Tuesday's medal/match play competition. The Greyhounds will meet No. 3 seed Bellarmine University (289-291-295-875), while the Tritons will battle No. 4 seed Maryville University (292-296-296-884), which edged out Drury University (296-298-291-885) for the fourth and final spot.
Three teams finished seven shots back of Drury in a tie for sixth place. The University of Illinois Springfield (296-298-298), University of Southern Indiana (303-301-288) and McKendree University (299-301-292) all finished at 892. Lewis University (300-306-300-906) and William Jewell College (306-317-303-926) were ninth and 10th, respectively, while Missouri S&T (311-315-303-929), Rockhurst University (312-313-309-934) and Quincy University (314-318-333-965) rounded out the 13-team field.
Tuesday's semifinal rounds of medal/match play will begin at 8 a.m. CT, with the UMSL/Maryville match going off No. 1 and the UIndy/Bellarmine match off No. 10. In the latter matchup, Inman and Mast will go head-to-head once again in the final group of the day.
The GLVC Golf Championships will once again be streamed live and free on all GLVC Sports Network platforms, including GLVCSN.com, iOS/Android mobile apps, and Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV OTT apps.
For complete results and Tuesday's tee times,
click here.
2019 GLVC All-Conference Team (Top-Five Finishers make up spots 1-5 on 10-member team)
*1 James Inman, Bellarmine (69-69-71-209)
2 Oliver Mast, Indianapolis (73-68-68-209)
T-3 Reilly Ahearn, Missouri-St. Louis (73-69-70-212)
T-3 Clayton Larsen, Drury (71-70-71-212)
T-3 Craig Stefureak, Drury (73-72-67-212)
*Named GLVC Champion after one-hole playoff
2019 GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Spencer Hackert, Bellarmine
Clayton Larsen, Drury
Steffen Heckele, Illinois Springfield
Spencer Klimek, Indianapolis
Jimmy Roach, Lewis
Alex Locke, Maryville
Will Postlethwaite, McKendree
Fatt Hoe Young, Missouri S&T
Reilly Ahearn, Missouri-St. Louis
Nick Messinger, Quincy
Alex Graf, Rockhurst
Carson Pierce, Southern Indiana
Carson Trent, William Jewell