MVC Championship Central
The Missouri State men's golf team has been picked to finish third in a vote of league coaches at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, to be held Monday and Tuesday (Apr. 22-23) at the Club at Porto Cima in Sunrise Beach, Mo. The league's nine schools will begin tournament play Monday with 36 holes and conclude with the final 18 holes on Tuesday. The winner will earn the league's automatic bid to NCAA Regionals. MSU will be in search of its second Valley championship and first since 1993. Although the course is at a neutral site, MSU is serving as the host institution for the championship. It also hosted at Porto Cima in 2011 and 2015.
Illinois State was the coaches' unanimous pick for the top spot as the Redbirds collected 81 total points. Southern Illinois was picked for second with 72 and then the Bears with 60. Bradley was fourth (56), followed by Drake (43), Loyola (30), Valparaiso (28), Evansville (22) and UNI (13).
Missouri State has four players, all seniors, ranked in the top 13 in the conference in scoring average.
Brad Carpenter is third with a 71.93 mark,
Jack Knoesel is eighth at 73.38,
Adam Fisher tenth at 73.48, and
Kory Franks 13th at 73.66. Fisher was an all-conference selection the last two years and Knoesel picked up his first such honor a year ago, but Carpenter has led the way much of this season for the Bears, earning low team honors in six of their 10 tournaments. Junior
Lukas McCalla will round out the lineup for Coach
Neal Stafford after posting a 75.04 scoring average during the regular season.
The Bears tied for fourth at the Valley tournament last year with Knoesel leading the way with a ninth-place finish.
