The Bradley women’s golf team finished out its season with a third place finish at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship in Chicago Tuesday.
The Braves shot a 305, and that score was good enough for Bradley’s highest MVC tournament finish since 2013, when the team tied for third with Southern Illinois.
Senior Danielle Lemek capped off a great career as a Brave. Although she didn’t win the tournament, she finished third and was honored as the MVC Golfer of the Year for the third time.
Lemek is the only MVC women’s golfer to ever receive the award three times.
“Danielle has had a great career at Bradley and the MVC,” head coach Mary Swanson said. “It was very gratifying to see that she continued to improve throughout her four years and grew as both a person and a player. I am thrilled that she finished so strong this weekend to cap off a record-setting career.”
Lemek finishes her career as one of nine golfers to be named All-MVC in all four years, and with her 74.09 stroke average this year, she owns three of the top four stroke averages in MVC history.
“Throughout my two years here at Bradley, I can sincerely say that Danielle is my best friend here. She has been an amazing friend, teammate and role model,” sophomore Ally Scaccia said. “She brings an energy to the team that makes you want to compete and be better at everything you do. She along with Jenna and Al have set up an unbelievable culture on the team that no one could ever forget.”
Swanson said she is very proud of the team’s determination and drive throughout the whole season.
“This team has had tremendous buy into doing all the things it takes to be successful as Division I golfers,” Swanson said. “They are coachable, diligent and support one another like sisters.”
On the men’s side, the Braves competed at the Beu/Massatto Invitational at Western Illinois University.
Bradley finished fourth as a team in the tournament and were lead by a career-best performance from sophomore Matthew Specht, who shot a perfect par for the course at 216 and took second place overall.
“Things were really going my way,” Specht said. “I was just playing really solid the entire tournament. With being so close to the lead, I kind of wanted to win the tournament, but a second place finish in a very competitive field really shows me that I can definitely play with the best.”
Senior Lyle Burns came in at eighth place, which was his fourth consecutive top-10 finish.
The men’s team will finish up its season at their MVC Championship, hosted by Wichita State April 25 and 26.
“I feel like we are definitely up at the top to compete,” Specht said. “If we all play our best I feel like we can win. There’s a lot of pressure that comes along with it. It’s definitely going to be a grind, definitely going to have to stay in it mentally and physically, but overall I think we can stack up with the best teams in the conference.”
