OCT. 21, 2008

PANORA, IOWA  -- Drake junior Olivia Lansing (Dellwood, Minn.) captured medalist honors in the Missouri Valley Conference Fall Preview women’s golf tournament Tuesday at the Lake Panorama National Golf Course.

The host Bulldogs finished second in the nine-team field with a 323-317=640, trailing team champion Bradley by three strokes.

The Braves, who entered Tuesday in second-place one stroke behind co-leaders Drake and Missouri State, fired a 313 final round to finish with a 637 total.

“Overall, we can’t be disappointed in finishing second,” said Drake golf coach Scott Bohlender. “But we went in thinking we were going to win it and left thinking we should have won it.

“Unfortunately, it was tight coming down stretch. There were probably one or two shots each of our golfers will look back on. This was our home course so we should have had a little advantage. We certainly felt that we were among the teams that could compete for the title and we proved during the last two days here that we fit in well with the other competitive programs in the conference.”

Lansing posted a 76-75=151 total on the par-72, 6,107 yard layout to win the individual title by one stroke over Missouri State’s Amy Phalaljivin (73-79=152).

It marked the second individual title that Lansing has captured this fall after winning the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa City, Iowa, Oct. 5.

Lansing was medalist in the 2007 State Farm MVC Tournament in Omaha, Neb.

“Olivia had a great spring and was in the running for MVC player of the year,” Bohlender added. “That spurred her in the MVC Tournament and gave her motivation going into the summer. It has carried over to this fall and she has proven that she is one of the best golfers in the league.”

Drake junior Kelly Godwin (Centerville, Minn.) tied for 10th at 81-79=160, while sophomore Michelle Mathwick (Greenfield, Wis.) tied for 20th at 84-82=166.

Drake junior Kaitlyn Mauk (West Des Moines, Iowa) tied for 23rd at 82-85=167. Drake junior Elena Vukmir (Wauwatosa, Wis.) finished 29th at 88-81=169.

Rounding out the Drake scoring was junior Amanda Vogt (Melbourne, Iowa) who finished 43rd at 91-83=174 and junior Chelsey Gannon (Eden Prairie, Minn.) who placed 53rd at 92-94-186.