The Valparaiso University men’s golf program will welcome in a large field of competitors for the annual Valpo Fall Invitational at the par-72, 7052-yard Sand Creek Country Club Creek/Marsh rotation in Chesterton, Ind. this coming week.

Following Sunday’s practice round, the 17-team field will tee off the tournament with an 8 a.m. CT shotgun start on Monday, which features 36 holes. The final round of the 54-hole event will begin with tee times off the first and 10^th tees ranging from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

The field of teams will feature DePaul, Purdue Fort Wayne, Youngstown State, Utah State, Green Bay, Bradley, Evansville, Missouri State, Cleveland State, IUPUI, Western Illinois, Loyola, Robert Morris, Detroit Mercy, Northern Kentucky, North Dakota and host Valpo.

“Our team is very excited to host 16 Division-1 golf programs at our annual fall tournament this coming week,” head coach Dave Gring said. “It’s a thrill to have teams from all over the country travel to Valpo and compete here in Northwest Indiana. This year, those 16 teams will represent six different conferences, namely the Missouri Valley, Horizon League, Summit League, Atlantic 10, Big East and Mountain West. We will have seven of our players competing in the event and the size of the competitive field will be 102 players - our largest field in five years.”

Valpo opened the season by competing in the Island Resort Intercollegiate on Sept. 4-5 in Harris, Mich. Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) posted the best 54-hole score of his collegiate career and the third-best 54-hole tournament mark in program history at 207 (-9). He shared individual runner-up honors in an 81-player field. The season-opening runner-up finish was the 10^th top-2 finish of his career, his 17^th top-5 finish and his 20^th top-10 finish.

Sophomore Anthony Delisanti (Sanborn, N.Y. / Niagara Wheatfield) also started the season on a high note, finishing at t-11 in the opening tournament thanks to a 54-hole performance of 214 (-2).

“I'm very pleased with how the team has been preparing for our home tournament since our first tournament,” Gring said. “We have spent a good amount of time on the golf course, mapping out our strategy for each hole, getting a good feel for the speed of the greens and learning the pin placements. Brian Racette is the Golf Course Superintendent at Sand Creek Country Club, and his team always has the golf course in amazing shape for our home tournament.”

The 2021-22 campaign was a historic one for Valpo men’s golf, as the team posted a 292.76 team scoring average that shattered the modern program record. Delisanti garnered Missouri Valley Conference individual medalist honors and an NCAA Regional berth. In addition, VanArragon shattered his own program record for single-season scoring average en route to Elite 17 and MVC Scholar of the Year honors. 

The 2021-22 team completed the season with 11 top-5 team finishes in 13 tournaments including finishing as the runner-up at the MVC Championship. In total, Valpo boasted seven top-2 team finishes (six runners-up and one team championship) and the team had four individual runner-up finishes and four individual medalist honors. Seven players earned MVC Golfer of the Week honors including three different players in the month of March.

This year’s team is hoping to build on the strong 2021-2022 campaign, utilizing a blend of six returnees and two newcomers. The Valpo Fall Invitational is the second of five fall tournaments for the squad.

“This is our second tournament of the year and the guys are excited to play close to home and in front of plenty of friends, family and alumni,” Gring said. “Every year, we are blessed to call Sand Creek Country Club our home course, enjoying both the practice facilities and the 27 holes of golf. The weather is going to be warmer than usual for this time of the year, so the greens will be fast and we are going to have to make plenty of good course management decisions as we are navigating the golf course.”