A comeback effort over the final two rounds of this week’s tournament helped Valparaiso University men’s golf senior Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) secure the Missouri Valley Conference Golfer of the Week honor, which was announced by the league office on Thursday.

VanArragon notched the 25th top-10 finish of his collegiate career and his ninth straight including all six tournaments this season by finishing tied for sixth at the Advance Golf Partners Collegiate, hosted at the par-72, 7169-yard Hammock Creek Golf Club in Palm City, Fla. this week.

VanArragon finished at 215 (-1, 78-67-70), climbing 60 spots on the player leaderboard after finishing the first round at t-66. His Round-2 score of 67 was the second-best by any of the 119 players in the field on Monday. That was the third time in his accomplished career that he shot 67 or better. He tied for eighth in program history in 18-hole low in terms of overall score and tied for eighth in the program record book in relation to par.

VanArragon’s efforts helped Valpo rebound from a wobbly first round (17th/19) to finish tied for sixth on the team leaderboard. He posted a team-high 13 birdies and had the second-best par-5 scoring average of any player in the field at 4.42. 

This marks the team’s fourth Golfer of the Week honor this season and the first by VanArragon, who has won the award 12 times in his career. He now owns sole possession of third in conference history with a dozen career MVC Golfer of the Week Awards, trailing only David Perkins of Illinois State (15) and Dustin Garza of Wichita State (14).

The Beacons will next be in action on Monday, March 13 when they head to Phoenix, Ariz. to begin the GCU Invitational.