The Valparaiso University men’s golf team is projected to finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll, which was released by the league office on Wednesday. This marks the program’s highest preseason/pre-championship ranking since joining the league.

The Beacons accrued 70 points in the poll, behind only league favorite Illinois State, which totaled 77 points.

An all-conference honoree in each of his first two collegiate seasons, Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) finished his fall season with five straight top-five finishes and was the individual runner-up or medalist in four of his six tournaments this fall. The reigning MVC Elite 17 Award winner and MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year has finished as the individual medalist or runner-up eight times in his collegiate career, including seven times in the calendar year of 2021.

As a team, Valpo closed the calendar year of 2021 by finishing in the top five in 10 consecutive tournaments. The Beacons boasted a pair of team runner-up finishes during the fall slate and three total during the calendar year. Valpo finished the 2020-2021 season with a team scoring average of 296.5, a mark that ranked second in modern program history and narrowly behind the 2014-2015 record of 296.2.

Valpo began the spring season on Feb. 14-15 at the Advance Golf Partners Collegiate and will host the Dove Mountain Intercollegiate next week in Marana, Ariz.

The Valpo women will tee off their spring slate on March 7-8 at the Butler Benbow Invitational in Jacksonville, Fla. The Beacons were led in scoring average by Payton Hodson (Middleton, Wis. / Middleton) at 79.00 over 14 fall rounds.

MEN

Illinois State (6) … 77

Valparaiso (1) ... 70

Drake (1) ... 60

Loyola ... 58

Southern Illinois (1) ... 47

Missouri State ... 37

UNI ... 27

Bradley ... 18

Evansville ... 11

WOMEN

Missouri State (5) ... 95

Illinois State (5) ... 93

Bradley ... 78

UNI ... 58

Southern Illinois ... 55

Drake ... 54

Loyola ... 50

Indiana State... 32

Evansville ... 24

Valparaiso ... 11