Valparaiso University women’s golf sophomore Anna Fay (Ada, Mich. / Forest Hills) is in the mix for conference medalist honors through one round at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, which began on Sunday at the par-72, 6176-yard Annbriar Golf Course in Waterloo, Ill. The event will continue with one round each of the next two days.

How It Happened

• Fay is one of six players locked in a tie for second in the 60-player tournament after carding a 77 (+5) in Sunday’s opening round.
• Fay is two strokes behind Belmont’s Ryan Bender in the battle for medalist honors.
• The second-best Beacon was Madison Keil (LaGrange, Ind. / Lakeland)¸ who finished the day at t-37 after posting an 85.
• Keil is followed on the team leaderboard by freshman Taylor Skibinski (Michigan City, Ind. / Michigan City), whose 18-hole score of 87 puts her at t-45.
• As a team, Valpo sits in 11^th place, holding a six-stroke lead on UIC with a 342. Missouri State sits atop the team leaderboard at 315.

Inside the Round

• Valpo’s best scoring came on par-5 holes, where the team averaged a 5.60 (+12).
• Valpo produced four birdies, three of which came from Fay. She tied for the tournament lead in birdies produced during the opening round.
• Fay birdied a par-5 hole (Hole 5) and a pair of par 4s (Hole 1, Hole 12).
• Fay averaged a 4.20 on par-4 holes, tied for the best par-4 scoring average in the tournament.

Thoughts from Head Coach Jill McCoy

“The conditions today were extremely difficult. Anna played amazing. She played really solid golf and was very consistent and in control all day. Maddie started to turn her round around. I’m looking forward to warmer weather tomorrow and continuing to improve our scores.”

Up Next

The second round of the event will take place on Monday with tee times beginning at 9:30 a.m. A link to live scoring via GolfStat will be available on ValpoAthletics.com.