WYOMING, Mich. – The Trine University men's golf team completed the fall season on Saturday, with three student-athletes garnering post-season awards from the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA).
Junior Mark Civanich was tabbed MIAA MVP after accumulating a scoring average of 71.67 over six conference rounds. He was also named All-MIAA First Team and is a three-time All-MIAA recipient. "The team had a solid season and put in the work at practice," Civanich stated. "The plan now is to study hard and practice harder in the coming months so we can succeed in March. I had one heck of a fall, but I'm not finished yet. There will be more to come from Trine men's golf! Go Thunder!"
Senior Mitch Lowney was honored as the Sportsmanship Award winner and was named Second Team All-MIAA. It is the fourth time in his career receiving the All-MIAA honor and the third time in program history that a member of the Thunder has received the Sportsmanship Award. "My conference season started off a little shakey and I'm grateful my teammates stepped up and played good golf to keep us in contention," Lowney said. "I'm proud of the way we fought. Regarding the Sportsmanship Award, it is an honor I'm very proud of. It means so much to me to have been awarded that by the players and coaches in the conference!"
Sophomore Kyler Rod also put together a solid day two round at the MIAA Fall Championships and was named All-MIAA for the first time in his young career.
The Thunder placed third overall at the Fall Championships, one stroke behind Adrian College, but their combined team score over the six rounds of league play was good enough to qualify to compete in the MIAA Automatic Qualifier event this spring. Trine finished in second-place after six MIAA rounds with an average score of 304.67 as a team behind only team champions, Hope College.
Civanich shot a 69, the lowest round of the day, on Saturday to secure the individual championship. He had a string of four birdies on six holes spanning from 8-12 to highlight his day. Lowney and Rod had a pair of birdies each to put themselves in position to score All-MIAA. Lowney shot a 75 while Rod finished the round with one more stroke at 76.
Freshman Carter Schnipke fired a 79 on Saturday and senior Charlie Eriksen an 80. Each of them birdied the par-5 hole number two and Eriksen added a second hole below par with a birdie on hole six. Competing as individuals, junior Carter Rang shot a 77 and senior Mitch Blank finished the round at 80.
The team looks ahead to the MIAA Automatic Qualifier in the spring, but will unveil the full slate of spring rounds in the coming months in order to prepare.
