Golf Nine & Dine Welcomes Alumni to BVU Lake Creek
Fun tournament on eve of BVU Invitational serves up golf, connections, food
Blue skies, light winds, and lots of high-fives and laughter marked Buena Vista University’s inaugural Nine & Dine at BVU Lake Creek on Sept. 15. The event, which featured nine holes of golf and a catered dinner, welcomed BVU golf alumni as well as current players and their parents.
“We paired our current student-athletes with alumni in a fun nine-hole event that enabled our golfers to connect in many ways as they visited about education, golf, the business world, and their communities,” said Joe Powell, Head Coach for both women’s and men’s golf at BVU.
“It was great to meet the players while getting to play with some of them,” said Steve Campbell, a 2007 graduate who played four years for the Beavers. “It’s rewarding to see how much the programs have grown in recent years.”
Campbell, a CPA and co-owner of Hunzelman, Putzier & Co., PLC., in Storm Lake, was paired with current BVU freshman golfer Justin Hanks and Hanks’ father, John Hanks. They shot a 31. The event winners were freshman Kaden Miller, freshman Cooper Sebastian, Dustin Miller, and Patrick English, who shot an amazing 28, eight under par.
Alumni representing three decades of BVU golf joined in the fun.
“We had a great time putting on the Nine and Dine,” Powell said. “To shoot a 28 on either side at BVU Lake Creek is phenomenal. We all had a great meal and more conversation as our student-athletes then prepared for the next two days of competition in our BVU Invitational.”
Phenomenal is a good word to describe the men’s finish on Sunday as the Beavers shot a 293, the program’s best score in 16 years. Sophomore Matthew Turpen shot a two-under-par 70 in the finale to finish fourth, individually. Sophomore Kaleb Sander paced the B-team effort with a 12th place finish. Overall, the men took third place among 12 teams in the home tournament.
On the women’s side, sophomore Brooke Stellmaker finished seventh on the weekend, her second straight Top 10 finish. Sophomore Hailey Bistodeau, meantime, earned 11th place as the Beavers finished fifth out of 10 teams.
“We had an awesome weekend in welcoming alumni, parents, and then a couple of hundred collegiate student-athletes, their coaches, and fans,” Powell continued. “The weather was great as was the competition. We were so pleased to show off the championship BVU Lake Creek layout under ideal playing conditions. We’re also so proud to see the strides our student-athletes and alumni are helping us make within our program!”