Swenson earns NSIC Individual Championship as Beavers finish second
Bemidji State University men’s golf senior Chris Swenson fired a three under-par 210 (72-69-69) to claim the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Men’s Golf individual championship and help the Beavers finish second as a team.
Swenson becomes the 16th Beaver to earn the NSIC medalist honor and first since Mitch Mackedanz in 2008-09. Swenson was named to the NSIC All-Tournament Team after his top-five finish.
The Beavers (305-286-293=884) finished one stroke behind Winona State University (301-294-288=883) who claimed its second consecutive NSIC Men’s Golf Championship and two strokes in front of University of Sioux Falls (309-286-291=886).
Swenson was followed by junior Ben Corbid who posted his first top-10 finish of the season after tying for eighth with a score of 220 (+7, 73-72-75). Freshman Koby Kuenzel posted his first top-20 finish of his collegiate career and tied for 17th with a score of 228 (+15, 80-71-77) while senior Brandon Nelson was one-stroke behind at 229 (+16, 80-76-73) and tied for 21st. Senior Tanner Sperling rounded out the Beavers’ scoring and tied for 28th with a score of 232 (+19, 82-74-76).
Swenson finished two strokes ahead of Upper Iowa University’s Logan Schweinefus (76-70-66=212) and six strokes ahead of Sioux Falls’ Gavin Metz (75-68-73=216) who finished second and third, respectively.
Winona State earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Central/Midwest Regional, which will be played at Shoal Creek Golf Club in Kansas City, Missouri hosted by William Jewell College and the Kansas City Sports Commission, May 6-8.
The Beavers will now wait until Friday, April 23rd to find out if they are selected to compete in the NCAA Midwest/Central Regional. The Men’s Golf Committee shall select eight teams (including automatic qualifiers) and three individuals not on those teams from each of the eight regions.
Bemidji State was most recently ranked 10th in the NCAA DII Central Region rankings. The DII Central Region is comprised of teams from the NSIC, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) and the Great American Conference (GAC). The NSIC is the lone conference to have played its championship and awarded its automatic bid while the MIAA and GAC conference championships are scheduled to compete Monday, April 19-April 20.