Pride close fall slate with improving placements at Heart Fall Preview

SMITHVILLE, Mo. - Competing in their final competition of the fall half of their 2025-26 schedule, the Clarke University golf teams closed out a step forward season with a men's team seventh place finish and a women's fifth place finish.

The Pride women's team produced their best overall placement at a conference event by far with their fifth place score of 721 after ending in third place at the end of Monday's first round of 357 then finishing out the event on Tuesday with a team 364.

On the men's side, CU was able to produce consistent team scores of a 324 on Monday then go a stroke better on Tuesday at 323 to move up from eighth to seventh between the two days and improve on their ninth place from the 2024 Fall Preview and 2025 Heart Championships.

The top individual finish came in the men's portion as well with Brendan Pillion carding a 36-hole total score of 154 after a 76 on Monday and a 78 on Tuesday to tie for eighth place, eight strokes behind the runner-up score as the individual tournament winner, Felipe Suarez of Missouri Valley, carded a remarkable six-under 138 after a 68 (-4) on Monday and a 70 (-2) on Tuesday.

For the women, Amalia Ortega neared a top-10 placement with an 11th place 171, posting an 86 on Monday's opening round then following up with an 85 on Tuesday to lead the way for the Pride as Sydney Minyen improved by five strokes from Monday to Tuesday to tie for 17th at a 181, just ahead of Holly Elliott's 184 that tied her for 20th.

Rounding out the CU women's scores was a two-round total of 193 from Rose McCartney with Rose Halle producing an 88 on Monday to give way to Jessi Wagner as a sub on Tuesday for Wagner to score 102 in her lone round at the Heart Fall Preview.

The remaining men's scores behind Pillion saw the trio of Anantuch Chonruedeepaisan, Brayden Becker, and Cody Leon finish within two strokes of each other where Chonruedeepaisan's 163 tying him for 28th after rounds of 81 and 82, just ahead of Becker and Leon's matching scores of 165 with Becker going 84, 81 then Leon carding an 83 and an 82 then Jackson Theiler rounded out the Clarke scoring with a 36-hole total of 186.

Clarke golf will head into their winter to prepare for the spring after one of their most successful combined semesters in recent memory as they have yet to set a spring schedule, so stay tuned into clarkepride.com and Clarke Golf on social media for updates.