St. John's Goes Wire to Wire on the Way to Another MIAC Crown; Draxler Wins Medal by 5

COON RAPIDS -- Mainly, it was a matter of watching out for white stakes and water hazards. 

Golf is never quite that simple, but for St. John's, which led the MIAC Championships after each of the first two rounds, the big thing during Monday's final round at Bunker Hills GC was to avoid any major disasters. The Johnnies managed to do that, and as a result, they won the conference championship -- for the 11th time.

And St. John's Brett Draxler was in a similar position. The junior from Benilde-St. Margaret's had built a three-stroke lead over the first 36 holes. So  didn't need to be great in the final round, just solid, which he was. 

There were some shaky moments on the front nine. By the time he made the turn, he was 4 over par, but he shot a 1-under 35 on the back. That gave him a 75 for the final round, and a 54-hole total of 218 (2 over).

In the end, he won by five strokes over Concordia (Moorhead) sophomore Landon Poss. Poss shot the low score on Monday, a 72, to climb into second place at 223. 

This was the 10th individual victory for a St. John's player at the MIAC tournament. 

Brandon Jones of Augsburg turned in a 77 and was third at 224.

As a team, the Johnnies combined for a 302, which put them at 898 for the three rounds. St. Thomas was the only team to crack 300 on Day 3, putting together a 296, and that enabled the Tommies to wrest second place from Bethel. St. Thomas had a cumulative 906.

Bethel closed with a 308 for an overall 908, which was good for third. 

As the MIAC champion, St. John's, the No. 10 team in the men's NCAA Division III Rankings, earned an automatic bid to the Division III national championships next spring. 

MEN'S COLLEGE GOLF
MIAC Championships
At Bunker Hills Golf Course
Par 72, 6,877 yards
Coon Rapids
Final results 

Fin.  Top 20 teams                     Scores         Total    Par 
   1  Saint John's...................  287  309  302    898    +34
   2  St. Thomas.....................  303  307  296    906    +42
   3  Bethel.........................  298  302  308    908    +44
   4  Concordia......................  298  314  300    912    +48
   5  Augsburg.......................  300  306  308    914    +50
   6  Gustavus.......................  308  312  305    925    +61
   7  St. Olaf.......................  314  308  319    941    +77
   8  Macalester.....................  320  315  312    947    +83
   9  Carleton.......................  317  329  325    971   +107
  10  Saint Mary's...................  324  333  322    979   +115


Fin.  Top 20 Players                                          Scores        Total    Par 
   1  Brett Draxler--Saint John's.........................    69   74   75    218     +2
   2  Landon Poss--Concordia..............................    71   80   72    223     +7
   3  Brandon Jones--Augsburg.............................    72   75   77    224     +8
t  4  Bennett Schroeder--St. Thomas.......................    74   76   75    225     +9
t  4  Casey Vangsness--Saint John's.......................    67   79   79    225     +9
t  6  Alex Kapraun--St. Thomas............................    73   79   74    226    +10
t  6  Drew Lynch--Saint John's............................    74   80   72    226    +10
t  8  Sam Christian--Concordia............................    75   78   75    228    +12
t  8  Alex Gabriel--St. Thomas............................    76   74   78    228    +12
t 10  Dillon John--Bethel.................................    77   76   76    229    +13
t 10  Davis Tollette--Bethel..............................    74   74   81    229    +13