College Corner: Early Spring Accolades Abound
By Tom Lang
A nice handful of Michigan collegian golfers and teams have found success early this spring season as they head into conference championships in late April and wait for possible NCAA bids for May.
At Michigan State, sophomore Lorenzo Pinili was named Big Ten men’s golfer of the week when he won the Colleton River Collegiate, hosted by MSU in South Carolina in early March. Pinili took medalist honors, firing a 5-under par 211 to top the field of 80 golfers, for his first college win.
Pinili led the Spartans to a team win as well, tallying a 1-under par 863 (289-285-289) for the victory. The win was the 15th tournament title for head coach Casey Lubahn, breaking the record for most tournaments wins in program history at Michigan State.
Over at Ann Arbor, the Wolverines are celebrating Hunter Thompson’s Big Ten golfer of the week from a runner up finish in late February. Thompson shot 70-70-69 to finish runner up to Ethan Klose of New Mexico State in the Border Olympics tournament played in Lorado, Texas.
The rest of the wins and awards go to the ladies…
For Michigan State, in February senior Katie Lu posted the second-lowest round in school history when she recorded a 7-under 65 at the Spartan Sun Coast Invitational – helping lead the team to a come-from-behind win scoring a 12-under par 276.
The Spartans finished the two-day, 54-hole tournament with a score of 4-under par 860 (297-287-276), tying for first place with Ohio State (285-291-284), who entered the final round in second. The Spartans were in 6th after two rounds but erased the large deficit in round three.
Michigan State was crowned the team champion by a tiebreaker between each team's 5th score in the final round (Brooke Biermann of MSU shot an even-par 72, while Ohio State's fifth score was a 76).
The team win is the 45th tournament victory in program history under Head Coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll.
At Eastern Michigan, sophomore Savannah de Bock was named Mid-American Conference golfer of the week for the third time since the fall season began. Her latest conquest was shooting a 69-71-69-209 at the Gators Invitational in Gainesville, Florida in mid-March. The 209 gave de Bock the second lowest score in EMU women’s history, bested only be her own 204 shot back in September. Both results bolstered her having the top four scores in school history. She also leads the nation with 12 rounds under par this 2024-25 season, according to the EMU sports information department.
The week prior, teammate Riley Kim was voted Mid-American conference golfer of the week. Kim was the top finisher for an EMU team that tied for second place at the River Landing Classic in Wallace, N.C., March 3-4.
The Western Michigan Broncos won the Butler Don Benbow Spring Invitational for the second consecutive year. The Broncos posted a 36-hole score of 626 to top the leaderboard over host Butler in the 15-team field. Megha Vallabhaneni led WMU with a 155.
At Grand Valley State, Olivia Stoll has kept up her winning ways, leading the Lakers to a team win as well by a 21-stroke margin in the SMSU Spring Invitational in Arizona.
Stoll shot a final round of 71 (-1) to earn the win, finishing at 3-under, three strokes ahead of her teammate in second. Stoll sank three birdies in her final round to close out the win. Laker Evelyn Park was the runner-up, finishing at even par, also carding a final round of 71.
Stoll was named the GLIAC Women’s golfer of the week for the effort, her second such award this season.
