The Grand Valley State University men’s and women’s golf teams are looking to duplicate the success they saw in the fall, carrying it with them into the spring half of their season.

On the men’s side, the team captured the program’s fifth-ever GLIAC Championship this past fall. The Lakers shot rounds of 290, 295 and 302 to finish 23-over-par, 16 strokes better than second-place Tiffin University.

“Before the GLIAC’s I thought we played well,” said head coach Don Underwood. “I thought the fall season was very strong for us. Chris Cunningham and Nick Gunthorpe were very good and we expected that going in. We knew we had what I felt, two of the top players in the conference.”

Cunningham took home the individual GLIAC title with a one-over-par score, shooting rounds of 73, 71 and 73 for a total score of 217. The sophomore became the first GLIAC individual champion for GVSU since Matt Malloure did it in 2007.

Senior Nick Gunthorpe took second place in the individual scores at the GLIAC tournament and finished with a three-over-par 219. He shot rounds of 73, 72 and 74.

The Lakers carried their success over from the GLIAC Championship’s and won the next week at the Outback Steakhouse Invitational, which was hosted by the University of Findlay. GVSU took first place by shooting a score of 583.

“We had a very good fall,” Underwood said. “We’d like to get back to getting into the routine of playing the game again and getting our guys comfortable playing golf coming off the winter. Hopefully it won’t take us long to pick up the momentum we had at the end of the fall.”

For the Lakers, taking home the GLIAC title was a confidence booster for the team. They hope that experiencing success in the fall will help them in this upcoming spring season.

“At conferences, we kind of ran away with it,” said senior Nick Gunthorpe. “I think we are more confident now after beating everyone in our conference.”

The GVSU women had their own share of success in the fall season as well. GVSU took first in four tournaments: the Michael Corbett Fall Classic (603), Ferris State Invitational (588), Bing Beall Classic (625) and the Laker Fall Classic (618).

Senior Sarah Hoffman was the highlight of the GVSU women’s team, taking first individually in the Bing Beall Classic (147), Dallas Baptist Classic (146) and the Laker Fall Classic (145).

Hoffman was named GLIAC Woman’s Golf Athlete of the Week for three consecutive weeks. She averaged a score of 73.9 for the fall season.

The women have some of their most important meets of the year coming up in the spring season, including the GLIAC Championships, the NCAA Division II Super Regionals and the NCAA Division II National Championships. GVSU has set their sights on these tournaments, and they look forward to having good showings.

“Some of our team goals this year include winning conferences, regionals and a top-three finish at nationals,” Hoffman said.

The men will next be in action Saturday at the NKU Spring Classic. The women’s next meet is March 31 at the ODU “Give 18 Fore for Cancer” Classic.

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