INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Illinois State men's golfers Valentin Peugnet and Alex McCulla have earned individual spots into the NCAA West Lafayette Regional, hosted by Purdue University at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex on May 13-15. At the regional, the top five teams will advance to the NCAA Championship, as well as the low individual not on those qualifying teams.
Illinois State is one of just three schools (NC State and Pepperdine are the others) to have multiple individuals competing in an NCAA Regional field. This season marks the sixth time since 2016 (in eight years where there were NCAA Regionals) that ISU has sent an individual or a team to the regional, including the team placing 10th at last seasons' NCAA Bath Regional.
As individuals, the Redbirds have had X top-40 finishes at the NCAA Regional including a 35th place finish from Felix van Dijk last season, and a seventh-place finish from Trent Wallace during the 2017 NCAA West Regional – also hosted in West Lafayette. Wallace's regional finish saw him advance to the NCAA Championship, held in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
McCulla and Peugnet have matching season stroke averages of 71.3 during the season. Each has played in 32 rounds on the season, with McCulla accumulating 2,280 strokes and Peugnet 2,281. Peugnet has had 21 of his 32 rounds be at or under par, while McCulla has 20 such rounds. Peugnet's two medalist finishes are highest on the team, while McCulla has finished inside of the top-10 four times – tied for most on the team.
The pairs' stroke averages currently stand as the second- and third-best in a season in Illinois State men's golf history, while the rounds at or under par totals have the pair again in second and third for a season.
Earlier this season both McCulla and Peugnet carded single rounds of 199 – becoming the first ISU golfers to card a round under 200, breaking the previous school record of 202 held by All-American David Perkins from the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season. Each also had a single round of 64 during their record-setting rounds, which is tied for the third-lowest round in school history.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Athletic Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
