Nealis, Trailblazers win at Lincoln Trail Spring Invitational

ROBINSON, Ill. – The 2025 Spring Golf season continues to roll for the Vincennes University Trailblazers, heading just up the road to Quail Creek Country Club in Robinson, Ill. for the 2025 Lincoln Trail College Spring Invitational.

The Trailblazers dominated the 36-hole, two-day tournament, coming away with a team win by 40 strokes and finishing with four Blazers in the top five and six in the top 10 individually.

Vincennes opened the two day tournament Thursday afternoon with the first round, finishing the day with VU golfers claiming all spots in the top five.

VU finished the first round with a tie at the top of the leaderboard, with sophomore Alex Nealis (Olney, Ill.) and freshman Brock Naile (Trico, Ill.) finishing the day with a three-over par 75.

Nealis closed out his opening round with three birdies on the day, with Naile claiming one birdie on the scorecard.

Freshman Kadin Gibson (Franklin, Ind.) found himself in third place overall after the first 18 holes, shooting a 77, just one shot ahead of freshman teammate Landon Gardner (Danville, Ind.) in fourth and two shots ahead of freshman Parker Steininger (Vincennes, Ind.) in fifth.

Freshmen Matthew Mills (Boonville, Ind.), Brayden Gough (Tuscola, Ill.) and sophomore Jackson Stone (Vincennes, Ind.) each played the tournament as individuals, with Mills holding seventh place on the leaderboard with an opening round 80, while Gough placed 20th with a 91 and Stone checked in a 22nd with an opening round 94.

The Trailblazers as a team closed out the first round of the tournament with a score of 305, holding a 22 shot lead over the second place team.

Vincennes then returned to the course Friday morning for a very windy final round.

VU was able to handle the conditions and build on their first round success, with Alex Nealis finishing the day with an impressive even par 72, with an outstanding four birdies on the day, to claim solo first for the tournament with a two-day total of 147.

Brock Naile also improved on his opening round score, posting a 74 in the final round to take second place overall.

Landon Gardner moved up into the top three on the leaderboard with a 78 in his final round to finish the tournament with a total of 156.

Kadin Gibson rounded out the Vincennes top five finishers, shooting an 82 Friday to take fifth place overall.

Parker Steininger and Matthew Mills each tied for eighth overall, with Steininger coming in with an 83 on Friday and Mills posting an 82 to close out the tournament with a final score of 162.

Jackson Stone and Brayden Gough round out the VU representatives in the tournament with Stone posting the largest improvement in the tournament for VU, taking four shots of his opening round to post a 90 on Friday. Gough checked in Friday with a final round 93.

VU as a team posted a final round score of 306, giving them a tournament total of 611 and claiming their first tournament victory of the spring season by a 40 shot margin.

"Winning a tournament by 40 shots is aways fun but also having the medalist and two other players in the top three makes it better," VU Hall of Fame Golf Coach Dennis Chattin said. "I was really happy for Alex, shooting three over par for the two days. His even par round Friday was really good with the wind an pin locations. Alex really works hard on his game and this score was something he deserved. The wind an pin locations were really tough, so I thought our round Friday was considerably better even though the team score was one stroke higher."

"Brock Naile played consistently with his 75 and 74," Chattin added. "Landon struggled a little but he continues to improve."

The Trailblazers will look to build on this momentum as they get set to hit the road again Monday, March 17 and Tuesday, March 18 to take part in the Brad Rose Collegiate Invitational at Willow Creek Golf Club in Knoxville, Tenn.

TEAM RESULTS

VINCENNES – 305, 306 – 611

Lincoln Trail – 328, 323 – 651

Lewis & Clark – 327, 344 – 671

VINCENNES RESULTS

Alex Nealis (1) – 75, 72 – 147

Brock Naile (2) – 75, 74 – 149

Landon Gardner (3) – 78, 78 – 156

Kadin Gibson (5) – 77, 82 – 159

Parker Steininger (T8) – 79, 83 – 162

Matthew Mills (T8) – 80, 82 – 162

Jackson Stone (T21) – 94, 90 – 184

Brayden Gough (T21) – 91, 93 – 184