Ball State University Athletics
Men's Golf Announces Award Winners
May 11, 2009 | Men's Golf
Brian Maurer (Richmond, Ind./Richmond H.S.), a senior member of the Ball State University men's golf team, was selected as the Cardinals' Travis J. Smith Most Valuable Player at the team's annual end of the year awards banquet.
The MVP Award is named in honor of Smith, who was a member of the Ball State golf team as a freshman in 2006-07 before his untimely death in an automobile accident in January of 2007.
Maurer led the Cardinals with a 73.58 average this season and was named to the All-Mid-American Conference First Team. He posted eight top-20 finishes in 2008-09, including four top-10 placings. Maurer was Ball State's top individual in six out of 12 tournaments this year, including the MAC Championships where he tied for 10th. He tallied a season low 66 at the Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational last fall, and owns a career low of 65, which he managed in the 2007-08 season. Maurer was the team's co-MVP as a junior and was named Ball State's Most Improved Player as a sophomore.
Anthony Novak (Michigan City, Ind./Michigan City H.S.), a sophomore for the Cardinals, was named the squad's Most Improved Player, and Matt Schumaker (Columbia City, Ind./Columbia City H.S.) won the Earl Yestingsmeier Student-Athlete Award.
Novak averaged 76.11 in 26.5 rounds this season after tallying a 77.13 in 16 rounds a year ago. He posted two top-20 finishes, including winning medalist honors at the Cardinal Collegiate at Sultan's Run Golf Course in Jasper, Ind. While competing as an individual, Novak shot a 71-73=144 at the Cardinal Classic for his first career tournament victory.
Schumaker, a senior finance major, owns a 3.60 cumulative grade-point average on Ball State's 4.0 scale. He played in 16.5 rounds for the Cardinals and tallied a 77.15 average.
Under the direction of 11th-year head coach Mike Fleck, the Cardinals won the Cardinal Collegiate in March -- the 10th tournament title in Fleck's tenure.
