Ben Sagers clapped the loudest Monday when Xavier teammate Matt Junge was introduced as the MVC Valley Division Athlete of the Year for men's golf.

That's only fair, because last year Junge led the cheers when Sagers won the same award.

The Saints, blessed with back-to-back Athletes of the Year, captured their third straight MVC divisional title Monday with another solid round at Gardner Golf Course.

"We couldn't have written a script any better today," said delighted Xavier Coach Tim O'Brien, who was honored as the Valley Division Coach of the Year.

Junge claimed medalist honors in the Valley Division with a 54-hole score of 213, based on three rounds of golf on three different courses on three different days. Sagers placed second at 217.

A year ago, Sagers was the Valley Division medalist and Junge finished second.

"I'm glad that Matt finally got his name announced, because I know last year he had three good rounds in the conference meet," said Sagers.

The Saints won the Valley title with a score of 875, 16 strokes better than Linn-Mar. Washington placed third and Prairie was sixth.

Xavier has won division titles in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Junge and Sagers, now seniors, were on all three teams.

"It feels really good," said Junge. "It's always great to hang a banner in the gym of our school."

Junge finished two strokes behind Sagers for medalist honors in 2012. This time, he finished four shots ahead of his teammate. "This is definitely something I wanted this year," he said.

Kellen Gray placed sixth for the Saints with a 54-hole tally of 222. Jordan Even finished 16th for the Saints at 230. They complemented Junge and Sagers in the team standings as Xavier claimed the top prize. John Ingwersen and Luke Winker also contributed to the victory.

The Saints held a precarious six-shot lead heading into the final round Monday, but ended up winning comfortably.

"I'm pretty proud of that effort," said O'Brien. "Quite honestly, I think we can play better."

His golfers feel the same way.

"We've had a lot of really consistent, solid rounds," said Junge. "We're starting to play some of our best golf."

It could be good timing. The district tournament will be held Monday, Oct. 7 at Elmcrest Country Club in Cedar Rapids, and the state meet will be held Oct. 11 and 12 at Hunters Ridge Golf Course in Marion.

"We definitely think we have a shot of putting solid rounds together next Monday, and hopefully two solid rounds at state and we'll see what they add up to be," said Sagers, who submitted the best score Monday with a 1-over-par 73.

The Saints finished ninth at the state meet last year. They'd like to move up in the standings this time with an experienced squad.

"Last year we made it to state and kind of figured out a little bit there," said Junge. "The ultimate goal is to win state, which we know we can."

"If we hit on all cylinders, I believe we can play with anyone," said O'Brien. "They know that as well and believe that. So it's going to be fun to see what happens. Now it's time to see if we can make a little noise in the postseason."

Trevor McCann of Linn-Mar finished fourth in the Valley Division standings with a 54-hole score of 218. Max Thrune of Linn-Mar placed fifth at 221.

Dominic Rodriguez and Jake Patterson from Washington tied for seventh place at 224. Frank Lindwall of Washington was 11th at 226.

MVC VALLEY DIVISION GOLF

MONDAY'S RESULTS
Gardner Golf Course - Par 72

Team Standings

1. Xavier 306, 2. Washington 314, 3. Linn-Mar 316, 4. Cedar Falls 317, 5. (tie) Prairie 328, Wahlert 328, 7. Waterloo West 346.

Top 10 Individuals

1. Ben Sagers, Xavier           73
2. Kellen Gray, Xavier          75
Jake Patterson, Wash         75
4. Matt Junge, Xavier           76
Colin Vondracek, Prairie     76
6. Charlie Smith, Wahlert       77
Trevor McCann, Linn-Mar      77
Sean Fernholz, Cedar Falls   77
Matt Bauman, Cedar Falls     78
10. Max Thrune, Linn-Mar        79
Frank Lindwall, Wash        79
Brent Larson, Linn-Mar      79
Sam Richter, Waterloo       79

Xavier - Ben Sagers 73, Kellen Gray 75, Matt Junge 76, Luke Winker 82, John Ingwersen 83, Jordan Even 85.

Washington - Jake Patterson 75, Frank Lindwall 79, Evan Jankwietz 80, Dominic Rodriguez 80, Will Jackson 82, Max Claassen 89.

Linn-Mar - Trevor McCann 77, Max Thrune 79, Brent Larson 79, Jake Sevcik 81, Jason Gingrich 86, Elliott Siefert 87.

Prairie - Colin Vondracek 76, Blake Seda 82, Cooper Reittinger 85, Ryan Doser 85, Cal Clark 87, Mitch Lorenz 89.

54-HOLE RESULTS

1. Xavier 875, 2. Linn-Mar 891, 3. Washington 902, 4. Wahlert 915, 5. Cedar Falls 916, 6. Prairie 928, 7. Waterloo West 1005.

Top 18 Individuals

First Team All-Conference

1. Matt Junge, Xavier        61-76-76=213
2. Ben Sagers, Xavier        68-76-73=217
3. Charlie Smith, Wahlert    64-77-77=218
Trevor McCann, Linn-Mar   65-76-77=218
5. Max Thrune, Linn-Mar      64-78-79=221
Kellen Gray, Xavier       67-80-75=222

Second Team All-Conference

7. Dominic Rodriguez, Wash      67-77-80=224
Jake Patterson, Wash         69-80-75=224
9. Sam Richter, Waterloo        70-76-79=225
Matt Bauman, Cedar Falls     72-75-78=225
11. Frank Lindwall, Wash        70-77-79=226
Sean Fernholz, Cedar Falls  69-80-77=226

Honorable Mention All-Conference

13. Jake Sevcik, Linn-Mar         66-80-81=227
14. Cal Clark, Prairie            68-74-87=229
Evan Jankwietz, Wash          70-79-80=229
16. Jordan Even, Xavier           67-78-85=230
17. Brent Larson, Linn-Mar        69-83-79=231
18. Michael Lumetta, Cedar Falls  72-79-81=232

Coach of the Year - Tim O'Brien, Xavier
Athlete of the Year - Matt Junge, Xavier

Academic All-Conference

Prairie - Ryan Doser, Colin Vondracek
Washington - Jonah Shah, Jeff Nassif
Xavier - John Ingwersen, Matt Junge
Linn-Mar - Jason Gingrich, Elliott Siefert