INDIANAPOLIS – More medalist honors were secured by student-athletes from the league as Great Midwest Athletic Conference Golf Athletes of the Week honors were announced on Friday.
 
Men's Athlete of the Week
Blake Saffell
Ohio Dominican
Senior
Somerset, OH (Fisher Catholic HS)
 
For Ohio Dominican, it marked back-to-back weekly selections after junior Robert Holden was the previous recipient.
 
This time, it was the senior Saffell, doing so in notable record-breaking fashion at the Roger Merb Invitational hosted by Shawnee State University.
 
Saffell had a very impressive two-round showing in Portsmouth, Ohio, with a tournament score of 135 (-9). He had a 70 in the first round and scorched the par-72, 6,701-yard layout with a 65 (-7) to wrap things up.
 
Saffell won by two strokes over a pair of competitors who were 7-under par. In the official results, Ohio Dominican did not have a cumulative team score.
 
Saffell's 65 is the lowest round of the season in the conference so far in 2020-21 and goes down as a tie for the second-best 18-hole total in overall league history.
 
It also set a new Great Midwest record for a 36-hole tournament score as he passed a pair of 6-under par scores from Findlay's Caleb Westfall and his current teammate Holden.
 
Only three other players have carded a 65 since the sport's start in 2012 and Saffell joins the rare company of Christian Tooley (Kentucky Wesleyan), Blain Turner (Trevecca Nazarene) and Scotty Brown (Malone).  
 
This was Saffell's second event of the fall season as he improved his scoring average to an even 72.00 per 18 in four rounds played.
 
Women's Athlete of the Week
Sarah Abner
Ohio Valley
Freshman
Hamilton, OH (Edgewood HS)
 
Not far away at the Elks Country Club in McDermott, Ohio, the other half of the Roger Merb Invitational had the show stolen by a pair of Fighting Scots.
 
Abner tied for medalist honors in the Shawnee State-hosted event with teammate Joslyn Goins before mutually agreeing to opt out of a playoff at the conclusion of two rounds.
 
Abner posted the best round of the pairing, a first-round 75 (+3) as they both finished with a 153 for the tourney. She followed that up with a 78 as the field included 31 total individuals.
 
Abner, just a freshman, also contributed to the team victory as the Fighting Scots posted team scores of 324 and 325.
 
Abner slashed almost three full shots off of her current season scoring average, which now sits at 86.25 through four events and eight rounds played.