Wheeling, W. Va. - As they entered the second round of the 2025 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Men's Golf Championships, the Wheeling University Men's Golf team found themselves sitting on top of the leaderboard. The Cardinals battled once again throughout round two, but dropped two spots in the standings by shooting a 310 that put them third in the field. AS a team, the Cardinals sit 11 strokes behind conference leading Glenville State, and finished with two golfers in the top five after 36 holes.
The Cardinals top golfers mirrored each other once again with Zak Collins and Sean Dobson remaining tied, dropping two spots to #5 in the tournament field. After a fast start in round one, Collins was able to duplicate that effort on Tuesday, this time starting on the back nine. He would get things going with a birdie on hole 10 and added back-to-back pars to sit at –1 after three holes. He got a stroke back on hole 13, but would respond with back-to-back birdies to move his score to –2. He would end up hitting four birdies on the back nine of the course and as he hit the turn, he was the top golfer in the field at –2. As he turned around to the front nine, he would hit par on hole one before hitting a rough patch through the first seven holes. He would end up adding five strokes to his score, before paring on the final two holes to finish at =5 for the round and +3 for the day. He would shoot 146 through 36 holes and sits three strokes off the tournament lead.
The other Cardinal to reach the 146 mark is Dobson, who was the mark of consistency throughout the night. He would follow Collins on the back nine and would shoot par on six straight holes as he started the day. His biggest speed bump would come with back-to-back bogeys on 16 and 17, but he finished out the back nine with a par as he hit the turn sitting at +2. He would get one of those strokes back as he began the front nine, hitting birdie on hole one and then getting back to his consistency as the round went on. He would hit par on four straight holes, but lost ground with a double on hole six. He would finish out strong, with pars on each of the final three holes and shot +1 as he finished out the front nine. It brought his two-day total to +2 for the event and looks to make a push for the individual conference title on day three.
The lone Cardinal to take strokes off their day one score was Lodin Femoen, who dropped from an 81 in round one to a 79 in round two. It was his work on the front nine that led to his successful day as he hit his lone birdie, while shooting par on six of the nine holes. On the back nine, Femoen would equal his back nine score from day one, but was more consistent with four pars on the back nine. It was enough to jump him into the top 30, as he sits tied for 29th entering the final 18 holes of the fall. Sitting just outside the top 20 was Troy Loughry, who shot an 82 in the second round to drop 10 places in the standings. He would pick-up two birdies in the round, and looks for a bounce back over the final 18 holes.
Rounding out the day for the Cardinals was Elias Ekenes-Fosback, who would shoot 81 over the 18 holes to add two strokes to his score. It was a consistent front nine that led the freshman, as he dropped three strokes off his day one score in the front nine. He would end up shooting par on seven of the nine holes in the round, adding just two strokes to his score, while picking up his first birdie on the back nine.
Round three of the MEC Men's Golf Championships is set for Wednesday, October 8th, with tee times beginning at 10:20 AM.
