Beckley, W. Va. - Last season, Wheeling Men's Golfer Zak Collins got the chance to watch the Davis & Elkins Men's Golf team finish tied for second. This season, he was not only a part of the Wheeling Men's Golf team's fourth place finish, but led the way finishing tied for fourth in the field. For his efforts, Collins was named to the conference's All-Tournament team, putting together a three-day score of 218 to become the first All-Tournament team winner for the Cardinals since the 2019 season.
Collins would start hot out of the gates, putting together his best single round score across the opening 18 holes. The sophomore would shoot 71 to start the event, and was sitting in a tie for 3rd heading into round two. He would hit his only Eagle of the tournament on hole eight and had a strong front nine that also included two birdies, putting him at –3 as he headed over to the back nine. The strong start would fuel his performance through the final nine holes, as he added just two strokes the rest of the way. He would end up hitting par on seven of those final nine holes, shooting +2 on the back nine and bringing his total score to –1 after 18 holes of play. Thanks to the strong start, Collins would never concede his top five ranking over the final two rounds as he competed for a championship throughout.
Day two would be his highest score of the tournament, shooting 75 (+3) through the second 18 holes of play. While it dropped him two spots in the overall standings, he remained in the top five of the event, sitting tied for fifth with a two-day score of 146. He was tied with teammate Zak Collins and was sitting tied with teammate Sean Dobson for that fifth place. As he entered his final round of play, Collins got things off to a hot start with a birdie on hole one, the first of six birdies on the day, as he shot +1 on the front nine, followed by an even par on the back nine. It was enough to secure him the top five spot by one stroke over Glenville State's Fermin Perez Santandrea, and Collins earned his highest individual finish of the season.
The 2025 MEC Men's Golf medalist for this year's tournament was The University of Charleston's Pau Sanchez, who shot 213 over the three rounds of play. He was able to beat out Point Park's Milo Thim by two strokes for the award, and helped lead Charleston to the MEC Men's Golf Championship. The rest of the 2025 MEC Men's Golf All-Tournament Team looks like this:
Pau Sanchez - Charleston
Milo Thim - Point Park
Daiki Aiura 0 Glenville State
Caleb Young - Fairmont State
Zak Collins - Wheeling
The Wheeling University Men's Golf team now heads into their offseason break as they prepare for the 2026 spring portion of their schedule.
