Wheeling, W. Va. - A new era of Wheeling Men's & Women's Golf begins in 2025-2026, with the announcement of Thadd Obecny as the Head Men's & Women's Golf coach. On Thursday, the teams will take the course for the first time as they host the Wheeling Invitational at the Belmont Hills Country Club. The Cardinals will play host to 11 teams from across the region as both programs look to get off to a strong start as they chase down a Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship.
The 2024 fall season saw both programs reach new heights with two very different story lines. On the women's side, the Cardinals were a veteran unit that was small, but was highlighted by individual successes. They competed in three regular season tournaments, with each of their three golfers putting together strong performances. At the MEC Women's Golf Championships, the Cardinals would send two of their three golfers to the final day of competition, placing both players in the event's top 20. On the men's side, it was a young unit with the entire starting five being in either their freshman or sophomore seasons. The Cardinals would compete in three regular season tournaments, finishing top 10 in two of those three tournaments. As a team, the Cardinals had their highest finish since the 2015 season, taking fourth overall, and they look to build on that success this season.
On the women's side, the Cardinals are led by their lone returning all-conference golfer from last season. Keffer would be the Cardinal's top golfer at the MEC Championships, bringing home a 15th place finish with a three-day combined score of 259. She saved her best performance for the final day of the tournament, where she shot an 87 to secure her hold on the 15th place spot in the tournament. The Cardinal's will also welcome back sophomore Brielle Milhoan, who made an impact with the Cardinals right away during her freshman season. She was the Cardinal's top golfer at the season opening event and led the Cardinals for three of their first four rounds of the season. Both Keffer and Milhoan will look to be leaders for the 2025 squad as they look to grow their numbers.
On the men's side, the Cardinal returners are part of a young core that has gained experience over the last year. Leading the way is sophomore Caleb Minson who was one of two returning sophomores to see time in both the fall and spring seasons. He would play over seven rounds between the two seasons and had an average round score of 81.2. As the season went on, Minson continued to improve, with his best round of the season coming in hr spring season. He shot a two-round score of 155 at the West Liberty Invitational, and looks to build on that success this season. Joining the young group is Transfer Zac Collins, who played last season with Davis & Elkins. Collins would help the Senators to the NCAA National Tournament and looks to bring that big game experience to the Cardinals.
In his first event as Wheeling University Head Men's & Women's Gold Coach, Obecny will be hosting the first golf tournament at Wheeling since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will be played at Belmont Hills Country Club and will be attended by several teams from throughout the MEC and the Atlantic Region. The early season schedule for both the Men's and Women's teams are set up with several conference opponents in mind. The men will head to three straight MEC Tournaments to start the season, while the women will be attending four straight conference events. With the team goal being to compete for an MEC Title this fall, seeing competition from around the conference early will help the team set a bench mark that they can build off of the rest of the season.
Event Details
The 2025 Wheeling Invitational will be a two-, _#6 event, held at the Belmont Hills Country Club. It will be a two-round, two-day event for both the men's and women's teams, with all teams playing one 18-hole round each day. Wheeling will play host to Millersville, CAL-U, Fairmont State, Point Park, Concord, Bluefield State, West Virginia Wesleyan, and West Liberty. The Men will also host IUP while the women's 10th team will be conference opponent Glenville State.
The Details
Round one of the Wheeling Invitational is set for Thursday, September 4th, at the Belmont Hills Country Club. You can watch the action live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
