Wheeling, W. Va. – After opening the season at the Wheeling Invitational, the Wheeling University Men's & Women's Golf teams continue their stretch in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play. They will travel down to Charleston, West Virginia for the Golden Eagle Invitational, hosted by the University of Charleston. The Cardinals are looking to build off the success of their season opener at the Wheeling Invitational as they continue their stretch of conference tournament play.
The men's and Women's programs opened the 2025 fall season last Thursday when they hosted the Wheeling Invitational. It was the first home tournament for the golf programs since before the COVID 19 pandemic and both teams made the most of the opportunity. After day one of the event, the Cardinals would sit in fourth on the men's side and sixth on the women's side, with both programs having golfers sitting in the top 10 of the event after 18 holes. Heading into day two, both teams were looking to make jumps in both the team and individual standings and both sides had golfers who did just that. The women had all four of their golfers knock strokes off their score, while some big bounce backs helped the men maintain their top standing in the field. In the end, the men would finish fourth in the field, and as the best MEC team in competition, while the women would end up taking 6th overall.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was graduate student Troy Loughry, who was the only Cardinal golfer to crack the top 10 of the event. Loughry would finish eighth in the field, shooting a two-day score of 143. His strongest sound came on the first day, when the graduate student shot an even par at 71 to open the event. He came back on day two of the event and, despite adding one stroke to his score, was able to keep his top 10 standing. He would end up taking fourth among his fellow MEC golfers as he got off to a hot start to the fall season. Day two was characterized by bounce back efforts and the Cardinals got just that from sophomore Zak Collins. After shooting a 76 (+5) on day one of competition, Collins came back strong on day two, taking five strokes off his score to finish at an even Par. The day started out strong, with Collins hitting Eagle on the opening hole and carrying that momentum the rest of the day.
On the women's side, it was Ella Keffer who paced the effort, finishing second in the field with a two-day score of 159. She finished two strokes shy of Glenville Stats's Elainia Sealy, rounding out what was a career-best tournament for the senior. On day one, Keffer came out strong tying her single-round career best with an 80 through 18 holes. As she came back for day two, she took that performance and did one better, setting a new PR with a 70 on the second go around. Keffer earned her first All-MEC honors a season ago for the Cardinals, and looks to continue to gain more honors this season. The biggest bounce back from day one to day two came from sophomore Brielle Milhoan, wo went from shooting a 96 on day one to dropping that score to a 91 on day two. It helped her jump two spots into the top 25 as she looks to build on her success.
As they get set to head down to Charleston on Monday, it will be the first of back-to-back trips to Charleston for the men and the continuation of a four-tournament MEC stretch for the women. Head Coach Thadd Obecny has big plans for his teams to compete in the MEC this season, and getting the chance to see the competition they will face will help them as they get closer to that championship event. The men are playing three straight conference tournaments to open the season, while the women are playing four straight on their schedule. I. Their opening tournaments, the men tied for first among. Conference opponents while the women earned fourth among their conference competitors. Both teams will have to be in the conference's top six to advance to day three of the MEC Golf Championships and have a chance to compete for a conference title, and they are training to do just that.
The Details
Day one of the Charleston Golden Eagle Invitational is set for Monday, September 8th, with tee times beginning at 8 AM. Follow along with the Men's Tournament action by clicking HERE and the Women's Tournament action by clicking HERE.
