The Wheeling University Mens Golf team are ready to get the second event of their 2026 spring season underway this Monday, March 23rd, when they make the short trip to Washington, PA, to compete in the 2026 Vulcan Fire Invitational hosted by Cal-U. The Cardinals finished their first event of the spring in 6th place, with two Cardinals finishing inside the top 10 down in South Carolina in the Battle at Brunswick.

The top finisher for the Cardinals was graduate student Sean Dobson, who shot rounds of even, 1 over, and even to sit in third at +1. He would finish 3 shots shy of the eventual winner down in Calabash, but adds another positive top 3 finish to his season that boosts his regional ranking up to number 18. Only 5 shots behind him for the week was Federico Cobos Kallman, finishing in 8th place and impressing in his first competitive start for the Cardinals. Cobos Kallman shot rounds of 3 over, 1 under, and 4 over at Brunswick Plantation, setting a strong benchmark for the remainder of the run-in and showing he's settled down well in Wheeling thus far. Zak Collins was a mainstay of the Cardinal 5 throughout the fall, and the spring looks to be no different. Despite a rocky opening round of 82 on Thursday, he steadied the ship with rounds of 75 and 73 in the two days following, notably climbing 11 places on the leaderboard on the final day to finish in a tie for 35th.

Lodin Femoen and Luke Wennberg were the two to round out the Cardinal 5 for the opening event of the spring. Neither displayed their best golf for the 3 days but showed many positive signs to take into the Vulcan Invitational this week, with both contributing counting scores during the week. Femoen in particular showed his ability to dig deep late in the final day, carding 10 pars in a row to finish after going 8 over in his first 8, in what was a counting score for Wheeling and one they needed to beat close regional opposition Fayetteville by 1. Femoen would place in a tie for 56th, whilst Wennberg took 90th.

Overall, a 6th place finish down south to open the spring wasn't a bad result for the Cardinals, despite taking the lead halfway through the second round. Although they brought no silverware home to the Nail City, the Cardinals are showing they are a big player in the regional field, and will be looking to show that even more this week in Washington.

The Wheeling University Men's Golf team will kick off the Vulcan Fire Invitational on Monday morning, in a shotgun start around 9AM.