Washington, PA. – As the race to the 2026 NCAA DII Regional Championships is in full swing, the top teams in the Atlantic Region made their way to the Lone Pine Country Club on Monday. Among them was the Wheeling Men's Golf team, and the Cardinals flew high above the rest, holding a four stroke lead over CAL-U for the top spot in the tournament field. Leading the way was a trio of Cardinal golfers all sitting at 74, as the team put up a 299 to round out the opening round.
Graduate students Sean Dobson and Troy Loughry, and sophomore Zak Collins, all shot 74 (+2) on the opening day of competition. The first to take the course was Dobson, who teed off at 11 AM, and he battled through the first few holes of the day. He would hit bogey on three of the first four holes, and slowly began to work his way back throughout the day. After sitting at +3 through four holes, he was able to get back on track, hitting par on four straight holes. He would finish the front nine strong, hitting birdie on the ninth hole to hit the back nine sitting at +2 heading to the back nine. He put together his best performance of the day after hitting the turn, paring on hole 10 and taking another stroke off his score with a birdie on 11. He would par on six straight holes heading to the last hole sitting at +1. He would add his final stroke on the final hole, and finished with a score of +2 to round out the first 18.
The best start out of the top three golfers was Troy Loughry, who competed for the first time during the spring. He would balance out a bogey and a birdie through the first three holes, and added two pars to sit even through five. He would add one more stroke down the stretch and sat at +1 as he hit the turn. He would hit par on hole 10 before adding a stroke on hole 11. He would round out his day with seven pars to finish the day and his score remained +2 to finish at 74 on the day. Collins would be the final of the three golfers to finish at +2, and set up just like Dobson did at +3 after four holes. Like Dobson, he got a stroke back with a birdie on hole six and sat at +1 heading to the back nine. His back nine would end up mirroring that of Dobson's, birdieing n hole 11 and bogeying on hole 18 to finish at +2 to create the three-way tie.
The final scoring Cardinal golfer was Federico Cobos Kallmann, who shot 77 (+5) to round out the team scoring. The back nine was also his strongest showing as he hit the turn sitting at +5. He would par on hole 10, before adding a bogey on hole 11 to sit at +6. He would end up paring on six of the final seven holes, with a birdie on hole 16 rounding out the day with a 77. Rounding out the team portion of the event was Lodin Femoen, who shot an 83 (+11) to round out the first 18 holes of action. He would pick up one birdie on hole 11 and pared on five holes on the back nine. He totaled nine pars in the round and finished six strokes away from scoring for the team. Along with the team portion of the event, the Cardinals also had three individuals competing in the event, with one of those finishing in the top 10.
Leading the individual effort was Elias Ekenes-Fosback, who finished the day with a 75 to sit +3. He would put together the strongest back nine of any Cardinal golfer, hitting all three of his pars and shooting –1 over the final nine holes. He coupled that with five pars on the front nine to round out the top 10 finish. Luke Wennberg and Makstr McIntyre would round out the day, with Wennberg shooting a 79 to sit 35th while McIntyre shot an 80 to finish 38th overall in the field.
The Wheeling University Men's Golf team returns to action on Tuesday, March 24th, when they compete in round two of the Vulcan Fire Invitational beginning at 12 PM.
