Wheeling, W. Va. – After a big week of Atlantic Regional play, the Wheeling University Men's Golf team continues their push for a team appearance at the 2026 NCAA DII Atlantic Regional Championships. On Wednesday, the team got one step closer to that goal when Clippd released their weekly Atlantic Regional rankings. The Cardinals jumped one spot in the weekly ranking, moving to #12 in the region as they get one step closer to securing their regional spot.
The Cardinals are coming off their top tournament of the spring so far, tying for second at the Vulcan Fire Invitational. They would play across two rounds of gold and put together a team score of 601, including their first ever sub-300 round score of 299 in round one. After the first 18 holes of play, the Cardinals were sitting in a four stroke lead in the team field and looked to continue the success into day two. The competition was fierce over the final 18 holes, with two individual Cardinals dropping their scores and four teams battling for the top spot in the team field. In the end, Wheeling would shoot a 302 across the second round and finished as part of a three-way tie for second in the field. Wheeling graduate student Troy Loughry would lead the Cardinals, finishing second in the field with a 144 to shoot even par, while two golfers finished in the top 20 to round out the day.
The Cardinals have played 22 rounds between the fall and the spring events, and rank #12 in the region and #148 in the country. They have a scoring average of 303.2 on the season and are averaging 13.32 points per round. Monday marked the highest team finish of either the fall or spring season, and marked the fifth time in seven events that the Cardinals have finished top five in a single event. Individually, the team is lead by graduate student Sean Dobson, who ranks #15th in the region and 451st in the nation. He is the highest ranking golfer for the Cardinals since the 2021 season when former Cardinal Yadhu Urs qualified for the Regional Championships. Sitting behind him is Loughry, who is currently ranked #51 in the region and is coming off his best tournament finish of the season. The Cardinals look to their two veterans to lead the young team towards the regional championships.
The Cardinals are one of five MEC teams ranked in the top 15 of this week's regional rankings, joining Fairmont State, Charleston, Glenville State, and West Liberty. The top 13 teams advance to the 2026 NCAA DII Atlantic Regional Championships, and the jump gives the Cardinals a safety net in the team portion of the field. They were ranked to start the spring season, and have sat in the top 13 in each of the first three weeks.
The Wheeling University Men's Golf team returns to action on Tuesday, April 7th, when they host day one of the MEC Spring Classic.
