Wheeling, W. Va. - At the conclusion of yesterday's Mountain East Conference (MEC) Spring Classic, the conference released their annual All-MEC teams. Based on results from both the MEC Men's Golf Championship and the MEC Spring Classic, the Wheeling University Men's Golf team set a new program record with three golfers being honors on this year's list, including their first First Team honoree since the 2022 season. Sophomore Zak Collins earned the First Team All-MEC honors, while Sean Dobson took Second Team All-MEC and Troy Loughry rounded out the list with an Honorable Mention All-MEC award.
Collins leads the list for the Cardinals, taking home his first career All-MEC honor after a breakout season on the golf course. After taking fourth and making the MEC All Tournament team in the fall, the sophomore continued his success at the MEC Spring Classic, taking home a 10th place finish, shooting a 144 (+2) across the two days of competition. Across five rounds of MEC play, totaling 90 holes. Collins would shoot a 362, finishing the conference season at +4. His performance at the MEC Spring Invitational started out strong, seeing him shoot an even 71 on day one before adding two strokes to his score with a 73 on day two. Across 22 rounds of golf this season, Collins has an average round score of 77.4, while ranking #76 in the Atlantic Region play heading into the final two weeks before the regional championships.
The Cardinals nearly had their second First Team All-MEC honoree, but graduate student Sean Dobson finished .4 shots shy to earn Second Team All-MEC honors. He would end up being the Cardinal's top performer at the MEC Spring Classic, shooting a 142 (E) across the two days of competition. He has consistently led the Cardinals throughout the season, putting up an average round score of 74.4 across 22 rounds, while ranking as the 14th best player in the Atlantic Region. Back in the fall, Dobson would end up finishing 14th at the MEC Championships, shooting a 227 across the three rounds. He started strong, shooting –1 in the first round, and following that with a +3 in the second round, but a rough third round would drop him out of the top 10. He would combine to shoot a 369 across the fall and spring, to earn his All-MEC honor.
Rounding out the trio was graduate student Troy Loughry, who took home Honorable Mention All-MEC honors. He rebounded nicely on day two of the MEC Spring Classic, dropping two strokes off his score to shoot a 146 (+4) for the event. It was a consistent performance with what he shot in the fall, with four of the five rounds all featuring scores in the mid-70's. Across the three days in the fall, Loughry would shoot a 232, bringing his total MEC score 378 (+20). His scoring in the spring was consistent with his 76.3 average round mark across 19 rounds of competition. He ranks #53 in the Atlantic Region, and will be looking to improve that ranking as the season goes on.
With Wheeling Men's Golf having three All-MEC honorees, the Wheeling Athletic Department has now had 50 student-athletes earn All-Conference honors this season. The three honorees were the most in program history in a single season for the Men's Golf team, and marks the first All-MEC golfers for the team since former Cardinal Yadhu Urs won Frist Team All-MEC back during the 2022 season. The last team to be honored was the Wheeling Track & Field team who had two honorees during indoor season with Alexander Rodriguez and Autumn King each earning Honorable Mention Honors.
The Wheeling University Men's Golf team returns to action on Tuesday, April 14th, when they compete at the IUP invitational.
