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Wheeling, W. Va. – With the fall season just under two weeks away, the Wheeling University Men’s Golf team is preparing to take the course for the first time on September 4th. On Friday, the Mountain East Conference (MEC) released their annual MEC Men’s Golf Preseason poll, as voted on by the conference’s head coaches. The Cardinal’s Men’s Golf program earned the #8 spot in this year’s poll as their young roster looks to make an impact in the MEC field.
The 2024 season was a steppingstone year for the Cardinals, with the full roster being in either their freshmen or sophomore seasons. While they were a young team overall, the Cardinals gained valuable experience throughout the year, they would finish top 10 in two of their three regular season tournaments and finished in the top 15 each time out. The Cardinal’s best finish would come in the Dr. Wally Edgel Invitational, where the team finished 7th out of the 15 teams in the field. After a slow start cost them a trip to day three in the 2023 MEC Men’s Golf Championships, the Cardinals made sure that didn’t happen, sitting as high as second overall after day one of competition. They would advance to the third day for the first time since 2016, and finished 4th overall, their highest finish since the 2015 season.
The roster once again takes on a new look in 2025-2026, led by new Head Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach Thad Obecny. The Cardinals feature one of their biggest rosters in recent history, with 11 total golfer and seven of those being in either their freshmen or sophomore seasons. The Cardinals do have some veteran leadership in the group, led by sophomore Zak Collins. Collins advanced to the NCAA National Championships with Davis & Elkins last season, and is looking to bring that same fire with him to Wheeling. The Cardinals will also have a few returners from the spring season, including Caleb Minson and Lodin Femoen, who each played large roles for the team during the spring season.
As they look at the 2025 Fall schedule, the team will make themselves at home right from the start when they host the Wheeling Invitational, running September 4th and 5th. Wheeling follows that up with back-to-back trips to the University of Charleston, giving them a good look at their conference competition early on. They end the regular season with two regional tournaments, one being co-hosted with CAL-U and the other being at Pitt-Johnstown. It all leads up to the 2025 MEC Men’s Golf Championships, running October 6th – 8th, as the Cardinals chase down an MEC title. Obecny has stated that his team’s goals are to win the MEC in the fall, and he is looking to live up to that promise with this year’s squad.
Leading the way in this year’s MEC Men’s Golf preseason poll is the University of Charleston, who earned nine first place votes and 81 points overall. They were followed by Davis & Elkins, who finished with 67 points, and Glenville State, who added 55 points to their ledger. The rest of the 2025 MEC Men’s Golf Preseason Poll looks like this:
1.Charleston – (9) 81
2. Davis & Elkins – 67
3. Glenville State – 55
T4. Fairmont State – (1) 49
T4. West Virginia Wesleyan – 49
6. West Liberty – 48
7. Concord – 38
8. Wheeling – 36
9. West Virginia St. – 17
10. Point Park – 10
The Wheeling University Men’s Golf team opens the 2025 Fall season on Thursday, September 4th, when they host day one of the Wheeling Invitational, with tee times scheduled to begin around 9 AM.
