Story Links
Beckley, W. Va. – After a long regular season, the 2025 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Men’s Golf Championships officially kicked off with round one on Monday. It was a big day for the Wheeling University Men’s Golf team, who sits in 1st place after 18 holes with a combined score of 297. It is a tight race a top the leaderboard, with Wheeling and the University of Charleston being separated by just four strokes.
It was a pair of golfers leading the way for Wheeling on day one with Zak Collins and Sean Dobson both shooting 71 through the first 18 holes. Collins would start his day on hole one and got off to the best start of any of his teammates at the event. After starting his day with a par on hole one, he would take one stroke off his score with the first of two birdies on the front nine. He would end up evening his score on hole four, but got that stroke back on hole 5 to remain at –1/ The big shot of the front nine came on hole eight, when Collins hit his first Eagle of the year and finished –3 as he headed to the back nine. The strong start on the front nine was enough to sustain Collins through the back nine, as he hit seven pars, but added two bogeys along the way. He finished the back nine at +2 but, thanks to the strong showing on the front nine, was able to stay under par for the first round of the event.
Dobson flipped flop his success with Collins, having a slower front nine before turning things up over the final nine holes. He began his day on hole one and would hit three straight pars to start his day. He would lead the Cardinals with four birdies in the round, the first of which coming on hole four to drop him under par. He would add two strokes on the next four holes to go to +1, but a birdie on hole nine sent him back to even as he headed towards the back nine. He immediately got back under par with his third birdie on hole 10 to start a strong back nine. Dobson would hit par on six of the final eight holes, with the exception being a balancing act on hole 13 and 14 where he bogeyed and birdied. He would finish the back nine at –1 and the strong finish would put him under par to round out the first 18 holes.
Joining Dobson and Collins in the top 15 of the event was Troy Loughry, who is sitting tied for 13th at 76. The front nine saw the graduate student have his share of struggles, and he went to the front nine sitting at +3. However, back-to-back pars got him back on the right track, and an eagle on hole 12 got him his confidence back. He would hit par two more times on the back nine and added his second birdie of the round to finish at +4 over the 18 holes. Elias Ekenes-Fosback would round out the four Cardinal scorers, shooting a 79 to finish just outside of the top 20 of the event. Like Loughry, Ekenes-Fosback would also struggle on the front nine, shooting +5, but straightened himself out on the back nine. He would par five times on the final nine holes and hit his second birdie of the day to post a +2 and bring his day one score to +7.
The final Cardinal to compete in round one was sophomore Lodin Femoen, who finished tied for 32nd overall, shooting an 81. For Femoen, it was the front nine that saw him start strong as he pared six times over those first nine holes, with his best showing coming with a birdie on hole four. He would add three more birdies on the back nine, but mixed in three doubles to round out the day at +6 and bring his total score for the first 18 holes to +9.
Round two of the 2025 MEC Men’s Golf Championships is scheduled for Tuesday, October 6th, with tee times beginning at noon.
