HARRIS---The West Virginia University Mountaineers men's golf team finished what it started on Monday, cruising to a resounding victory at the Island Resort Collegiate at Sage Run.
The Mountaineers followed up Sunday's 40-under par performance with another stellar performance on Monday, shooting 15-under par to finish the tournament with a sizzling 55-under par 809 to win the 54-hole event.
WVU sophomore Ryan Leach hung on to win the individual championship, after shooting 16-under par in the first two rounds, he barely broke par on Monday, finishing at 1-under par. Still, it was good enough to win the championship with a 17-under par, 199. Afterward, he simply said: "I'm at a loss for words".
Teammate Kaleb Wilson finished second overall, and WVU's Nicholas Turowski finished tied for third overall.
The Mountaineers won as a team by six strokes over the defending champion Purdue Boilermakers, who shot well all weekend but finished six strokes back (-49, 815).
Purdue was led by redshirt freshman Andre Zhu tied Turowski for a share of third place at -15.
Michigan State's McCoy Biagioli also finished at -15. His 201 is the second-lowest 54-hole score in Michigan State golf program history
Ball State golfer, competing as an individual, got a hole-in-one during Sunday's action.
The University of Michigan finished third overall, seven strikes behind Purdue and 13 strokes behind West Virginia. Michigan State finished fifth, ten strokes behind Michigan. Both the Wolverines and Spartans rallied in the final two rounds to move up the team standings. This was the fifth year for the Island Resort Collegiate, with 12 teams, all of them NCAA Division One, participating. The host school was South Dakota State, which started this tournament when Upper Peninsula native Casey VanDamme was the Jackrabbits' coach. VanDamme is now the women's coach at Kent State University.
ISLAND RESORT TEAM SCOREBOARD
West Virginia 809 (-55)
Purdue 815 (-49)
Michigan 822 (-42)
Michigan State 832 (-32)
St. Mary’s California 836 (-28)
Nebraska 838 (-26)
Central Florida 842 (-22)
Illinois State 845 (-19)
Texas-El Paso 846 (-18)
South Dakota State 853 (-9)
Ball State 861 (-3)
Miami Ohio 860 (-2)
More stories and photos below courtesy of the participating schools.
FOLLOWING STORY, PHOTOS COURTESY OF WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
Sophomore Ryan Leach shot a school-record 17-under-par to win his second collegiate tournament in leading the West Virginia University golf team to a 55-under-par team total, also a school record, in capturing the Island Resort Collegiate in Bark River, Michigan, on Monday.
Leach, who won The Stono as a freshman, becomes the fourth two-time winner in school history, and it marks the 11th time in history a WVU golfer has won a collegiate tournament. Leach set school records of -17, besting the previous mark of -15 set by Mark Goetz, and 199 total score, also eclipsing Goetz's previous record of 201, both set at the Lake Las Vegas Intercollegiate in2021. Leach finished with rounds of 63-65-71=199 (-17).
The Mountaineers captured the top three spots at the event with senior Kaleb Wilson finishing one stroke behind Leach. Wilson charged on the final day with a career-best 64 to finish at -16 (69-67-64=200). Sophomore Nick Turowski took third at -15 with rounds of 66-69-66=201, setting personal-best marks of 66.
Freshman Jack Michael played in his first collegiate tournament and shot -7 with rounds of 68-69-72=209 to finish in 18th place. Junior Harrison Thompson recorded rounds of 74-72-74=220 (+4). Senior Westy McCabe competed as an individual and shot 6-under-par (70-70-70=210) to finish in 23rd place.
Playing in this event for the first time, the Mountaineers shot 55-under-par (266-270-273=809) in the 54-hole tournament, setting school records of under par score and total score. The 55-under-par score tied for the 18th best 54-hole total in NCAA history. WVU's previous best team scores were -28 at the Lake Las Vegas Intercollegiate in 2021-22 and 826 at the Ka'anapali Collegiate Classic in 2019-20.
West Virginia downed second-place Purdue by six shots. Michigan (-42), Michigan State (-32), Saint Mary's (28), Nebraska (-26), UCF (-22), Illinois State (-19), UTEP (-18), South Dakota State (-11), Ball State (-3) and Miami University (-2) rounded out the team scoring.
"The boys played some inspired golf this week," coach Sean Covich said. "They put up numbers I've never seen before in my coaching career.
"Coach Will Koras did a phenomenal job getting the boys ready to play. I'm at a loss for words, just so happy for the guys and so proud of them all."
FOLLOWING STORY, PHOTOS COURTESY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY
The Purdue men’s golf team had another strong round, but couldn’t catch a red-hot West Virginia team, finishing second in the season-opening Island Resort Intercollegiate held at Sage Run Golf Club in Bark River, Michigan.
Purdue fired a 54-hole score of 49-under par 815 (277-264-274) to finish six shots behind West Virginia (-55) for a runner-up finish. Michigan was third at 42-under par 822, while Michigan State (32-under par 832) and Saint Mary’s (28-under par 836) rounded out the top five.
Purdue, the defending champion in the event, trailed West Virginia by five shots entering today’s final round. The Mountaineers were 10-under par through the turn, while the Boilermakers were 6-under par through the turn, putting too much distance between them to catch up for the Purdue squad.
Leading the Boilermakers was redshirt freshman Andre Zhu, finishing in a third-place tie at 15-under par 201 (68-65-68). Zhu played flawless golf all week, amassing 17 birdies against just two bogeys en route to a top-five finish in his first career event.
Sam Easterbrook surged into a sixth-place tie at 12-under par 204 (71-66-67) after a final-round 67. After a 71 in his opening round, Easterbrook posted 13 birdies against two bogeys in the final two rounds for his 10th career top-10 showing.
Freshman Will Harvey had a difficult final round, shooting a 2-over par 74, but still recorded a top-15 finish in his first career event with an 8-under par 208 (70-64-74).
Sophomore Supapon Amornchaichan also recorded a top-15 showing at 8-under par 208 (70-69-69). Amornchaichan had two eagles on the week, the lone Boilermaker with an eagle, both coming on par-4 holes.
Senior Kentaro Nanayama finished tied for 23rd at 6-under par 210 (69-71-70).
Playing as an individual, Jenson Forrester was tied for 28th at 5-under par 211 (70-71-70), while Yilin Sun was 70th at 5-over par 221 (72-71-78).
FOLLOWING STORY, PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Setting 24 career and program records at Sage Run Golf Club, the University of Michigan men's golf team opened its season with a program-record 822 (-42) 54-hole total, finishing third at the Island Resort Intercollegiate on Monday (Sept. 1).
After opening with team scores of 281 (-7) and 274 (-14) on Sunday's 36-hole first day, Michigan stood in fourth place at 555 (-21). On Monday, fueled by career-low rounds of 65 (-7) from sophomores RJ Arone (11 pars, 7 birdies) and Dean Muratore (8 pars, 7 birdies, 1 eagle, two bogeys), the Wolverines fired a 267 (-21) -- tying the program record for lowest single-round team score and posting the best round of the day by six shots. The dominant final round doubled U-M's under-par total and propelled the team into third place, finishing with a new 54-hole program record of 822 (-42).
In an impressive display of scoring, all 12 teams in the field finished the opening event under par. West Virginia captured the title with a remarkable 809 (-55), while Purdue followed as runner-up at 815 (-49).
Arone led the Wolverines for the first time, shattering his 54-hole career best with a 205 (-11) total at Sage Run. His previous low was a 214 (-2) at last year's Canadian Collegiate Invitational (Sept. 16–17), which also happens to be U-M's next event. Arone's final-round 65 (-7) marked a new career-low by four shots -- surpassing his previous best of 69 (-3) set during the second round of the Buckeye Classic (April 11–12, 2025). His stellar finish also marked the first time he's recorded three consecutive sub-par rounds in a 54-hole tournament.
Making his first career start, sophomore Nicolas Simon earned his first top 15 finish by tying for 12th. He posted three consecutive sub-par rounds, including a career-best final round 68 (-4), which helped him improve his previous 54-hole total by 14 strokes to finish at 207 (-9).
In his Michigan debut at Sage Run, sophomore Nilay Naik matched his career-low 54-hole total with a 208 (-8). He also tied his career-best round with a 67 (-5) in the second round. Finishing tied for 15th, Naik has now placed in the top 20 in eight of his 11 collegiate events. After opening with a 70 (-2), Muratore slipped off the pace with a second-round 75. However, he rebounded strongly in the final round, carding a career-low 65 (-7) to set a new 54-hole personal best of 210 (-6), finishing tied for 24th.
Freshman Jordan Hwang made his first career start with an opening 75 but made crucial adjustments to close the tournament with U-M's fifth sub-par 54-hole total among the starting five, shooting 213 (-3) and tying for 35th. After starting his round five-over through 14 holes, Hwang finished the final 40 holes eight-under, recording 12 birdies, four bogeys, and 26 pars during that stretch.
Playing as an individual, sophomore Johnny Solis tied for 23rd, posting his first career sub-par 54-hole total and shattering his previous best by 19 shots. With three consecutive sub-par rounds, Solis finished with a career low 210 (-6).
The Wolverines will continue their return-visit schedule as they head back to MacTier, Ontario, to compete in the Canadian Collegiate Invitational (Sept. 14–16) at Oviinbyrd Golf Club. Last season, former Wolverine Hunter Thomson earned medalist honors with a 202 (-14), helping Michigan tie for runner-up in the 10-team field.
FOLLOWING STORY COURTESY OF MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Michigan State's men's golf team fired a 15-under par 273 in the final round and junior transfer McCoy Biagioli tied for third place at 15-under par 201 as the Spartans finished in fourth place among 12 teams at the season-opening Island Resort Intercollegiate, played at Sage Run Golf Course in Bark River in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
MSU finished the two-day, 54-hole tournament with a score of 32-under par 832 (282-277-273).
West Virginia won the team title at 55-under par 809 (266-270-273), with Purdue in second place at 61-under par 815 (277-264-274) and Michigan finished in third place.
The Spartans' team score of 832 (282-277-273) is the fourth-lowest 54-hole score in program history and the 15-under par 273 in the final round is tied for the fifth-lowest 18-hole team score at MSU.
Michigan State was led by Biagioli, a transfer from Ferris State, who tied for third place at 15-under par 201 (67-69-65). Biagioli's score of 201 is tied for the second-lowest 54-hole tournament score in program history and one shot short of tying the school record, set by Drew Hackett in 2022.
The Spartans had a pair of golfers finish among the top-20, with senior Caleb Bond tying for 18th place at 7-under par 209 (71-69-69).
Freshman Connor Cox tied for 28th place at 5-under par 211 (73-69-69). After an opening round 1-over par 73 on Sunday, Fox posted consecutive rounds of 3-under par 69 to close out his first collegiate event.
Junior Lorenzo Pinili tied for 40th place at 2-under par 214 (74-70-70) and sophomore Julian Menser tied for 53rd place at 1-over par 217 (71-72-74).
The Spartans have three playing as individuals, with graduate Ashton McCulloch tying for 18th place at 7-under par 209 (70-70-69), junior Lucas Acevedo tying for 31st place at 4-under par 212 (68-72-72) and sophomore Juan Velasquez tying for 58th place at 2-over par 218 (74-66-78).
FOLLOWING STORU COURTESY OF BALL STATE UNIVERSITY
Cameron Young was just one day older, but following a birthday on Sunday during his first rounds as a Ball State Cardinal, he fired a 3-under par 69 at Sage Run Golf Club to pace the Cardinals in third-round play, Monday. Young's 69 and senior Carter Smith's 1-under 71 helped Ball State climb a standings position to pass Mid-American Conference rival Miami into 11th place.
Young shot birdie on three of his final six holes his final round, bouncing back from +3 and +1 cards in Sunday's first 36 holes. He finished 1-over par for the tournament, finishing one stroke behind Smith who was sub-par in his second straight round to finish even at par 216.
Leading the Cardinals overall at the Island Resort Intercollegiate was Smith, who countered an uncharacteristic 5-over par first round, with a pair of rounds at -4 and -1. Smith and Young were joined on the Cardinals leaderboard by freshman Luke Johnston whose -3 scorecard in Sunday's opening round was the Cardinals best score to begin the tournament. Johnston finished at 1-over, tie with Young
"We experienced what college golf is all about this week," said veteran coach Mike Fleck. "All these teams and players are really good and it shows in the scoring here at this event. Our young guys got their eyes opened. We did a nice job today battling back, and an area we need to make strides in is our mentality as we handle adversity. It got to our young guys at times. As we gain experience, everything will improve."
Those young guys included freshman Samuel Harris who began the tournament a stroke behind Johnston in the opening round, but finished at +2 and +2 to finish the event. Harris carded a +2 score for the tournament and sophomore Happy Gilmore finished at +6. Individual golfer Gavin Hare, who fired a hole-in-one during Sunday's first trip around the Sage Run course, finished a stroke behind Harris at +3.
