Men's Golf | 10/10/2025 12:00:00 PM
TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - The two-time defending champion Allegheny College Gators were picked first in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) men's golf pre-championships poll for the 2025-26 season, as voted on by the conference's 10 head coaches. The results of the poll were revealed with the PAC's Players to Watch List Friday.
This year’s PAC Championships will feature a 72-hole stroke play event, beginning with 36 holes played Monday-Tuesday, October 13-14 at the Avalon Golf and Country Club. The men will play two rounds at Avalon Lakes in Warren, Ohio.
The final 36 holes of this year’s championships will be played Friday-Saturday, April 24-25, 2025 at Mill Creek Metroparks and the Mill Creek Golf Course in Boardman, Ohio, with the men playing their final two rounds on the South Course.
Allegheny, who won their 15th PAC championship last year, earned the top spot on nine ballots and scored 81 points to rank first in this year's pre-championships poll. Right behind the Gators was Washington & Jefferson College, last year's PAC Championship runner-up, in second place with 68 points and the final first-place vote.
Finishing in third place was Saint Vincent College, who gathered 62 points to place ahead of Westminster College (59) in fourth and Grove City College (55) in fifth place. There was a three-way tie for sixth between Bethany College, Thiel College and Waynesburg University with 27 points. The polling was rounded out by Geneva College in ninth (26) and Hiram College (18).
Hiram returns to the PAC in all sports this year, expanding the Men's Golf Championships to 10 teams. The Terriers were members of the PAC from 1971-89 and this will be their first appearance at PAC Championships since the spring of '89 when Hiram placed second overall.
Allegheny completed a wire-to-wire run in capturing its second consecutive PAC Men's Golf Championship last year, finishing with a four-round score of 1,185 (295-294-295-301) to out-distance second place W&J by 33 shots. Now entering his 25th year leading the Gators, head coach Jeff Groff, who was voted PAC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row, has two All-PAC players returning to help Allegheny's three-peat efforts. Junior Connor Bell placed seventh overall with a 304 to earn Second Team All-PAC and senior Dylan Kochis tied for 12th (309) to claim Honorable Mention.
Bell and Kochis are both on this year's Players to Watch list, which includes seven returning All-PAC players. The list is highlighted by three first team all-conference golfers from last year, as well as three Second Team players and one Honorable Mention.
The top returning player from 2024-25 is Westminster junior Tyler Hager. He placed third overall last year with a four-round total of 301 and has continued his strong play this year. Hager was named the PAC Player of the Week for Sept. 9 after winning the Saint Vincent Invitational with a two-over, 74, which was highlighted by an eagle on the par-5, No. 3 at Latrobe Country Club.
Also back after First Team All-PAC efforts last year are Geneva senior Austin Goehring and Saint Vincent junior Matt Edwards, who both tied for fifth place after carding 303 for the tournament. For Goehring, he became the first Geneva player ever to earn First Team All-PAC honors, while Edwards was the first Bearcat to be first team all-conference since the 2019-20 season.
The Players to Watch list includes six members of the Spring 2025 PAC Academic Honor Roll, which recognizes student-athletes on varsity sports teams who earned a grade-point average (GPA) of 3.6 or higher on a 4.0 scale during their semester of competition.
The All-PAC teams, along with the PAC Players of the Year and PAC Newcomers of the Year, are determined by the combined 72-hole scores from the fall and spring championships. The All-PAC teams are made up of the top 15 overall scorers (5 first team, 5 second team, 5 honorable mention). The combined 72-hole team totals determine PAC team champions and winners of the league's automatic-qualifying bid to the Division III Championships.
The 2026 Division III Men's Championships are scheduled for May 12-15 at Mission Resort and Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
| 2025-26 PAC Men's Golf Preseason Coaches' Poll (Predicted order of finish) |
| School (first-place votes) |
Points |
2024-25 Conference Championships finish |
| 1. Allegheny College (9) |
81 |
1st (of 9) at PAC Championships, 1185 [295-294-295-301] |
| 2. Washington & Jefferson College (1) |
68 |
2nd (of 9) at PAC Championships, 1218 [304-303-310-301] |
| 3. Saint Vincent College |
62 |
5th (of 9) at PAC Championships, 1245 [314-311-309-311] |
| 4. Westminster College |
59 |
3rd (of 9) at PAC Championships, 1219 [315-308-292-304] |
| 5. Grove City College |
55 |
4th (of 9) at PAC Championships, 1244 [320-319-301-304] |
| 6t. Bethany College |
27 |
7th (of 9) at PAC Championships, 1301 [325-332-325-319] |
| 6t. Thiel College |
27 |
8th (of 9) at PAC Championships, 1306 [332-352-309-313] |
| 6t. Waynesburg University |
27 |
9th (of 9) at PAC Championships, 1319 [329-341-344-332] |
| 9. Geneva College |
26 |
6th (of 9) at PAC Championships, 1251 [307-327-305-312] |
| 10. Hiram College |
18 |
8th (of 8) at NCAC Championships |
2025-26 PAC Men's Golf Players to Watch
1=2025 1st Team All-PAC / 2=2nd Team All-PAC / HM = Honorable Mention
| Allegheny College |
| Name |
Yr. |
Hometown/High School |
| Connor Bell (2) |
Jr. |
Montrose, Col./Montrose |
| Dylan Kochis (HM) |
Sr. |
Saint Augustine, Fla./B. Reed Henderson (Pa.) |
| Bethany College |
| Name |
Yr. |
Hometown/High School |
| Payton Hildebrand |
Jr. |
Wellsburg, W.Va./Wheeling Central |
| Ian Longo |
Fr. |
Winchester, Va./James Woods |
| Samuel Phillips |
Jr. |
Charleston, W.Va./Herbert Hoover |
| Brayden Roberts |
Fr. |
Franklin, Ky./Franklin-Simpson |
| Jude Smith (2) |
Jr. |
Weirton, W.Va./Weir |
| Geneva College |
| Name |
Yr. |
Hometown/High School |
| Ryan Edwards (2) |
Jr. |
North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin |
| Austin Goehring (1) |
Sr. |
Mount Pleasant, Pa./Southmoreland |
| Grove City College |
| Name |
Yr. |
Hometown/High School |
| Luke Gronbeck |
So. |
Gibsonia, Pa./Eden Christian |
| Nathan Young |
Jr. |
Street, Md./Homeschooled |
| Hiram College |
| Name |
Yr. |
Hometown/High School |
| Michael Clark |
Jr. |
Andover, Ohio/Pymatuning Valley |
| Robert Morgan |
Jr. |
Massillon, Ohio/Washington |
| Ian Muka |
So. |
Fredericktown, Ohio/Fredericktown |
| Saint Vincent College |
| Name |
Yr. |
Hometown/High School |
| Brendan Cooley |
Sr. |
Pittsburgh, Pa./Serra Catholic |
| Matt Edwards (1) |
Jr. |
Bedford, Pa./Bedford |
| Thiel College |
| Name |
Yr. |
Hometown/High School |
| Jackson Gadsby |
Sr. |
Sandy Lake, Pa./Lakeview |
| Joe Grundy |
Jr. |
Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown |
| Eli Nicklas |
So. |
Erie, Pa./Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy |
| Brady Rzodkiewicz |
Sr. |
Harborcreek, Pa./Harbor Creek |
| Washington & Jefferson College |
| Name |
Yr. |
Hometown/High School |
| Aftab Bakshi |
Fr. |
New Delhi, India/Modern School Barakhamba Road |
| Sean Clark |
Fr. |
Madison, Wis./Monona Grove |
| Davis Kittsley |
Fr. |
Fox Chapel, Pa./Fox Chapel |
| Trey Roberts |
Fr. |
Leechburg, Pa./Kiski Area |
| Shane Williams |
Fr. |
Peters Township, Pa./Peters Township |
| Waynesburg University |
| Name |
Yr. |
Hometown/High School |
| Matthew Karpeal |
Sr. |
Smithfield, Pa./Albert Gallatin |
| Hudson Pincavitch |
Sr. |
Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg Central |
| Alan Tarolli |
So. |
Washington, Pa./Fort Cherry |
| Westminster College |
| Name |
Yr. |
Hometown/High School |
| Joshua Furman |
Sr. |
Jefferson, Ohio/Jefferson |
| Aydan Gross |
Fr. |
Mount Pleasant, Pa./Mount Pleasant |
| Jonathan Haddox |
Sr. |
Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park |
| Tyler Hager (1) |
Jr. |
Lehighton, Pa./Palmerton |
| Brody Pirt |
Fr. |
Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley |