Allegheny championship team picture courtesy of Robert Hayes

BOARDMAN, Ohio (pacathletics.org) - By shooting a team score of 301 in windy conditions in Saturday's final round, Allegheny College completed a wire-to-wire run in capturing its second consecutive Presidents' Athletic Conference Men's Golf Championship.

The final two rounds were played at Mill Creek Golf Course in Boardman, Ohio, with teams playing the Donald Ross-designed South Course, a 6526-yard, par-70 layout.

By capturing the crown, the Gators earned the PAC's automatic berth into the 2025 NCAA Division III Championships. Team selections for the Division III Men's Championships will be announced Monday, May 12 and their Championships are scheduled for May 20-23 at Midvale Country Club in Penfield, N.Y.

After posting rounds of 295-294 in the fall's 36 holes, Allegheny put together solid efforts of 295 in Friday's third round and tied for the low round in Saturday's finale by scoring 301. That enabled the Gators to finish with a four-round total of 1185, which was 33 strokes in front of runner-up Washington & Jefferson College. The Presidents matched Allegheny Saturday with a team round of 301, which lifted them back into second place with a total of 1218, one shot in front of Westminster College. The Titans, who had the low round of 292 Friday, came in at 304 Saturday to finish third overall (1219).

Fourth through sixth place were separated by only seven shots, as Grove City College took fourth (1244), Saint Vincent College was fifth (1245) and Geneva College earned sixth (1251). Rounding out the nine-team leaderboard was Bethany College (1301) in seventh, Thiel College in eighth (1306) and Waynesburg University (1319). 

Leading the Gators to their wire-to-wire victory was senior Carter Hassenplug, who led the individual title race from start to finish. He took the lead with an opening round 67 in the fall, then followed with a 73 and back-to-back rounds of 72 this spring. His final score of even par, 284 put him in first place by 13 strokes, as he earned PAC Player of the Year for the third consecutive season. In the process, Hassenplug became just the second player in PAC history to win more than two Player of the Year honors. The only other player in conference history to win it more was W&J's Mike Revak, who won it four straight years from 1995-98.

Hassenplug was joined on First Team All-PAC by five other players from five different programs. The PAC runner-up in second place was Hassenplug's teammate, Allegheny senior Zach Melzar, who scored 297. Westminster sophomore Tyler Hager earned third place (301), while one shot back from him was Grove City senior Adam Steinmetz in fourth (302). Two players tied for fifth overall by carding 303, including Geneva junior Austin Goehring and Saint Vincent sophomore Matt Edwards. 

The PAC Newcomer of the Year Award went to W&J freshman Thomas Margison, who tied with Allegheny junior Dylan Kochis with scores of 309. Both received Honorable Mention All-PAC by tying for 12th place, but Margison earned the Newcomer award by virtue of a scorecard tiebreaker.

Voted by the coaches of the league as the PAC Coach of the Year was Allegheny's Jeff Groff. In his 24th year at the helm of the program, he guided the Gators to their second straight conference title. 

The All-PAC teams, along with the PAC Player of the Year and PAC Newcomer of the Year, are determined by the combined 72-hole scores from the fall and spring championships. A player must compete in all four rounds in the fall and spring to be eligible for All-PAC honors.

The PAC also released its 2024-25 Men's Golf Sportsmanship Team (linked above). The PAC Sportsmanship Teams were established to recognize student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through demonstrated acts of sportsmanship and ethical behavior and are an ongoing effort to recognize and encourage positive sportsmanship among all PAC teams and student-athletes.

PAC Award Winners
PAC Player of the Year: Allegheny senior Carter Hassenplug
PAC Newcomer of the Year: W&J junior Thomas Margison
PAC Coach of the Year: Allegheny Head Coach Jeff Groff
 

First Team All-PAC
Name	School	Score	Year	Hometown/High School
Carter Hassenplug	Allegheny	284 (E)	Sr.	North East, Pa./North East
Zach Melzar	Allegheny	297 (+13)	Sr.	Sterling, Mass./Wachusett Regional
Tyler Hager	Westminster	301 (+17)	So.	Lehighton, Pa./Palmerton
Adam Steinmetz	Grove City	302 (+18)	Sr.	Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny
Austin Goehring	Geneva	303 (+19)	Jr.	Mount Pleasant, Pa./Southmoreland
Matt Edwards	Saint Vincent	303 (+19)	So.	Bedford, Pa./Bedford