MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Low scores and additions to the team trophy cases have been the early takeaways for the WVU golf team at the midway point of their fall season.
The Mountaineers defended their championship at the Nemacolin Collegiate Invitational in Farmington, Pa. on Tuesday with a team score of 36-under-par. In their season-opening event, the Island Resort Collegiate in Bark River, Mich., WVU won the tournament with a program-best total of 55-under-par.
“It is never easy to win in our sport. You can have a great season and never win a tournament. When there’s nineteen teams competing, it is always tough to come out on top. In this sport, you just have to appreciate getting the win. Our guys worked hard to earn this opportunity,” said WVU head coach Sean Covich on Tuesday night’s edition of the Citynet Statewide Sportsline.
With two wins and a third-place finish at the Gopher Invitational in Independence, Minn., WVU’s team record stands at 41-2.
“Every tournament we’ve gone to, we’ve tried to beat more teams than beat you. Sometimes that means just trying to finish top five or top ten out of twenty-ish teams. The boys have been off to a hot start. We played three tournaments and won two of them. The only one we didn’t win, we had the lead with nine holes to go.”
West Virginia’s regular season schedule is equally split with six tournaments in the fall and six in the spring semesters. All tournament results factor into consideration for the NCAA Tournament. The Mountaineers advanced to NCAA Nationals in 2024.
“It is equally important. Everything we do in the fall and in the spring, it is the same. It all goes into the rankings. It all goes into your win-loss record. There’s no offseason or fall ball or anything like that. Everything matters from the first tournament to the last.”
Senior Kaleb Wilson tied for the individual championship in the Nemacolin Collegiate Invitational and he was the runner-up at the Island Resort Collegiate.
“The same thing I have been seeing for probably two-and-a-half years out of Kaleb. He is just as steady, level-headed and stick-to-his process as almost any player I have coached over twenty years. You can’t tell if he is in the lead or if he is having a bad day or if he is coming off a double bogey or an eagle. He just sticks to his process and goes through his routine. That is stuff that is developed on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday that nobody sees.
“Kaleb is obviously leading the way but he has a great group to lean on. And there’s some young guys, which as a coach, I am really excited about — Jack Michael is a freshman, Ryan Leach is a sophomore, Nick Turowski is a sophomore. It is very exciting.”
The Mountaineers will compete at the Cullan Brown Collegiate in Lexington, Ky. on Monday, October 6.