COEUR d'ALENE, Idaho – The Western Washington University men's golf team opened Tuesday's final round of the GNAC Championships in a tight race for the team title, but netted the low round of the day to walk away with the program's 11th conference tournament title closing out the two-day tournament at Coeur d'Alene Golf Resort.

 

The Vikings fashioned a 6-under-par 278 over the final 18 holes of the championship – the lowest team score by five strokes in the final round – to turn a two-stroke lead into a comfortable eight-stroke victory. WWU finished well ahead of 2nd-place Simon Fraser University – last year's champion via sudden death tiebreaker over Western – who finished at 6-under-par 846. Montana State Billings (-4, 848) claimed 3rd place and Saint Martin's and Northwest Nazarene tied for 4th place (+8, 860).

 

"It was a great couple of days for the team across the board with everyone contributing. What Ryan did yesterday was spectacular, but today was a great team performance with leadership from the upperclassmen paving the way," said WWU Director of Golf Luke Bennett. "If you look at what we have done this season, the team is deep and we've used a lot of lineups, but never fully have shown what we can do. We had a good week of preparation coming into this tournament and came here full of confidence and they backed up every day. I am really proud of the team."

 

The Vikings earn the GNAC's automatic bid to the 20-team NCAA II West/South Central Regional Championships held May 9-11 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Western entered the tournament listed No. 10 in the West Region, but didn't leave any chance to the selection committee in gaining the automatic bid. WWU has now advanced to play in the regional championships in all 25 seasons since joining the NCAA in 1998-99.

 

WWU's three-round team score of 14-under-par 838 was one off the tournament 54-hole record of 837 set by Simon Fraser in 2015 and Western in 2016. The Vikings led at the conclusion of all three rounds, opening the tournament with a single-round GNAC Championships record of 11-under-par 273.

 

Western's strong final round was paced by three players shooting in the 60s, led by junior Seth King turning in a 4-under-par 67, junior Matteo Polla at 3-under-par 68 and sophomore Peter Dionne-Yahr at 2-under-par 69.

 

Junior Ryan Ho was the highest finishing Viking in the two-day tournament in 3rd place at 6-under-par 207, fueled by a record-breaking opening round of 9-under-par 62. Ho finished the tournament with 14 birdies to rank tied for 5th in the 25-player field. Ho's first round set the GNAC Championships record for lowest score, came within one stroke of matching the Coeur d'Alene Golf Resort course record and tied WWU's single-round record established by Jake Koppenberg in 2007.

 

Dionne-Yahr finished right behind Ho in 4th place at 5-under-par 208 (67-72-69) and King also claimed a top-10 finish in a tie for 6th place at 3-under-par 210 (72-71-67). Polla tied for 12th place moving up eight spots with his solid final round at 3-over-par 216 (72-76-68) and junior Cole Reynolds placed 21st at 9-over-par 222 (73-73-76).

 

Michael Crisologo of Simon Fraser won individual medalist honors finishing at 13-under-par 200 (67-65-68) coming within one stroke of the tournament 54-hole record of 199 set by WWU's Aidan Thain in 2022. He claimed a five-stroke victory over runner-up Grayson Giboney of Northwest Nazarene (-8, 68-64-73=205).

 

WWU led the five-team field with six eagles during the tournament and finished 2nd behind Saint Martin's with 55 birdies. Ho, Polla and Dionne-Yahr all recorded a pair of eagles during the tournament.

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
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WWU gains an automatic bid to the NCAA II West/South Central Super Regional where the top 20 teams from the West and South Central regions will converge for a three-day, 54-hole tournament on University Golf Course in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Selections will be made official this Friday (April 26) on NCAA.com where WWU will find out its seed in the West Region. This will mark the Vikings 25th consecutive trip to regionals. The top five teams in the South Central/West Super Regional will advance to the NCAA II National Championships held May 21-25 in Winter Garden, Florida at the Orange County National Golf Club.

 

Here is a look at WWU's individual results and the team leaderboard from the 2024 GNAC Men's Golf Championships at the Coeur d'Alene Golf Resort:

 

 

The Vikings have now won 11 of the 16 GNAC Men's Golf Championships since the event debuted in 2008, also tying for the top spot in 2023 but falling in a two-hole team playoff. WWU won six consecutive titles from 2008-13, were back-to-back team champions in 2016-17 and have added titles in 2019, 2022 and 2024 to the large collection. A Viking has also won 10 of 16 individual medalist honors, including four of the last six, with senior Jordan Lee earning the top individual in 2023.
 

 

Championships Quick Facts:

Course: Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course

Location: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Championships Format: 54 Holes (36 on Monday, 18 on Tuesday)

Par: 71   Yardage: 6,447 Yards

Teams (5): WWU, Simon Fraser, Saint Martin's, Montana State Billings, Northwest Nazarene

Field Size: 25

 

GNAC Tournament History:

54-Hole Total - 199, Aidan Thain, WWU, 67-64-68 (April 18-19, 2022)

Single Round - 62 (-9), Ryan Ho, WWU (April 22, 2024)

54-Hole Total, Team - 837, Simon Fraser, 277-281-279 (April 20-21, 2015); 837, WWU, 276-279-282 (April 18-19, 2016)

Single Round, Team - 273, Western Washington (April 22, 2024)

 

GNAC Team Champions:

2008 - Western Washington (578)*

2009 - Western Washington (872)

2010 - Western Washington (850)

2011 - Western Washington (884)

2012 - Western Washington (856)

2013 - Western Washington (867)

2014 - Northwest Nazarene (892)

2015 - Simon Fraser (837)

2016 - Western Washington (837)

2017 - Western Washington (871)

2018 - Simon Fraser (852)

2019 - Western Washington (851)

2020 - No Tournament (COVID-19)

2021 - Saint Martin's (875)

2022 - Western Washington (854)

2023 - Simon Fraser / Western Washington (874) – SFU wins in 2-hole playoff to gain official GNAC title

2024 - Western Washington (838)

 

Courses: 2008: Indian Canyon; 2009-2019, 2022-24: Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course; 2021: The Home Course * 36-hole tournament

 

GNAC Individual Champions:

2008 - Hiro Nezu, Saint Martin's - 138 (65-73)

2009 - Jake Koppenberg, WWU - 213 (69-70-74) – won in playoff

2010 - Xavier Dailly, WWU - 219 (70-72-67)

2011 - Nick Valeria, WWU - 215 (74-70-71)

2012 - Craig Crawford, WWU - 212 (65-76-71)

2013 - Jake Webb, WWU - 213 (70-68-75)

2014 - Kevin Vigna, Simon Fraser - 213 (75-67-71)

2015 - Bret Thompson, Simon Fraser - 205 (68-67-70)

2016 - Brett Johnson, WWU - 203 (64-73-66)

2017 - Chris Crisologo, Simon Fraser - 208 (70-67-71)

2018 - Ethan Casto, WWU - 209 (67-75-67) – won in playoff

2019 - Brody Bonfilio, WWU - 210 (67-71-72)

2020 - No Tournament (COVID-19)

2021 - Tyler Fitchett, Saint Martin's - 214 (69-72-73)

2022 - Aidan Thain, Western Washington - 199 (67-64-68)

2023 - Jordan Lee, Western Washington - 207 (71-69-67) 

2024 - Michael Crisologo, Simon Fraser - 200 (67-65-68)

 

Here is a look at the Vikings 2023-24 tournament schedule for the WWU Men's Golf program. All tournament recaps, season statistics and program history can be found on WWUVikings.com/MGolf.

 

Fans can follow the WWU Men's Golf program online at WWUVikings.com/MGolf, and via social media on Twitter (@WWUGolf), Instagram (@wwugolf) and Facebook (@WWUMGolf).

 

The WWU men's golf team has an incredible streak of advancing to the NCAA Championships in each of the 24 seasons the program has competed at the NCAA Division II level dating back to the 1998-99 season, and will extend that streak to 25 consecutive seasons earning an automatic bid this season after winning the GNAC Championships. WWU placed 3rd at the 2013 national championship for the highest finish in program history and made its 10th trip to the National Championship Finals in 2023 placing 15th. The program has produced 16 NCAA All-Americans and has won 11 of 16 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships since the tournament debuted in 2008. The Vikings have also featured the GNAC Championships individual medalist in 10 of 16 tournaments with Jordan Lee joining the elite list of conference champions in 2023 and nine GNAC Player of the Year awards.