MARYSVILLE, Calif. – The Western Washington University men's golf team wasted little time making an early statement in the 2025-26 season placing third out of 14 teams at the Chico State Wildcat Classic held Monday-Tuesday at Peach Tree Golf & Country Club.

 

The Vikings had all five players complete the two-day, 54-hole tournament at even-par-or-better, carding a team score of 24-under-par 840 on the par 72, 6,920-yard layout.

 

WWU was led by a pair of Burlington natives, with junior Conrad Brown and Rex Wilson tying for 4th place in the 86-player field at 9-under-par 207. Brown, who returns to WWU after a gap year, fired the low round of the tournament for the Vikings with a 6-under-par 66 in Tuesday's final round with five birdies, one eagle and one bogey. 

 

Wilson, a sophomore transfer from the University of Utah, recorded 12 birdies during the tournament while carding a trio of under-par rounds (70-69-68). Senior captain Peter Dionne-Yahr tied for 23rd place at 2-under-par 214 (72-68-74) and freshmen Calvin Cakarnis (74-71-71) and Daniel Blankenburg (74-71-71) match scorecards to finish at even-par 214.

 

"I am extremely happy with the start to the season for the team. There wasn't a lot of time to get ready for this event but that didn't stop them from showing their potential and talent," said WWU Director of Golf Luke Bennett. "Rex and Conrad played very well from start to finish this week. They will look to build on it for the Home Course in a couple weeks. It's very exciting to have every player even of better for the tournament, putting up a red number on the scorecard and contributing to the fantastic team result."

 

Tournament host Chico State fielded a pair of teams, with the A squad winning the tournament by a 10-stroke margin over Cal State East Bay. The Wildcats shot 41-under-par 823 to better Cal State East Bay (-31, 833), Western Washington (-23, 840), Simon Fraser (-22, 842) and Cal State San Marcos (-15, 849).

 

Chico State teammates Vineet Vallamsetty (71-66-66) and Naoki Easterday (68-67-68) tied for individual medalist honors at 13-under-par 203 for a two stroke win over Junsu Im (71-69-65) of Simon Fraser.

 

Here is a look at WWU's individual results and the team leaderboard from the 2025 Wildcat Classic played on the par 72 Peach Tree Golf & Country Club in Marysville, California. Tournament host Chico State won the team title at 41-under-par 823 for a 10-stroke victory over Cal State East Bay. The tournament featured 13 collegiate programs with Chico State fielding a pair of teams:

 

 

The Vikings look to build off the solid start to the season competing in the Saint Martin's Kevin Bishop Invitational September 26-27 (Friday-Saturday) at The Home Course in DuPont. The WWU Invitational will follow September 29-30 (Monday-Tuesday) at Bellingham Golf & Country Club. The complete 2025-26 season schedule can be viewed at WWUVikings.com/25-26_MGolf.

Here is a look at the Vikings 2025-26 tournament schedule for the WWU Men's Golf program. All tournament recaps, season statistics and program history can be found on WWUVikings.com/MGolf.