FLORENCE, Ind. – The Kentucky Wesleyan men's golf team finalized their 2026 campaign in the Great Midwest Championship at Belterra Golf Club.
The Panthers shot 938 as a team and improved each round, culminating in a 309 in round three. Wesleyan placed 8th among the 11 teams, defeating rival Thomas More as well as Northwood and Walsh.
The third and final round today was remarkably tricky. After a three-hour frost delay, student-athletes had to play through strong winds out of the south that made the finishing holes particularly difficult.
Sophomore Jonathan Kaminski led the way with a 231 to tie for 25th. After a challenging opening round, Kaminski shot a combined five-over across the final two rounds to vault up the leaderboard.
Sophomore Braydon Bond and freshman Ryan Loiars both tied for 32nd with an overall tally of 235. Loiars shot a 76 (+5) in round one and Bond recorded back-to-back 76s in the latter two rounds.
Freshman Ben Carter finished tied for 43rd after shooting a 245. Carter's best effort resulted in a 78 (+7) in round three. Junior Thomas Scott brought up the rear with a 246 to tie for 45th after a round one 78 to lead off the event.
Additionally, Scott earned the Elite 26 Award for the second year in a row. The award is given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA competing at the championship site. Scott, a chemistry major, currently holds a perfect 4.0 GPA.
"I really enjoyed being around this group. I know they are disappointed with their performance this week. It kind of got away from us at the end of yesterday's first round," head coach Ken Badylak said. "I was happy to see them respond today and fight up the leaderboard and improve their position. They certainly understand the value of making pars in big events. This has been by far one of the closest groups that I have been around. I know we all feel the season was way too short, but I think that's a testament to the amount of fun we all had being together and experiencing the same things as a group."
"Braydon and Jon did great responding to tough starts to the tournament. Ryan did his job in giving us some scores at the five position," Badylak said. "I am proud of all of them. They worked relentlessly even though they didn't feel they were in form coming into this week. Now comes the hard part of how we direct our efforts in the future in hopes of accomplishing new standards within this program."
Findlay, the 41st-ranked team in Division II, took home the team title by 18 strokes. The Oilers' Ross Dietz had a strong final round 68 to earn the individual title by three strokes.
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