Ferris State Men's Golf Wins Stroke Play Before Falling In Semifinals At GLIAC Championships

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's golf team vaulted up the leaderboard to win the stroke play portion of the 2025 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championships on Saturday (April 19) before falling in the medal match play semifinals in Augusta, Mich.

After starting the day tied for fifth overall in stroke play, the Bulldogs shot an eight-under par 280 team score to climb to the top of the leaderboard and claim the stroke play title and the top seed for the semifinals with a two-round 569 total at Bedford Valley Golf Club.

In the semifinals, however, Saginaw Valley State battled back late to knock off FSU and move into the medal match play championship round on Sunday.

The Bulldogs were led in stroke play by Sam Havey, who shot a 140 figure for the two rounds and placed fourth overall. After carding a 69 in round one, he finished with a 71 in the second round.

FSU's McCoy Biagioli was next in line as he took fifth place with a 141 for the 36 holes, notching a 68 in round two play after a first-round 73 score.

Both Drayton Cleaver and Zach Koerner tied for 10th for the Bulldogs with two-day totals of 145 overall. Cleaver shot a 73 on day one and a 72 in the second round while Koerner carded scores of 76 on Friday and 69 on Saturday.

Finally, Kole Putnam finished tied for 22nd with a 148 on back-to-back rounds of 74 in the tournament.

In the medal match play semifinals, Saginaw Valley State won three of the five matches to advance in the tournament. FSU got a five-shot victory from Koerner while Havey finished in a deadlock after 18 holes, but the Cardinals narrowly claimed the other three matches for the win and moved on to face Wayne State in the title round.

This year marked the sixth consecutive time in which the Bulldogs had reached at least the semifinal round at the league men's golf championships.

The 2025 GLIAC Championships continued the format established five years ago with each league school competing in 36 holes of stroke play with a single round per day on both Friday and Saturday. The low four of five scores counted towards the respective team score for each squad. Following round two, the top four teams then advanced to head-to-head medal play on Saturday afternoon with a bracket format similar to the current format utilized at the NCAA Championships. The two winning teams following semifinal-round play moved on to the finals on Sunday in which a GLIAC Champion will be crowned.

The Bulldogs were ranked among the top 10 teams in the most recent NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Rankings and will await the selections for the NCAA Championships, which will be announced later this week.