Kenyon men aim to take back NCAC title

4/29/2026 10:50:00 AM

GAMBIER, Ohio -- Over the last four seasons, Kenyon College and Wittenberg University traded turns standing atop the podium at the end of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Men's Golf Championships. The two will battle for that position once again this year, as the 2026 championship gets underway Friday with the Owls looking to reclaim the top spot.

The three-day, 54-hole championship tournament will take place at Avalon Golf & Country Club in Warren, Ohio. The winner of the eight-team field will earn the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Championship.

In a pre-championship poll of NCAC coaches, Kenyon gained seven first-place votes and was predicted to finish first. Wittenberg snared the other first-place vote and was slotted second, just ahead of John Carroll University.

Kenyon, currently ranked at No. 10 in the nation by both Scoreboard and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), was the winner of the conference title in 2022 and then again in 2024. Wittenberg, now ranked at No. 24 by the GCAA and at No. 26 by Scoreboard, took the NCAC titles in 2023 and 2025.

At the start of this season, Kenyon played four fall tournaments and turned in a top finish of fifth place at the Wabash College Invitational. The team's spring schedule included five more tournaments. The last four of those outings, Kenyon logged three fifth-place showing and a third-place showing, all in competitive fields packed with nationally-ranked teams.

This 2025-26 Kenyon club has plenty of postseason experience and is led by juniors Jonathan Oakes and Jaiden Koonar. Oakes has a 73.38 scoring average this season and he recorded 13th-place and fifth-place individual finishes over the last two conference championships. Last season, he was voted the NCAC Golfer of the Year. Koonar, who currently owns an even 74.0 scoring average, has had great success at conference championships. In 2024, he was individual runner-up and, last year, he was medalist, winning the individual title on the first playoff hole.

The Owls' lineup also features sophomores Adrian Jordan and Connor Gray. Jordan carries a 74.08 scoring average and was a part of Kenyon's NCAC lineup last season, when he landed 11th place on the leaderboard. Gray is the wild card for the Owls. He played in just three events last season, but he's having a breakout second season, one in which he leads the team with a 73.17 scoring average while playing in all eight team events.

Kenyon head coach Grant Wallace, a four-time NCAC Coach of the Year and now in his 13th season with the program, will have a difficult decision filling the No. 5 slot in the lineup with, arguably, three different golfers in contention.

Tee times will begin at 8 a.m. each day of the championship.

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