After a successful 2024-2025 campaign, the Ferris State golf teams prepare for the GLIAC championships.
Men’s
Last season, the Bulldogs walked away from the conference championship with a third-place finish and will look to repeat their success from last year.
The men’s team is coming off a third-place finish in the Ken Partridge Invitational and has enjoyed a successful season up to this point.
The invitational was a turning point for the team; they finished the first day in 11th place and could climb up to third by the end of the invitational.
Sophomore McCoy Biagioli thinks that momentum will play a key part in their ability to make a deep run.
“Building up confidence and competing against a ton of difficult competition is huge for us,” Biagioli said. “The Ken Partridge was a huge confidence and morale booster for us as we were able to pick up some key head-to-head and team wins.”
In addition to their lone team win at the Midwest Regional Preview, they have four top-five finishes so far this year and are tabbed as the No. 6 ranked team in the Midwest region, the one in which they won the previous year.
Ferris plays in a very difficult region and conference; two GLIAC teams, Grand Valley State and Wayne State, are ahead of them in regional rankings.
This amount of competition has geared the Bulldogs up for a big run in the postseason, according to junior Drayton Cleaver.
“We played a very difficult schedule this year, and I thought it was really good for us,” Cleaver said. “We showed we can compete on a high level, and we will continue to do that.”
After the Bulldogs finished in third place during the GLIAC championship last season, they were able to carry on that momentum to regionals and eventually make it to the national championship.
Cleaver says if they want to make a run like that again, they will need to be consistent.
“The biggest thing for us is just playing our game and staying consistent,” Cleaver said. “We know what abilities we have on the course; as long as we stay confident and stay consistent, we will play well.”
The team’s experience is a great attribute that they have, according to coach Sam Stark.
“One thing that I really like about this team going into the postseason is how experienced they are,” Stark said. “Returning four of the players from last year’s team after how successful we were has been awesome; these guys all know each other super well, they get along really well, and just the chemistry that they have with each other is amazing to see. I think that having veterans on our team will work in our favor in times like these.”
Women’s
While the men’s team prepares for their conference push this week, the women’s team will have to wait until next weekend to compete for a conference championship.
The women’s team finished fourth in the GLIAC championships last season and is now pushing toward their sixth conference championship in school history.
Similar to the men’s squad, the women are ranked sixth in their region, trailing behind just one GLIAC team in Grand Valley.
The Bulldogs have earned five top-five finishes this season, most recently capturing first place in the NC4K Classic. Ferris was led by the overall individual winner of the event, junior Lizzie Anderson, who posted back-to-back 75 scores.
Earning two of their top-five finishes in April, Ferris is making a late push toward regaining its championship glory.
The men’s GLIAC championship will be played from Friday, April 18 to Sunday, April 20 and will be played in Augusta, Mich.
The women’s championship will be from Friday, April 25 to Sunday, April 27.