The 2023-2024 Mountain East Conference Men's Golf Preseason Coaches Poll was released Tuesday and three teams are bunched near the top. Davis & Elkins, last year's MEC Champion, sits in the second position in the poll with 71 points and 4 first-place votes.
The University of Charleston, who finished third at last year's MEC Tournament, leads the poll with 75 points. They also garnered 4 first-place votes of the league's head coaches. Glenville State, last year's runner-up, is third in the poll with 70 points and a pair of first-place votes. Fairmont State and West Liberty round out the top five.
Beginning the season as the defending champions and as a team that qualified for the NCAA Championships last spring, most first-year head coaches might feel a little overwhelmed. But, Patrick Smith was on staff last year as an assistant coach and was part of the program's recent success as a student-athlete.
Like Smith in his playing days, he hopes to instill in his players the idea that hard work in the classroom and on the course is critical to their success as student-athletes. "My hope is that each player in the program will work extremely hard in the classroom and on the course," he said. "We want our student-athletes to be well-rounded individuals and want them to continue to grow as players as the program continues to have the type of success we've enjoyed in recent years."
Smith will look to the senior leadership of
Matin Eisa and
Evan Lewis as the 2023-2024 campaign kicks off. "Matin has been captain since last season and does a great job interacting with the team," said Smith. "He brings a lot of experience and has great leadership skills. Evan has been with the team since the fall of 2019 and brings solid experience and lots of ideals to the young team."
As Smith indicated, the team is fairly young, with five freshmen in Elias Jarn, Thomas Davies, Isaac Gregson, Matthew Crookes, and Lucio Pavicich. Smith feels each are looking to step in immediately to contribute.
With a young team comes lack of experience at the collegiate. Smith feels this can be an obstacle initially, but also an opportunity to build confidence and build the program through the season and going forward. He also feels the team has a great connection. "I think we have a great connection among the guys," he said. "We are young and have goals set to strive for. We will work hard to achieve these goals."
The team tees off Tuesday and Wednesday next week at the Glade Springs Fall Kickoff, hosted by Charleston. They then play at the Folds of Honor Challenge at Grand Valley State (Mich.) September 10-11 before hosting the Dr. Wally Edgell Invitational at Canaan Valley Resort September 18-19 and then traveling to play in the West Liberty Invitational at the Oglebay Resort September 25-26. The team will attempt to defend their MEC title October 2-4 at the site of last year's NCAA Championships in Warren, Ohio.
