The Wabash golf team tied for fifth place in the 2023 North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Golf pre-championship coaches poll released before next week's three-day tournament at the Westfield Country Club in Westfield Center, Ohio.
 
The Little Giants received 29 points from the conference coaches, along with the College of Wooster, to tie for fifth place in the coaches poll. Wittenberg received seven first-place votes and 63 total points to claim the top spot in the poll. Kenyon scored the remaining first-place vote, earning 53 points and second place in the pre-championship rankings. Denison received 49 points in third place, followed by DePauw in fourth with 37 points. Ohio Wesleyan (19 points) and Hiram (9 points) completed the predictions by the conference coaches.
 
Wabash placed fifth at last year's NCAC tournament played at the Westbrook Country Club in Mansfield, Ohio. The Little Giants turned in a three-round score of 946 after shooting rounds of 314, 310, and 322. Brayden Weiss earned First Team All-NCAC honors by finishing fourth overall in the tournament with a score of 226, 12 strokes off the winning score of 214 by Kenyon's Nick Lust. Weiss enters this year's tournament with a 75.40 scoring average. He earned medalist honors at the Music City Shootout in February and produced 11 top-ten finishes for the Little Giants this season.
 
Lewis Dellinger is coming off his best career round after shooting 74 Monday morning at the Emory Invitational and finishing tied with Weiss for the lowest score on the Wabash team. Both golfers tied for 21^st place with final scores of 234. Dellinger averages 79.45 strokes a round heading into the championship tournament.
 
Freshman Sean Bledsoe owns the second-lowest average for the Wabash team this season at 77.10 strokes per round. The first-year player owns five top-ten finishes this season, including medalist honors with his first-place finish at the Forest Hills Invitational at the start of the season in September 2022. Mark Poole averages 78.80 strokes per hole with three top-ten finishes. Tim Neu scores at an average of 79.70 strokes per round.
 
The three-day championship event begins Friday, April 28, with the men starting at 9:30 a.m. after the women tee off at 8 a.m. Competition continues Saturday at noon, with the final round scheduled to begin Sunday at noon.