Men's Golf | 8/25/2026 1:09:00 PM

Burnsville, Minn. -- Minnesota Crookston men's golf was picked to finish sixth out of 11 teams in the annual NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll, as released by the conference office on Tuesday afternoon.

Winona State was picked to win the conference with eight first place votes, while Concordia-St. Paul earned three first place votes to finish in second place. Sioux Falls, Bemidji State and Augustana round out the top five. Augustana earned one more point than Minnesota Crookston to earn a spot in the top-five.

Minnesota Crookston finished in sixth place in the NSIC a season ago.

Two-time all-conference performer Marc Bofarull Balleste (Sr., Barcelona, Spain) is back and was picked as the golfer to watch for Minnesota Crookston. The fantastic senior is back and expected to lead the Golden Eagles after an average round of 74.3. The Spaniard won the Newman Invite last season.

Heading into his ninth season at the helm of the Golden Eagles, Brad Heppner loves what he has in his senior.

"One thing I have come to know about Marc during his first two years here at the University of Minnesota Crookston is that he truly wants to get better every day," mentioned Heppner.

"Marc is always one of the first guys in our facility working on what is needed to help himself and our team improve. I have seen Marc grow into a great competitor, I truly expect Marc to have a great senior season and be one of our leaders on and off the golf course this year."

To go along with Bofarull Balleste, the Golden Eagles return a number of quality golfers including Jack Justesen (Jr., Hawley, Minn.), Connor Czirjak (Sr., Calgary, Alberta), Andrew Wilhelm (Sr., West Fargo, N.D.), among others. Sam Wells (Jr., St. Paul, Neb.) had a fantastic junior college career and Kolby Koerner (Fr., Grand Forks, N.D.) and Brody Johnson (Fr., East Grand Forks, Minn.) each had great prep careers and will enter the fray this season for the maroon and gold.

"What I am excited about this year is to see how our new guys help out. We have added four really good young men to our roster who should help our program and push our returners," mentioned Heppner.

The Golden Eagles open the season at 'The Mule' in Warrensburg, Mo., hosted by Central Missouri on Sept. 7-9.