A Win — Bear-ly

UNC men prevail in playoff for first team title in almost three years

By Gary Baines – 4/14/2026

It had been more than 1,000 days — almost three years — since the University of Northern Colorado men’s golf squad claimed its last team title at a tournament.

But on Tuesday, the Bears had a pleasure of recording a “W”.

After finishing tied in regulation at Naussau Country Club, UNC defeated Bryant University in a playoff and claimed the title at the 15-team Shark Invitational in Glen Cove, N.Y. It was the Bears’ first team victory since they prevailed at the Big Sky tournament in April 2023. 

Coincidentally, the 2026 Big Sky meet is UNC’s next event (April 27-29) as this week marked the Bears’ 2025-26 regular-season finale.

UNC, ranked No. 215 in the nation among men’s NCAA Division I teams, joined Bryant in finishing at 9 over par as a team for three rounds. In the final round — despite playing without one of their players due to an injury (junior Kaelen Dulany) and therefore not being able to drop their highest score that day — the Bears matched the low team score of the event, carding a 3-under total on Tuesday. But Dulany was able to tee it up in the playoff, where each team matched up its best four scores (out of five) on the extra hole. With Dulany making a birdie to go with four pars by his teammates, UNC came out on top.

Two UNC players tied for fourth place out of the 87-man field — juniors Matias Koropeski from Argentina (72-71-68) and Thomas Barnes Grimes from England (70-73-68), who both checked in at 1 over par overall.

Prior to Tuesday, UNC’s best team showings of the season were two seventh places. The Bears’ men’s squad has now won twice under the guidance of director of golf Clayton Sikorski — and twice in the decade of the 2020s.

For all the scores from the Shark Invitational, CLICK HERE.

About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com