Men's Golf Soars to Ninth CAA Championship

SAINT HELENA ISLAND, South Carolina – Led by three top-five finishers, including individual champion James Rico, the UNCW men's golf team soared to its ninth Coastal Athletic Association Championship with a record-breaking 38-under-par 826 tournament score at the Dataw Island Club on Tuesday afternoon.

The Seahawks posted a 268-stroke third-round score, four shots below the previous individual round record, to edge defending champion Elon by 17 strokes for their first team title since 2023. First-year head coach Blake Taylor, a Wilmington native, was an assistant on the 2023 team and now becomes the fourth UNCW leader to guide the Seahawks to the top of the conference.

The 2026 CAA Most Outstanding Player, Rico maintained his lead each day to become the eighth Seahawk to win the CAA Individual Championship. Rico matched his first-round score with a six-under 66 on Tuesday and achieved par or better on a tournament-leading 52 holes, including tying for the tournament lead with 16 birdies.

Junior John Logan matched Rico's third-round total to rise 13 spots on the player leaderboard to finish third on the final day of competition, while fifth-year Gray Mitchum, who earned a share of fourth, was one of three golfers in the field, along with Rico and the Phoenix's Dylan Lucas, to shoot below par in all three rounds.

Rico, Logan and Mitchum were named to the CAA All-Tournament Team. The Seahawks paced the field with 64 birdies, including 26 in the third round.

UNCW's Ethan Boyette and Preston Worch tied for 13th to give the champions all five golfers in the top 15. Worch matched Logan and Rico's final round score to jump a staggering 19 spots among players on Tuesday.

The Seahawks previously won the CAA in 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019 and 2023. UNCW will make its 12th NCAA appearance when it learns its Regional location on May 6 at 2 p.m. on the Golf Channel. NCAA Regionals are slated for May 18-20.

UNCW Results (276-282-268=826)
1. James Rico (66-70-66=202)
3. John Logan (70-73-66=209)
T-4. Gray Mitchum (69-71-70=210)
T-13. Ethan Boyette (71-72-71=214)
T-13. Preston Worch (79-69-66=214)

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Players Mentioned

Ethan Boyette: 6' 0"; Sophomore

John Logan: 6' 0"; Junior

Gray Mitchum: 5' 11"; Graduate Student

James Rico: 5' 7"; Senior

Preston Worch: 6' 2"; Junior

Players Mentioned

Ethan Boyette
: 6' 0"; Sophomore

John Logan
: 6' 0"; Junior

Gray Mitchum
: 5' 11"; Graduate Student

James Rico
: 5' 7"; Senior

Preston Worch
: 6' 2"; Junior

UNC Wilmington Athletics

Scoreboard

Events/Results

Men's Golf Soars to Ninth CAA Championship

Players Mentioned

Ethan Boyette

John Logan

Gray Mitchum

James Rico

Preston Worch

Players Mentioned

Ethan Boyette

John Logan

Gray Mitchum

James Rico

Preston Worch