ARLINGTON, Texas – The major award winners and all-conference teams from the 2024-25 WAC men’s golf season were officially announced on Tuesday. In a vote of the conference’s nine head coaches, Utah Valley sophomore Dane Huddleston was voted WAC Player of the Year, Grand Canyon’s Matt Diehl claimed WAC Freshman of the Year and Seattle U’s Marc Chandonnet was selected as the WAC Coach of the Year.

All-conference teams were tabulated using a formula that included pre-championship Clippd national player rankings as the leading metric, with equal parts adjusted regular season player scoring average and the final individual leaderboard at the 2025 WAC Men’s Golf Championship at Chaparral Pines in Payson, Arizona, also being factored in. The three finalists for both Player and Freshman of the Year were determined by the same formula, with the coaches voting from the finalists to determine the award winners. Huddleston, Seattle U’s Kevin Li and Diehl were the top three ranked players overall in the WAC formula, while Diehl, teammate Nixon Lauritzen and Seattle U’s Walker Lamb were the freshman award finalists.

Huddleston has enjoyed a sensational second collegiate season for Utah Valley, winning five individual tournament trophies over his first 11 starts of 2024-25. Huddleston finished as the medalist at the Utah Collegiate Shootout on Oct. 14, the Kapolei Invitational on Oct. 29-31, the Mesquite Desert Classic on Feb. 16-18, the Bandon Dunes Championship on March 9-11 and the WAC Championship on April 25-27. Huddleston, whose seven top-three showings also led all WAC players, was the top ranked player in the conference according to the Clippd national rankings at 59th entering NCAA Regional play. Huddleston will compete as the number one individual seed at the NCAA Reno Regional at the Montreux Golf & Country Club on May 12-14 in Reno, Nevada.

Diehl was a consistent performer for GCU during his debut season, winning his first collegiate tournament at the Desert Mountain Collegiate on March 8-9. Diehl added additional top 10 performances at the William H. Tucker Invitational (ninth) on Sept. 20-21 and the GCU Invitational (sixth) on March 11-12. Diehl, the 145th ranked DI player according to Clippd, is expected to play alongside teammates from GCU at the NCAA Reno Regional at the Montreux Golf & Country Club.

Chandonnet guided Seattle U to its second men’s team championship as a WAC member, and its first since 2017, during the 2025 conference tournament at Chaparral Pines. The Redhawks, the fourth seed entering the tournament, bested GCU by three strokes to capture the WAC title with a three-round score of 884 (290-296-298). Defending individual WAC champion Li finished as tournament individual runner-up and Lamb tied for fourth in his first conference championship start under Chandonnet’s tutelage. With the automatic bid earned from the WAC Championship victory, Seattle U will participate in the NCAA Bremerton Regional in its home state of Washington from May 12-14.

Huddleston and Diehl were joined on the all-conference first team by GCU’s Lauritzen and Tommaso Zorzetto and Seattle U’s Li. The all-conference second team was comprised of Abilene Christian’s Gregoire Hoyeau, GCU’s Kiko Coelho and Gavin O’Neill, Tarleton State’s Carson Gallaher and Utah Tech’s Tanner Telford.

2024-25 WAC Men’s Golf Season Awards

WAC Men's Golfer of the Year
Dane Huddleston, Utah Valley

WAC Men's Golf Freshman of the Year
Matt Diehl, Grand Canyon

WAC Men's Golf Coach of the Year
Marc Chandonnet, Seattle U

All-WAC First Team
Matt Diehl, Grand Canyon
Nixon Lauritzen, Grand Canyon
Tommaso Zorzetto, Grand Canyon
Kevin Li, Seattle U
Dane Huddleston, Utah Valley

All-WAC Second Team
Gregoire Hoyeau, Abilene Christian
Kiko Coelho, Grand Canyon
Gavin O'Neill, Grand Canyon
Carson Gallaher, Tarleton State
Tanner Telford, Utah Tech