ARLINGTON, Texas – The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) released the 2025-26 WAC men’s golf season awards on Monday afternoon as Tarleton State swept the three major awards with Alvaro Pastor earning the WAC Men’s Golfer and Freshman of the Year and Texans’ head coach Chance Cain being voted the WAC Coach of the Year.

Player awards and the all-conference teams were tabulated by using a formula that included pre-championship Clippd player rankings, adjusted regular season scoring average and placement at the 2026 WAC Men’s Golf Championship.

Pastor led Tarleton State to the 2026 WAC Men’s Golf Championship title as the freshman place third in the tournament after carding rounds of 72-70-73 for a final score of 1-under 215. Pastor picked up two individual wins this season, winning the Golden Nugget Invitational (Mar. 2-3) and the All American Intercollegiate (Mar. 16-17). Pastor won the Golden Nugget Invitational with a season-best score of 16-under 200 (65-66-69). Pastor posted the highest pre-championship Clippd ranking in the WAC at No. 134 and tallied four top-five finishes in the 2025-26 season.

Cain coached the Texans to its first-ever WAC men’s golf championship, as the team finished with a final score of 12-over, beating UT Arlington by one stroke. Cain also led Tarleton State to its first DI team title at the FAU Invitational (Oct. 27-28) where three Texans placed inside the top six. Cain and the Texans head into the NCAA regionals with nine consecutive top-ten finishes that include five top-three placements.

Five different teams were represented on the All-WAC First Team which consisted of Abilene Christian’s Thomas Buisson, California Baptist’s Jared Abercrombie, Tarleton State’s Pastor, UT Arlington’s Arth Sinha and Utah Tech’s David Liechty. Earning All-WAC Second Team honors included Tres Hill and Gregoire Hoyeau of ACU, Tarleton State’s Luis Buech, Utah Tech’s Ashton McArthur and Utah Valley’s Paxton Maxwell.

2025-26 WAC Men’s Golf Major Awards & All-WAC Teams
 
WAC Golfer & Freshman of the Year
Alvaro Pastor, Tarleton State
 
WAC Coach of the Year
Chance Cain, Tarleton State
 
All-WAC First Team
Thomas Buisson, Sr., Abilene Christian
Jared Abercrombie, So., California Baptist
Alvaro Pastor, Fr., Tarleton State
Arth Sinha, Fr., UT Arlington
David Liechty, Fr., Utah Tech
 
All-WAC Second Team
Tres Hill, Gr., Abilene Christian
Gregoire Hoyeau, So. Abilene Christian
Luis Buech, So., Tarleton State
Ashton McArthur, Jr., Utah Tech
Paxton Maxwell, So., Utah Valley