EMU/MAC, MSU, UM, Indiana and All-Big Ten Golf Team
By B1G. B1G SID’s and Roy J. Akers of www.skyviewsports.net
Big Ten Announces Men’s Golf All-Conference Teams and Individual Award Winners– Individual Teams below the B1G Team
ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced the men’s golf all-conference teams and individual award winners on Thursday, as voted on by the conference coaches following the 2025 Big Ten Men’s Golf Championships. UCLA’s Pablo Ereño was named the unanimous Big Ten Golfer of the Year, while teammate Baylor Larrabee was tabbed Freshman of the Year and Bruins mentor Armen Kirakossian claimed Coach of the Year honors.
Ereño finished among the top 10 in eight of 11 tournaments this season. The Madrid, Spain, native helped the UCLA men’s golf team win the 2025 Big Ten Championships last weekend, carding a two-under 68 on the final day of competition to help the Bruins secure their first conference title since 2006. Ereño was honored with the Big Ten Conference’s Les Bolstad Award, given to the conference player each season with the lowest stroke average (69.78) during the 2024-25 season. Ereño’s scoring average of 69.78 currently ranks first on UCLA’s single-season record list (with a minimum of 20 rounds to qualify).
Larrabee was voted the Freshman of the Year after carding five top-25 finishes during the 2024-25 campaign. The Ferndale, Wash., native capped his debut season helping the Bruins claim the Big Ten Championship in their inaugural season, posting a first-round 69 (-1). The newcomer contributed counting scores in 22 of 27 rounds this season with a 71.0 counters scoring average, highlighted by six rounds in the 60s.
Kirakossian led the Bruins to top-seven finishes in 10 tournaments this season. UCLA won the Preserve Golf Club Collegiate (Oct. 28-29) and The Goodwin (March 27-29) before capturing its first Big Ten Championship on April 27. UCLA capped the 2025 season with a 278.5 scoring average and a No. 13 national ranking.
The All-Big Ten First Team features Illinois’ Jackson Buchanan, Max Herendeen and Ryan Voois, Michigan’s Hunter Thomson, Northwestern’s Cameron Adam and Daniel Svärd, Oregon’s Greyson Leach, Purdue’s Sam Easterbrook, and UCLA’s Omar Morales and Ereño, with Buchanan, Herendeen, Thomson, Svärd, Leach, Easterbrook, Ereño and Morales all earning unanimous first-team nods.
An additional 10 golfers were named to the All-Big Ten Second Team. New to this year’s postseason honors is the addition of a five-person all-freshman team, with four programs garnering recognition.
The BigTen also recognized 18 Sportsmanship Award honorees. The students chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the students must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
The complete list of honorees can be found below.
2025 BIG TEN MEN’S GOLF ALL-CONFERENCE AND INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS
Big Ten Golfer of the Year: PABLO EREÑO, UCLA
Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Baylor Larrabee, UCLA
Big Ten Coach of the Year: Armen Kirakossian, UCLA
ALL-BIG TEN TEAMS
First Team
JACKSON BUCHANAN, ILLINOIS
MAX HERENDEEN, ILLINOIS
Ryan Voois, Illinois
HUNTER THOMSON, MICHIGAN
Cameron Adam, Northwestern
DANIEL SVÄRD, NORTHWESTERN
GREYSON LEACH, OREGON
SAM EASTERBROOK, PURDUE
PABLO EREÑO, UCLA
OMAR MORALES, UCLA
Second Team
Clay Merchent, Indiana
Emil Riegger, Maryland
Caleb Bond, Michigan State
Niall Shiels-Donegan, Northwestern
Eric Doyle, Oregon
Aiden Krafft, Oregon
Kent Hsiao, Purdue
Kyle An, UCLA
Baylor Larrabee, UCLA
Gavin Aurilia, USC
All-Freshman Team
Jake Birdwell, Illinois
Trey Marrion, Illinois
Ramil Saelim, Oregon
Baylor Larrabee, UCLA
Jack Buchanan, USC
Unanimous selections in ALL CAPS
Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Ethan Wilson, Illinois
Nick Piesen, Indiana
Chance Rinkol, Iowa
Florian Huerlimann, Maryland
Ben Hoagland, Michigan
Lorenzo Pinili, Michigan State
Jack Wetzel, Minnesota
James Ackerman, Nebraska
Jeremy Chen, Northwestern
Joe Wilson IV, Ohio State
Ramil Saelim, Oregon
Andres Barraza, Penn State
Nels Surtani, Purdue
Weston Jones, Rutgers
Pablo Ereño, UCLA
Jaden Dumdumaya, USC
Drew Warford, Washington
Spencer Turtz, Wisconsin
MSU- Caleb Bond, Lorenzo Pinili Earn All-Big Ten Honors
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State men’s golfers Caleb Bond and Lorenzo Pinili earned All-Big Ten Conference honors in a vote of the league’s coaches.
Bond and Pinili helped lead the Spartans to a third-place finish among 18 teams at last week’s Big Ten Championships and to the program’s fourth-straight NCAA Regional appearance this season. Michigan State, which has been part of nine of the last 10 NCAA Regionals, will play in the Tallahassee (Fla.) Regional from Monday, May 12 to Wednesday, May 14.
MSU features a young lineup with a junior transfer, two sophomores and two freshmen in the counting five.
The Spartans, ranked No. 59 in the country in the latest NCAA Rankings, are seeded No. 10 among 14 teams in the NCAA Regional. The top five teams from six different regionals (30 teams total) and the low individual not on an advancing team (six individuals total) from each regional site will advance to play in the championships at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.
Overall this year, the Spartans have finished among the top-five in six of 11 events this year, including the last three. MSU has played seven events during the spring season, posting four top-five finishes, including a third=place finish among 18 teams at the Big Ten Championships (14-over par 854).
Indiana
Indiana redshirt junior Clay Merchent was named All-Big Ten Second Team, the second all-league honor of his career, the Big Ten announced on Thursday.
Merchent was atop the IU lineup in all 10 events for head coach Mike Mayer. He posted a scoring average of 71.50 across 30 rounds. Merchent played a team-best 19 rounds at or under par this season, including five rounds in the 60s. His scoring average is on track to rank fourth on the all-time Indiana list and is the lowest recorded by a Hoosier since Jorge Campillo (70.69) in the 2008-09 season.
Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — University of Michigan men’s golf team senior Hunter Thomson received an individual bid to the 2025 NCAA Urbana Regional it was announced Wednesday (April 30) on the Golf Channel. He will head to the regional site hosted by Illinois in Urbana, Ill., Monday through Wednesday, May 12-14, at the Atkins Golf Club.
In another career campaign, Thomson led the Wolverines in 11 of 12 events, including the final seven tournaments. Winning the Canadian Collegiate Invitational (202, -14) and the Boilermaker Invitational (203, -10), he recorded nine top-10 finishes, with six in the top five. Averaging 210.36 per 54-hole event, he produced seven sub-par tallies, including all five spring events.
With a career-low 70.09 scoring average, Thomson is on pace to break his own U-M single-season record (70.56 in 2023-24). He has 20 sub-par rounds and shot a season-low 66 three times — the first and second rounds of the Canadian Collegiate and the second round of the Boilermaker. Overall, he posted 13 sub-70 rounds.
This season, Thomson was named the Big Ten’s Golfer of the Week four times (Sept. 19, Feb. 20, April 17, April 24).
Michigan has been represented in regional competition by the team or individual 15 times, with 10 team appearances (1995, ’97, 2000, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’15, ’16 and ’17) and five individual selections (2012, ’14, ’18, ’24 and ’25). From the regionals, U-M has advanced to the NCAA Finals five times — as a team (1997, 2009, ’11) and individually (2015 and 2018, both by Mueller).
Overall, U-M has 44 NCAA postseason appearances — 35 team and 19 individual. The Wolverines won back-to-back national titles in 1934 and 1935.
Michigan’s Individual Invitations to NCAA Postseason
• 2012 — Ann Arbor Regional: Matt Thompson (t-19th; 213)
• 2014 — Sugar Grove Regional: Chris O’Neill (t-20th; 225)
• 2018 — Columbus Regional: Kyle Mueller (medalist; 208, -5)
• 2024 — West Lafayette Regional: Hunter Thomson (t-27th; 218)
• 2025 — Urbana Regional: Thomson
