Trained by Head Coach Steve Bowman (left) and Assistant Coach Devin Swartz (back right), Liberty's five men's teams and one women's tandem exceled in their first competitve action over the weekend in Portersville, Pa.
Flames disc golfers sweep Mid-Atlantic Championship Division 1, 2, 3 crowns to secure CDG national bids
10/12/2026 6:27:00 PM | Disc Golf
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Liberty’s men’s teams separated themselves from the field in the season-opening tournament hosted by Slippery Rock (Pa.) University.
Liberty University's disc golf team teed off its 2026-27 season in fantastic fashion, sweeping the Division 1, 2, and 3 men's tournament brackets at Saturday's and Sunday's Mid-Atlantic Regional Collegiate Championships in Portersville, Pa.
While the D3 Flames had already earned their College Disc Golf National Championships bid as three-time defending champions of that tournament, their D1 and D2 teams secured spots the CDC tournament set for April 7-10, 2027, in Rock Hill, S.C.
"It was a good weekend for our first collegiate tournament of the year," Flames and Lady Flames Head Coach Steve Bowman said. "This was our third time playing in the Mid-Atlantic (Championships), and we got our nationals qualifications out of the way. We had some good pairings and good strategies that obviously paid off, and I couldn't have asked for more. It gives us good momentum for how we start the season."
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The Flames' D1 team champions (from left) sophomore Tyler Peterson, junior Addison Sells, and freshmen Ryan Mulder and Daniel Perry finished at 29-under par, with Liberty's D2 team posting the second-best team score at 22-under.Â
The Flames' Division 1 squad of freshman Daniel Perry, sophomore Tyler Peterson, junior Addison Sells, and freshman Ryan Mulder finished first with a combined total of 29-under par after three rounds, with the last two played at Slippery Rock University and Moraine State Park's gold course, respectively.
"We had some new guys that jumped in, and our older guys did a really good job of mentoring them through their first rounds, showing them how we wanted to play together and was executed to near perfection," Bowman said.
Liberty finished in front of teams from the University of Cincinnati (-20), Ohio University (-18), Eastern Mennonite University (-15), the University of Kentucky (-6), Houghton (N.Y.) University (-6), and the University of Pittsburgh (-3).
Playing on the same two courses, the Flames' Division 2 team composed of sophomore John Wakimura, graduates Kyle Sennett and Jonah Burdick, and freshman Jack Dugar combined to card a 22-under-par for first place. Liberty also beat teams from Cincinnati (-15), Slippery Rock (-13), Penn State (-6), Ohio (-2), Rochester Tech (even-par), Pittsburgh (+1), Bowling Green State (+5), Kentucky (+8), Case Western Reserve (+8), and the University of Buffalo (+16).
"What was exciting was that our Division 2 team actually beat the whole field of Division 1 (other than the Flames), playing on the same course with the same layout," Bowman said. "They proved they're really good, and they knew that. Two guys that played D1 last year moved down to D2, and the chemistry was still there."
He said there may be some lineup shifts between the two teams for future tournaments, depending on intra-squad competitions and match pairing strategies.
"These guys have worked long and hard for a lot of years to find chemistry," Bowman said. "Having our D2 team perform as well as they did means we have some tough coaching decisions in front of us. We have never had that problem before, but it is a good problem to have."
The Flames' Division 3 Blue lineup composed of sophomores Thomas Job and Eston Garcia and seniors Collin Spiegel and Liam Spillane finished first with a total of 29-under-par, playing on the Moraine State Park's Blue course and the Slippery Rock University Golf Links.
They edged Liberty's Division 3 White squad made up of sophomore Casey Stoope, freshman Bryce Warren, senior Benjamin Mathews, and Mitchell Lange which landed at 23-under par. Pittsburgh (-16) placed third followed by Goshen College (-2), Slippery Rock (-2), and Liberty's Division 3 Light Blue team (even-par). That Flames trio was made up of sophomores Caleb Muleta, Jordan Neil, and Joshua Olinger.Â
In singles play, Mulder won the Division 1 title with his round of 8-under-par followed by Peterson (second at 5-under). Wakimura and Sennett tied for first place in Division 2 singles before Sennett won a playoff. For Division 3 singles, played from shorter tees, Stoope won with a round of 8-under, followed closely by Garcia's second-place round of 7-under.
For the Lady Flames' duo of freshman Grace Anne McCallum and senior Bethanne Castiglione finished third at 13-over par, behind tandems from Pittsburgh Blue (-12) and Houghton (+11), and ahead of pairs from Pittsburgh Gold (+18), Case Western (+28), and Goshen (+53). Castiglione finished third in the women's singles play with an individual round of 10-over par.
"It was a good weekend, and we won a lot of divisions," Bowman said. "We had two new girls playing together and they were going back and forth between second and third place all weekend."
Liberty will next travel with its top three men's lineups to compete in the College Disc Golf New England Regional Tournament on Nov. 7-8 at Maple Hill, which hosts Professional Disc Golf Association events in Leicester, Mass.
"That's a really hard, high-level pro tournament course that a lot of our guys are excited to go play on, and it will be good to face another level of competition and see who we are as a team," Bowman said.Â
This week, several team members will volunteer to serve at the Amateur Challenge Flex, a PDGA Tour Championship event featuring 30 of the PDGA's best players with its largest payout of $35,000 for the men's and women's brackets, starting Wednesday at Ivy Hill Golf Club in nearby Forest, Va., and the New London Tech Course. That will be followed by the Amateur Challenge at the DGPT Championship from Friday through Sunday at Ivy Hill.
