PAYSON, Ariz. – It was a memorable WAC Championship for Tarleton State Men's Golf to end the Texans' 2023-24 campaign.
 
The Texans placed three in the top-10, including two in the top-five, plus finished fourth as a team in a highly competitive tournament and final day at Chaparral Pines in Payson, Arizona, Friday-Sunday.
 
The Texans led the other 10 WAC programs on the team leaderboard entering the final round Sunday. It came down to the wire between Tarleton State, Grand Canyon, California Baptist and UTRGV, all separated by four strokes when it was all said and done. The Lopes emerged victorious by a stroke (+12, 292-295-289) over CBU (+13, 300-288-289) and UTRGV (+13, 302-289-286). Tarleton was just behind them in fourth (+16, 295-291-294), six strokes ahead of fifth place Abilene Christian (+22, 301-292-293).
 
Tarleton's Cristobal Sepulveda and Carson Gallaher lived at the top of the leaderboard all weekend, and they tied each other for fifth place in the 55-man field at +1. Sepulveda shot 72-71-74, and Gallaher turned in cards of 73-70-74.
 
Alvaro Huidobro finished tied-10th at +3 (74-74-71). Bladen Samaniego, in his final collegiate tournament, shot +13 (76-76-77) for tied-33rd. Max Bengtsson rounded out the group at +15 (77-79-75) for tied-39th.

"I'm gutted for the guys today but it will only make us stronger," head coach Chance Cain said. "It was a great learning experience for them to be in that final pairing on the last day with everything on the line. You know you're on the right track in sports when nerves kick in because it means you're close to the top and just need to close it out. We will for sure get there because of this and I'm proud of how the guys competed this week. We will be on Chaparral Pines again next year with four starters returning, so they will know what's in front of them. It was great to see Cris come back into form these last two tournaments to get some momentum back in his favor. Carson and Alvaro were also in form this week and I'm excited to see what we can build off of starting next year."
 
In Tarleton's second season of their modern era, the Texans improved their positioning at the WAC Championship by six spots year-over-year, going from 10th last year among 13 teams to fourth this year among 11 teams.
 
Sepulveda and Gallaher just set program records in individual placements at the conference tournament in the Texans' NCAA Division I era. Sepulveda concluded his season with his best two events of the year, going tied-eighth at the North Texas Intercollegiate before a tied-fifth mark at the WAC Championship. Gallaher's top-five finish was his best of the season, better than his pair of tied-ninth results at the Ram Masters Invitational and The Big Texan.
 
After starting +2 with seven pars and two bogeys in his front nine of Round 1, Sepulveda went -2 on the back with seven pars and two birdies to finish even-par through the first 18. He then opened his second round with three birdies over his first four holes to power him to a -1 Round 2. In Round 3, a +4 three-hole stretch was the only reason Sepulveda didn't finish higher on the leaderboard, just a stroke back of fourth.
 
Gallaher had the opposite first round of Sepulveda. He birdied two of his first three holes to start -2 on the front nine, then had three bogeys on the back to finish the opening round +1. Gallaher played a nearly spotless second round, starting -3 through 14 with three birdies and 11 pars, then posting just a single bogey the rest of the round. He had a back-and-forth Sunday that netted him tied-fifth.
 
As a group, Tarleton led the field in Par 5 scoring at -9, averaging a 4.82 gross score. The Texans had the tied-second most birdies overall with 30.
 
Individually, Gallaher had the tied-most pars with 27, and was tied-third in Par 4 scoring at even-par. Huidobro had the tied-second most birdies with nine.
 
Seattle U's Kevin Li was the medalist at -6 (69-72-69), fending off GCU's Nicky Kling (-5, 70-72-69) by a stroke.