ATHERTON, CA – Set to tee off a new era of Menlo Men's and Women's Golf, the Oaks take their first swings of the 2025-26 season in the week ahead. Under the leadership of debuting Director of Golf Jess Stimack, Menlo carries two talented rosters into a fall campaign that will feature plenty of matchups with NCAA Division II West Region opponents including those in the Pacific West Conference.

Returning Oaks – Experience Aplenty
A grand total of 12 are back in the navy and white on the men's side including a solid collection of upperclassmen. The team's lone graduate student, Jack Stark aims to build on a 2024-25 progression highlighted by an individual victory at the Vanguard Invitational and the squad's lowest scoring average among returners. Not far from that mark was Tej Gangavarapu. who finished among the top 20 at the PacWest Championships, and joins Kaden Thurston, Kevin Chen, Evan Russo, Ryan Bello, Wei Jin Eng, and Emmett Shell, the lone returner to compete in all nine tournaments last season, among others on the roster.

More than half of the women's team is made up of returners as Julia Torrez, Angelina Pohahau, Haley Hoang, Saylor Heikkila, and Kayla Lancaster will combine their nearly 10 years of collegiate experience. Among the five back in action for the Oaks in 2025-26, Torrez competed in the most tournaments, was the top finisher at the PacWest Championship, and carried the lowest average score.

Newcomers – Welcome Aboard
Bringing dynamic talents to the men's squad are junior Cole Kroeker and freshmen including Alex Lest, QiFeng "Adam" Tong, and Zihe Miao. Kroeker, who comes to Menlo by way of Sonoma State, had his best collegiate finish come in the 2023 SSU Fall Invite where he began with a 1-under-par 69 and ended fourth of 40 golfers with a 6-over-par 216.

On the women's side, a quartet of accomplished freshmen include Shelby Gardner, Laura Goertzen, Ester Otiepkova, and Kim Penzold. Gardner led Richfield High School to multiple Utah State Championships, was four-time First Team All-State, and placed among the top four individually in all four of her trips to the State Championship. Goertzen, a British Columbia Summer Games bronze medalist, was previously the U15 AAA BC leading scorer en route to leading her team to become AAA BC Provincial Champions. A multi-sport athlete, Penzold was highly ranked in her home country of Germany with multiple top-five finishes in national U18 events as well as a top 10 in the 2024 Irish Girls Amateur Open.

Schedule Highlights – Exploring The West Region
In California for the majority of the fall season, Menlo Men's Golf opens with Chico State's Wildcat Classic in Marysville on Sept. 15-16 while Women's Golf will be in South Jordan, Utah for the Westminster Wasatch Invitational on Sept. 21-22. Both squads will then make their home debut at Quail Lodge Golf Resort in Carmel with the RCA Electric Invitational (Sept. 29-30) before the men head to Cal State Monterey Bay's Otter Invitational in Seaside on Oct. 13-14. Shared competition dates follow as all Oaks head to the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate hosted by UH Hilo in Hawaii. While the men's team will end with that tournament, the women will close out their fall campaign on Oct. 27-28 in Hayward for the East Bay Fall Tournament. Stay tuned to www.MenloAthletics.com for both teams' spring schedule release.