NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's golf team has been selected second in the 2026 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Golf Pre-Championship Poll, earning 71 points and two first-place votes as the conference prepares for its annual championship at the Country Club of Barre.
New England College was selected first in the preseason poll with 79 points and seven first-place votes, while Emmanuel College followed Norwich with 60 points. Albertus Magnus (50), Saint Joseph's (45), Dean (45), Lasell (24), Mitchell (16) and Elms (15) rounded out the nine-team poll.
The second-place selection comes as the Cadets enter the final stretch of the fall season having established themselves as one of the conference's most consistent teams. Norwich has already recorded a runner-up finish at the Tony Mariano Invitational, a fourth-place finish at the Vermont State University Castleton Invitational, a third-place finish at the Battle of Boston and a 6-5 match play victory over New England College in its most recent competition on the same course as the GNAC Championships.
The Cadets will now turn their attention toward the GNAC Championships, which will be contested Oct. 5-6 at the Country Club of Barre, the Cadets home course. The two-day championship will give Norwich the opportunity to compete for a conference title on a course it is inherently very familiar with throughout the 2026 fall campaign and their entire careers.
At the center of Norwich's season has been senior Cooper Bertrand (Caledon, Ont.), who has consistently established himself as one of the top individual golfers in the conference and will be looking to defend his individual crown last season as a junior.
Bertrand opened the season with a top-10 finish at the St. Lawrence University Fall Invitational, finishing tied for seventh overall at one-under par. He followed that performance with a runner-up finish at the Tony Mariano Invitational, shooting a +3 at the Country Club of Barre to help Norwich finish second as a team.
After finishing tied for 27th at the highly competitive Duke Nelson Invitational, Bertrand bounced back with another top-five performance at the Castleton Invitational, where he finished tied for fifth at +7 over two rounds. His performance earned him another GNAC Golfer of the Week selection. He has two on the year.
Bertrand's most recent weekend provided another glimpse of the form that has made him Norwich's leading individual throughout the fall. At the Battle of Boston hosted by Suffolk University, Bertrand fired a +2 to finish second overall and lead the Cadets to a third-place team finish. The senior followed that performance by winning his match 5&4 against New England College as Norwich earned a 6-5 match play victory at the Country Club of Barre.
The stretch earned Bertrand another GNAC Golfer of the Week honor, his second conference weekly award of the season.
Freshman Jake Kavanagh (Kirkland, Quebec) has also emerged as a consistent presence near the top of Norwich's lineup during his first collegiate season.
Kavanagh opened the year with a +9 performance at St. Lawrence before joining Bertrand and Harrison Giambattista (Danielson, Conn.) inside the top seven at the Tony Mariano Invitational. Kavanagh carded a +7 at the Country Club of Barre to finish tied for seventh overall, helping Norwich place five golfers inside the tournament's top 13.
The freshman continued to gain valuable experience against larger fields at the Duke Nelson Invitational and Castleton Invitational before producing one of his strongest individual results of the season at the Battle of Boston.
Kavanagh finished tied for fourth at +5 at Candia Woods Golf Links, giving Norwich two golfers inside the tournament's top four alongside Bertrand.
Kavanagh's recent play has added another reliable scoring option to the Norwich lineup heading into the conference championship. His ability to compete alongside experienced upperclassmen has been an important part of the Cadets' depth throughout the fall.
Senior Harrison Giambattista provides Norwich with another experienced golfer who has consistently competed at the top of the lineup.
Giambattista opened the season with an eighth-place finish at the St. Lawrence Invitational, carding a +8 over two rounds. He then followed Bertrand and Kavanagh at the Tony Mariano Invitational, shooting a +7 to finish tied for seventh.
At the Duke Nelson Invitational, Giambattista demonstrated his ability to adjust during a tournament, improving by four strokes from his opening round. After shooting a +12 on the first day, he responded with a +8 final round to finish tied for 73rd in a field of 20 teams.
Giambattista continued to contribute during Norwich's recent match play victory over New England College, battling to an all-square finish in his individual matchup as the Cadets secured the 6-5 team victory.
With championship experience and familiarity with the Country Club of Barre, Giambattista gives the Cadets another veteran presence as Norwich prepares for the biggest tournament of the fall.
The 2026 season has provided Norwich with experience on a variety of courses and against a wide range of competition, but the GNAC Championship will bring the Cadets back to a familiar setting at home and a chance to bring home both pieces of silverware, an individial winner and a team championship.
Norwich's familiarity with the course will be an important aspect of its preparation as the Cadets look to turn a strong regular-season body of work into a conference championship performance.
The Cadets have demonstrated depth throughout the fall, with contributions coming from both their experienced upperclassmen and younger golfers. Alongside Bertrand, Kavanagh and Giambattista, Norwich has received important performances from Braden Camire (Saco, Maine), Ben van Waterschoot (Whitby, Ont.), Sami Molu (Toronto, Ont.), Jamie Crispi (Norwood, Mass.), JD Mahoney (Ellicott City, Md.) and Jackson Jagemann (Montpelier, Vt.) throughout the season.
That depth was particularly evident in Camire who just placed Top 5 at The Keene State Invitational shooting a +4 on the day.
The Cadets' second-place position in the GNAC Pre-Championship Poll reflects a season in which Norwich has steadily built momentum toward the conference championship. With Bertrand continuing to lead the way, Kavanagh establishing himself as a dangerous freshman competitor, Giambattista providing veteran experience, and Camire getting hot at the right time, Norwich enters the championship portion of its schedule with multiple golfers capable of making a major impact on the green and bring home the coveted GNAC Championship crown.
