WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – The University of Dubuque men's golf team capped off a dominant weekend at Glen Oaks Country Club by winning the 2025 American Rivers Conference Championship. The Spartans fired a final round score of 295 on Tuesday to finish at 903 (+51) for the tournament, securing the program's fifth conference title and first since 2014.

The win marked a historic moment for Head Coach Dustin Bierman, who earned his first A-R-C men's golf title and was named A-R-C Coach of the Year. Bierman is only the second coach in program history to earn this award (Jon Davison - 2014, 1975). The Spartans are the first team not named Nebraska Wesleyan University or Luther College to win the A-R-C title since 2015.

Leading the way was Carter Ruegsegger, who remained in control from start to finish to claim medalist honors and was named the 2025 A-R-C Golfer of the Year, first since Eric Wolfe in 2014. John Dobbe carded the low round of the day in the final round to finish as tournament runner-up, while freshman Luke Harwick delivered a clutch performance to break into the top five and was named A-R-C Rookie of the Year.

"So proud of this team and they have worked extremely hard this season to put themselves in position to do something special. This is a special group that just kept getting better every week and every tournament. It also helps to have the best player in Carter and the best freshman in Luke in our league. To have the lowest team score each day, just shows how mentally tough this group is and they just stayed in it one shot at a time. Happy for Carter on medalist and John finishing runner up as well. Looking forward to heading out to New York for Nationals and see what we can do." – Head Coach Dustin Bierman  

With the conference championship, the University of Dubuque Spartans earned the American Rivers Conference's automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championships, hosted by St. John Fisher University from May 20–23 at Midvale Country Club (Penfield, NY) and Cobblestone Creek Country Club (Victor, NY).

Final Team Leaderboard
1. University of Dubuque         903
2. Nebraska Wesleyan            924
3. Luther College                     930
4. Central College                    931
5. Simpson College                  934
6. Buena Vista Univ.                953
6. Wartburg College                953
8. Loras College                      955
9. Coe College                        977

Final Individual Standings
1. Carter Ruegsegger         219
2. John Dobbe                    223
5. Luke Harwick                  230
22. Joe LaBarbera              238
24. Bob Ryan                      240