UHV’s Van der Wath, Biais named PING All-Americans

UHV's Nathan Biais hits a tee shot during the second round of the NAIA Men's Golf Championship at Dalton Golf and Country Club in Dalton, Ga., on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. (Sam Fowler/UHV Athletics)

June 10, 2024

NORMAN, Okla. – UHV men's golf's Joshua Van der Wath and Nathan Biais each had banner years during the 2023-24 season for the Jaguars.

Both were named third team NAIA All-Americans after helping the Jaguars to a fourth consecutive conference championship and a fifth-place finish at the NAIA Men's Golf National Championships at Dalton Golf and Country Club in Dalton, Georgia, May 21-24.

They can add one more accolade to their resume after the Golf Coaches Association of America named each of them third team PING NAIA All-Americans on Monday. They join Ryan Morant, who was honored in 2020, as the only Jaguars to ever receive this recognition.

"Both Josh and Nathan have earned this recognition," said head coach Garrett Adair. "Both of them put in the hard work and it showed. Each of them came up clutch on the biggest stages for us this season, and that's a testament to their work ethic and dedication to the team. I couldn't be more proud of them."

Van der Wath set a new program record for highest individual finish at the NAIA Tournament, shooting 71-75-73-75—294 to finish T-8 and shatter Jaxon Langford's previous mark of T-19 in the 2022 tournament at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois.

This year, the Johannesburg, South Africa, native boasted two wins at the Prairie View A&M-Texas Southern Tri-Match and UHV Fall Classic, and four Top 10 finishes this season. He closed the year as the No. 34-ranked golfer in the NAIA with a 73.2 adjusted scoring average by Scoreboard powered by Clippd, which keeps all statistics for collegiate golf.

Biais, a freshman, led the way to the Jaguars' fourth straight conference championship by shooting a record 69-67-70—206 (-10) at the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament at Victoria Country Club April 29-May 1. His tournament score of 10-under set a new program record score to par in a conference tournament as he joined Vance Edwards (2013), Ben Lake (2021), Langford (2022) and Will Paton (2023) as individual conference champions from UHV.

The Chassors, France, native ranks 41st nationally according to Scoreboard with a 73.1 adjusted scoring average this season. He had three Top 10 finishes this year.