Butler County Community College men’s golfer and Lincoln High School graduate Mitchell Cover earned a chance Tuesday to compete for All-American status, as did the Pioneers’ Mason Phillips.
Covert also advanced to the national championship in New York by winning a sudden-death playoff against a teammate after regulation play in a regional qualifier.
The 2026 National Junior College Athletic Association Division III national tournament is scheduled for June 1-5 at Chautauqua Golf Club’s Lake Course.
The 18 individual golfers with the lowest score after four rounds receive All-American status.
BC3’s Taylor Voloch and Leah McClellan will also battle for the prestigious postseason award in an open women’s national tournament at Chautauqua, where Voloch placed 14th in 2025 to become the college’s first female All-American in golf.
Phillips followed a first-round 81 with a field-low 74 on Tuesday in the NJCAA Division III Region 20 championship at the Links at Spring Church in Apollo and forced a three-way tie for medalist.
Back nine key in second round
The Knoch High School graduate then placed third in his own sudden-death playoff against Luke Anderchak and Aiden Duffy, Westmoreland County Community College players who also finished regulation play with 155s.
Phillips moved into the tie by improving his back-nine score from a first-day 44 to a second-round 35 aided by birdies on Nos. 10, 12 and 15.
“I played smarter on the back nine with my driver on Tuesday,” Phillips said. “On Monday I hit into a red-stake area a few times and had to take a few drops. But on Tuesday I was hitting in more conservative places and getting up and down for birdies.”
Bill Miller, BC3’s golf coach, said Phillips in the second round “was very confident. He handled himself very well. He was making the shots and didn’t get rattled if he did not make a great shot. He really came through in the clutch.”
Mitchell Covert, a Butler County Community College golfer and graduate of Lincoln High School in Ellwood City
Drives improved on second day
Covert shot an 82 in the first round of the regional championship and with a second-round 78 tied the Pioneers’ Jaxon Salata in fourth place at 160 after regulation. Covert, a graduate of Lincoln High School in Ellwood City, won a sudden-death playoff against his teammate to clinch his second trip in two years to Chautauqua.
“The first day I could not get my shots to go straight,” Covert said. “My shots were just bleeding right. The second day my driver was working out and I was putting a lot better.”
Covert “was much more consistent” in the second round, Miller said. “He has had success on that course before, so I think that probably gave him a little bit of confidence.”
Covert at the Links at Spring Church finished second overall in the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference championship in October 2024, was third overall in the Region 20 championship in May 2025 and second overall in the WPCC championship in October 2025.
He finished tied for 53rd place with a four-round 340 in the national tournament in June 2025 at Chautauqua.
Phillips, Covert selected to All-Region 20 squad
Anderchak, Duffy and Westmoreland County Community College teammate Bret Worthington were selected to the NJCAA Division III All-Region 20 team, as was Phillips and, for the second year in a row, Covert.
The four lowest individual scores at the Region 20 championship after two rounds are added to determine the team score.
Westmoreland County Community College with a 633 placed first in the region and advanced as a team to the national tournament. BC3, the defending regional team champion, was second at 645 and the Community College of Allegheny County third at 676.
The two players with the lowest scores at the Region 20 championship who are not members of the championship team – Phillips and Covert – earn berths to the national tournament.
Salata fired a pair of 80s at the Region 20 championship. The Pioneers’ Parker Worsley finished with a 170 and Maddox Shaffer with a 174.
Westmoreland County Community College’s Jada Ford shot a 190 to finish as Region 20 medalist in the women’s field, followed by Bryn Baluh, who had a 197. Voloch had a 207; McClellan, a 230; and , and Westmoreland County Community College’s Rachael Ayers, a 252.
McClellan, Salata and Worsley are graduates of Butler Senior High School; Voloch, of Moniteau; and Shaffer, of Armstrong.
The Pioneers’ spring golf season features regional play and a regional tournament. BC3’s fall golf season concludes with the WPCC championship.
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