Men's Golf | 9/17/2026 2:43:00 PM

Utah Tech returns to Colorado this weekend to participate at the 57^th-Annual Air Force Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational. The three-day, 54-hole event will be played on Saturday-through-Monday at the par-72, 7,541-yard USAFA Eisenhower Blue Course in Colorado Springs.  

In addition to Utah Tech and the host Falcons, the 18-team tournament field will fellow Big Sky members Northern Colorado, Southern Utah and Weber State, along with Colorado, CSUN, Denver, Gonzaga, San Jose State, SIU-Edwardsville, UC Davis, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, Utah State, Utah Valley, UTEP, and Wyoming.
 
The five player lineup for Utah Tech will feature seniors Ashton McArthur and Nikko Taggart, juniors Frank Miao and Jack Yu, and freshman Chase Cesarek. In addition, freshman Max Landon will make his 2026-27 season debut with an appearance in the Individual tournament, which will be played on the Eisenhower Silver Course. 

HEAD COACH BRAD SUTTERFIELD: Brad Sutterfield (BYU, 1994) is in his 16th season as head coach of the Utah Tech men's golf program. Last season, Sutterfield led the Trailblazers to six top-six showings in 10 team events, highlighted by a third place finish at last season's Colorado State Ram Masters Invitational (9/11-12/25), and a sixth place showing in their final appearance at the Western Athletic Conference Championships.
        In the 2018-19 campaign, Coach Sutterfield and the Trailblazers enjoyed arguably their most successful season in the program's four-year era, posting six top-five team finishes and 11 total top-10 showings in 12 total team events, highlighted by a wire-to-wire victory at the 2019 NCAA Division II Men's Golf South Central/West Regional Championships. Utah Tech also placed ninth-overall at the 2019 NCAA National Championships and recorded a runner-up finish in its debut at the RMAC Championships.
        In 2018, Sutterfield led Utah Tech to its third Pacific West Conference team title in four seasons, which earned him his second conference Coach of the Year award. The Trailblazers collected four tournament wins overall that season, along with seven-straight top-three team finishes and nine total top-10s in nine events overall.
        Under his direction, the program finished in the top-three overall in the PacWest in six seasons overall, including consecutive PacWest team titles in 2015 and 2016, and a runner-up finish in 2014, for which Sutterfield was named conference Coach of the Year. 
Prior to his arrival at Utah Tech, Sutterfield, who played collegiately at BYU, played professional golf for 15 years as a member of the PGA Tour, European Tour, the Web.com Tour, Canadian Tour, Asian Tour and European Challenge Tour.

GOING BIG IN 2026-27: Utah Tech men's golf has begun a new era this season as new members of the Big Sky Conference. 
        Utah Tech was picked to finish third in the 2026-27 Big Sky preseason coaches poll, which was released on September 1.
        Idaho received five of a possible seven first place votes and 35 total points to be tabbed as the Big Sky preseason favorite, while Northern Colorado collected one first place nod to finish second in the poll with 26 points.
        Utah Tech also secured one first place vote and 25 points to finish third, followed by Weber State (23 pts) in fourth, Eastern Washington and affiliate member Francis Marion (14 pts) both wound up tied fifth, and Southern Utah (10 pts) was picked to finish seventh.
 
MIAO EARNS BIG SKY WEEKLY HONOR: Miao was named Big Sky Men's Golf Player of the Week this past Wednesday for his efforts in the Trailblazers' 2026-27 season opening tournament late last week. 
        Miao recorded his first collegiate top-five individual finish as he tied for fifth place overall at the Colorado State Ram Masters. 
        The junior was one of only six players in the 92-player field to post a par or better final score, as he bookended a pair of 1-over 71s with a second round 2-under 68 to come away with a three-round total of even par 210. 
        Miao wound up with 12 total birdies and one eagle over his three loops, which helped lead the Trailblazers to tie for runner-up team honors at the event.
 
TRAILBLAZERS AT A GLANCE: Bolstered by his performance at the CSU event last week, Miao leads Utah Tech with a 70.00 scoring average.
        Meanwhile Yu is second at 71.00 with one par-or-better round, followed by McArthur in third at 72.67 (one par-or-better round), Taggart in fourth at 73.33 (one par-or-better round), and Cesarek in fifth at 74.00 (one par-or-better round).

HEAD COACH BRAD SUTTERFIELD ON THIS WEEKEND'S EVENT: "We are really excited about playing in our second tournament of the fall season. We had a really solid start at Colorado State last week. We have got some depth and talent on our team that will really help us all year long."

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Utah Tech will now enjoy a near four-week break before heading to NorCal to play at the Pacific Visit Stockton Invitational. The three-day, 54-hole event will be played on Oct. 12-14, at The Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton, Calif.