If things seem a bit out of kilter for the end of this boys state high school golf season, it might be because they are.
That has something to do with both timing and venues.
This year’s three state high school tournaments will be contested Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 26-27), making this one of the earliest finishes ever for the season. Normally, the state tournaments are conducted in early October or, occasionally, in the last day or two of September.
As for venues, two of the state tournaments will be held on the Western Slope this year, which is also quite a rarity. In fact, this will be just the second time in the last 13 years that that’s happened, with 2011 being the other.
This fall, the 5A state tournament is set for Bookcliff Country Club in Grand Junction and the 4A is at River Valley Ranch Golf Club in Carbondale. The 3A state meet, meanwhile, will be hosted by Saddle Rock Golf Course in Aurora.
Also unusual this year is that there will be three former individual champions that will be seeking their second state high school title. Jackson Solem (pictured) of Silver Creek (4A) and Sam Taylor of Peak to Peak (3A) won individual state crowns last year, and Yale Kim of the Dawson School (3A) prevailed in 2014 before finishing sixth a year ago.
Meanwhile, the two schools that are tied for the most boys state high school team titles in Colorado, Cherry Creek and Kent Denver, both qualified a team this year and have the opportunity to notch championship No. 9 — Creek in 5A and Kent in 3A. Kent, in fact, will be one of the favorites in the 3A tournament after having placed second last year.
Here’s a quick look at each of the state tournaments:
5A at Bookcliff: Regis Jesuit has had a remarkable run in recent years, having won five state team titles in the past six years. But last season, the Raiders won by just a stroke over runners-up Coronado and Lakewood. And Regis finished third in this year’s regional state qualifying tournament, behind Fairview and Lakewood.
Fairview’s Daniel Pearson, who has committed to play his college golf at the University of Nebraska, had the best score in a 2016 regional state qualifying tourney, a 6-under-par 66 at Broadlands.
Here are the top 10 finishers from state last year who will be in the field at Bookcliff: Trevor Olkowski of Grand Junction (third in 2015); Tyler Zhang of Regis, Josh Caridi of Fossil Ridge and 2016 Colorado Junior Match Play champion Griffin Barela of Lakewood (tied for fifth). Barela is headed to the University of Wisconsin for his college golf.
4A at River Valley Ranch: Solem, a future University of Denver golfer, will attempt to become the first back-to-back winner of the 4A individual title since Cheyenne Mountain’s Tom Glissmeyer in 2003 and ’04 (Valor Christian’s Wyndham Clark won two 4A titles, but not consecutively.)
Solem, who won a regional title en route to his state crown last year, shot a 5-under-par 67 at Boomerang in claiming a 2016 regional championship.
Five top-10 finishers from 2015 return for this year: Solem (first in ’15); Cole Krantz of Windsor (third); Mathew Casias of Pueblo South (fifth); and Glen-Michael Mihavetz of Montrose and Lenny Urbas of Evergreen (tied for seventh).
Meanwhile, Valor Christian will try to win its fourth straight 4A state team title — and sixth since 2009. Silver Creek, winner of nine consecutive regional championships, may make a run at the top spot this time.
3A at Saddle Rock: An amazing nine of the top 11 finishers from last year will be back for next week’s tournament. That includes former champs Taylor and Kim.
Here the rundown: Taylor (first in 2015); Oliver Jack of Kent Denver and Ivan Richmond of Estes Park (tied for second); Billy Howenstein of Dawson School (fifth); Kim and Holden Kleager of Basalt (tied for sixth); Brayden Lambrecht of Sterling, Ian Thorpe of Peak to Peak and Nishant Datta of Peak to Peak (tied for eighth).
Taylor also will be hoping for a repeat in the team competition as Peak to Peak claimed the title last year.
Here are the team and individual champions from the recent regional state qualifying tournaments:
— 5A Southern (at South Suburban GC) — Team: Arapahoe 222; Individual: Ethan Alexander, Monarch, 71.
— 5A Central (at City Park GC) — Team: Highlands Ranch 217; Individual: Kyle Pearson, Highlands Ranch, 68.
— 5A Northern (at Saddle Rock GC) — Team: Fossil Ridge 221; Individual: Bradley Scalia, Cherokee Trail, 71.
— 5A Western (at Broadlands) — Team: (tie) Fairview and Lakewood 218; Individual: Daniel Pearson, Fairview.
— 4A Region 4 (at Adobe Creek GC) — Team: Montrose 223; Individual: Micah Stangebye, Montrose, 69.
— 4A Region 1 (at Elmwood GC) — Team: Discovery Canyon 219; Individual (tie) Luke Trujillo, Discovery Canyon, 71; Drew Egan, Pueblo County, 71; and Owen Pasvogel, Discovery Canyon, 71.
— 4A Region 2 (at Broken Tee GC) — Team: Valor Christian 221; Individual: Jake Welch, Valor Christian, 70.
— 4A Region 3 (at Boomerang GL) — Team: Silver Creek 217; Individual: Jackson Solem, Silver Creek, 67.
— 3A Region 3 (at Northeastern 18) — Team Sterling 227; Individual: Brayden Lambrecht, Sterling, 72.
— 3A Region 4 (at Devil’s Thumb) — Team: Aspen 233; Individual: Holden Kleager, Basalt, 73.
— 3A Region 1 (at Hollydot) — Team: Alamosa 239; Individual: Hayden Wehe, Alamosa, 69.
— 3A Region 2 (at CommonGround GC) — Team: Kent Denver 216; Individual: Oliver Jack, Denver East, 71.
Here are the pairings for Monday’s first rounds of state: 5A, 4A, 3A
