(Scott Gerrard)

The last year of high school athletics has been a mixed bag of emotions. Seasons were postponed and the calendars were adjust as necessary as administrators and coaches were tasked with trudging the waters of an unprecedented global catastrophe.

But kids are resilient and a lot of the athletes around the state took the chance to expand their competitive nature and participate in as many sports as possible.

Strasburg’s Garrett Gerrard was one of them. The onslaught of COVID-19 gave Gerrard the opportunity to compete in new situations and gave him a chance to contribute to high school athletics in a way that is dear to his heart, all after he had been diagnosed with Type I Diabetes.

Gerrard’s mother passed away when he was just two years old, but he’s known his entire life that that she a had a big passion for helping those with special needs. She was involved in the Special Olympics when their family lived in Hawaii. That desire appeared to be hereditary as Gerrard jumped at the chance to help the Strasburg unified bowling team when the season began earlier this year.

“It wasn’t something I was planning on doing from the start,” Gerrard said. “I was planning on taking the chance to just lift weights after school. But from prior experience that I had with special needs children, I just thought back to that and realized it was something I wanted to do.”

His prior experience was working with a special needs baseball camp. He found immense pride in helping the kids find joy in the game and realized it was an experience that he wanted to continue when the opportunity to compete with the unified bowling team.

And he was naturally going to compete wherever he could. He was facing a personal challenge through it all as he got his diabetes diagnosis in his junior rear, right when the pandemic was starting to hit the United States.

“It was in February, right after basketball,” he said. “I didn’t want being a diabetic to be an excuse to not do anything.”

So he powered on and competed in five sports throughout the year.

(Scott Gerrard)

When football was initially pushed back to Season C in August, Gerrard found himself getting recruited to pick up the golf clubs and join the team on the links.

“Because I didn’t have football, it was my first and only chance to play high school golf,” he said. “I took it and I ended up competing at regionals.”

He didn’t quite qualify for the Class 3A state tournament at Dos Rios in Gunnison, but as luck would have it, the timing worked out well. At the time, COVID numbers had dipped and the CHSAA staff advocated for football to be moved back to the fall.

Gerrard jumped back onto the gridiron and was there when Strasburg advanced to the 1A title game against Limon. From there he went out for basketball. Strasburg made it to the 3A state tournament, but lost to Faith Christian in the first round.

He helped the unified bowling team advance to regionals and then as the weather got (somewhat) better, he was out for the baseball team. He plans on sticking with baseball through the duration of the spring, despite graduating from Strasburg earlier this month.

“It’d be hard to throw away an opportunity at my last chance to play a sport that I’ve played since I was four years old,” Garrett said. “I wanted to embrace my final chance to play one of the sports that I love.”

That’s the epitome of his high school experience his senior year. Despite the challenges thrown his way from COVID, he was there every step of the way for his school and his teammates. And he’ll have a story to tell years down the road when recollecting his high school experience.

“It’ll be a pretty big one,” Garrett said. “One, for having played five sports in one year and also for making it through a pandemic where we weren’t in school every day. I wasn’t able to build that camaraderie with my teammates when I wasn’t sitting in the classroom with them.”

But the kids all did okay. And Garrett has a senior year experience that he’ll never forget.

(Scott Gerrard)

The 2020 all-state boys golf teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.

These teams were created based upon results at the state championships.

The athletes who won championships at their classification were named golfers of the year.

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Class 5A

(Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

Player of the year: Lucas Schulte, Valor Christian

Coach of the year: Justen Byler, Valor Christian

Honorable mention:

• Langdon Bradley, Valor Christian
• Luke Cushman, Castle View
• Drex Duffy, Columbine
• Kade Hayward, Fruita Monument
• Thomas Hicks, Cherry Creek
• Casey Jacobsen, Castle View
• Grant Juergens, Arapahoe
• Aiden Krusoe, Highlands Ranch
• Max Lange, Lakewood
• Jack Larson, Ralston Valley
• Ty Nelson, Rocky Mountain
• Ryan Parker, Legend
• Josh Stouder, Fruita Monument
• Kenny VanWormer, Grandview
• Matthew Wilkinson, Arapahoe
• Liam Wood, Regis Jesuit
• Andrew Wright, Castle View

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Class 4A

(Paul Soriano)

Player of the year: Jordan Jennings, Montrose

Coach of the year: John Carricato, Cheyenne Mountain

Honorable mention:

• Landon Ball, Windsor
• Will Balliet, Riverdale Ridge
• Ryley Cibula, Summit
• Adam Gannon, Longmont
• Brock Golden, Ponderosa
• Justin Hudson, Lewis-Palmer
• Jake Legg, Montrose
• Gregory Lewis, Lewis-Palmer
• Tyler Nakos, Summit
• Jack Policaro, Green Mountain
• Noah Richmond, Montrose
• Travis Seitz, Steamboat Springs
• Levi Tichi, Durango

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Class 3A

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Player of the year: Nic Pevny, Aspen

Coach of the year: Beth Folsom, Colorado Academy

Honorable mention:

• dave andujo, Moffat County
• Jason Arbuckle, Prospect Ridge
• Brendan Archer, Kent Denver
• Justin Brunner, Montezuma Cortez
• Jacob Buckendorf, Resurrection Christian
• Jimmy Clark, Lamar
• RJ Davis, St. Marys
• Chance Donlon, Rye
• Jackson Grace, Holy Family
• Austin Guerette, Severance
• Tiki Jaffe, Vail Mountain
• AJ Papajohn, Lutheran
• Hunter Salani, Vail Mountain
• Tyler Sims, Basalt
• Skylor Wild, Gunnison

(Paul Soriano)

COLORADO SPRINGS ­— It was a milestone day in so many ways for Cheyenne Mountain.

As the school’s namesake loomed large in the near distance, the boys golf team captured the Class 4A state tournament championship Tuesday at the Country Club of Colorado.

In the process, the school became just the second program in Colorado to win 100 state crowns. Cherry Creek High School, with 217, was the first. This is the school’s second boys golf championship, with the first coming in 2004.

Cheyenne Mountain, which trailed Mullen High School by four strokes after Monday’s first round, roared back to win in the final round by five strokes over the Mustangs (459-464).

“I can’t be any prouder of my team and the heart they showed, starting on the back nine yesterday and carrying over into today,” said Cheyenne Mountain head coach John Carricato, now in his sixth year at the helm.

“We don’t talk about the outcome. We talk about being competitively mature and being able to stay in the moment, and they did a great job doing that these past two days. I can’t be any happier for them.”

It was truly a team win for Cheyenne Mountain, which placed three golfers in the top 15.

Sophomore Carter Surofchek (77-75, 152) finished in a tie for sixth place, followed by senior Connor Moberly (80-74, 154) in a tie for ninth place. Another sophomore, Thomas Herholtz (78-78, 156), finished in a five-way tie for 11th place.

“It feels great, especially being the 100th win for Cheyenne Mountain,” Surofchek said. “I’m almost speechless. It’s just a great feeling. We’ve worked so hard. We’ve outworked everyone.

“We really came back in the second round and worked our butts off,” he added. “It was a true team win. We trusted ourselves, we trusted our teammates and everything came together.”

Montrose, which had won the previous three team titles (2017, 2018, 2019), finished third with a score of 472.

But the team still had reason to celebrate afterwards thanks to Jordan Jennings.

(Paul Soriano)

The senior carded a 3-under-par 68 to win the state championship by four strokes over Mario Dino of Mullen.

Jennings, who was tied with five other players for second place after the first round, started the final round hot as he posted three straight birdies after a par on the first hole.

“I got off to a great start. I knew that I had to,” he admitted. “I was making some good putts and hitting the ball a lot better.”

Jennings made the turn at 1-under par, then scorched the back nine, going bogey-free along with two birdies to win going away.

“I think I was three-strokes back going into the back nine, and I just told myself to keep my head up. It’s not over yet, and I’ve got a lot of golf left,” he added. “I stayed positive, made a few putts coming down the stretch and got it done.”

For Montrose head coach Steve Skiff, it was a mission accomplished.

“Jordan has been playing this way all year. He’s been a really steady golfer for us,” Skiff said. “We wanted him to win a state championship his senior year, and he went out and played an awesome round today … really the last two days.

“It couldn’t happen to a better kid,” Skiff added. “He’s the rock of our program, and has been for the last four years. I just couldn’t be more proud of him, and I’m so happy to coach him.”

Jennings, who is headed to Colorado State next season, had some encouraging words for his teammates after watching Cheyenne Mountain snap the Indians’ streak of three-straight titles.

“We fell short this year,” said Jennings. “Obviously, I’m so excited to win as an individual, but those young kids definitely have a few state titles coming their way if they just keep working.

“They’re great players and great kids. I think they’re going to do well in the future.”

And as happy as he is for his Cheyenne Mountain golfers, Carricato is also excited about the future.

“It’s hard to describe, but the reason [my team] accomplished what they did is because there are about 10 other kids in this program that push them,” he said. “Those other players are good enough to be on a state team.

“Our depth is one of our biggest strengths, and we’re lucky to be able to build that program with that depth,” Carricato added. “We’re looking forward to what’s going to happen in the next couple of years, too.”

ARVADA – He didn’t know it at the time, but Lucas Schulte captured one of the biggest moments in Colorado high school boys golf history on Tuesday.

On the final hole of his two-round state tournament at The Club at Rolling Hills, the Valor Christian senior sank a seven-foot putt to make eagle on the par-5 18th. The emphatically clutch finish capped an excellent 1-over day to wrap up his prep career.

Schulte was thrilled to go out the way he did.

(Brad Cochi)

He was even more thrilled when he found out afterwards the eagle ended up winning him the Class 5A individual championship and also clinched the team title for the Eagles.

“It’s special,” Schulte said. “The individual title is really special, obviously. But the team, we got fourth in league and I have to admit I was on the fence about our chances even though one of our teammates, Jack Armstrong, was super confident. All of our guys played really well and when that putt went in, I was shaking pretty good because I knew we might have a chance.”

Schulte didn’t win an event all season until Tuesday and never led throughout the state tournament. That lead largely belonged to Arapahoe senior Graham Dzengelewski, who eagled the first hole of the tournament on Monday and was the frontrunner the rest of the way until he made a double bogey on the par-4 16th of Day 2.

In a close home stretch that at one point included a three-way tie for the lead, Schulte’s dagger eagle putt and 72 were just enough to hold off late charges from Ralston Valley senior Trey Kirschner and Regis Jesuit senior Ryan Occhionero, who shot 69 and 70, respectively, to tie for second place.

The team title was also settled by Valor Christian chasing down Arapahoe with the latter leading after a brutally windy first day.

Down three strokes with two holes to play, the Eagles had two players on the course after junior Jack Armstrong had come in earlier with a tone-setting round of 74. Sophomore Colin Young had to punch his ball out of the trees on No. 18 but was able to get up and down for birdie and card a 78 and set up Schulte’s winning eagle.

That big point swing allowed the Eagles to win with a final team score of 452, which was just two strokes ahead of Arapahoe.

“I shared with them after our practice round that the team that is OK with not always being OK is going to manage to get through the rest of the round,” Valor Christian head coach Justen Byler said. “These are difficult greens and these are difficult courses they put you on for the state championship. I think it’s important to point out, too, that the Jeffco League is phenomenally competitive and playing some of the best teams in the state every week really has prepared us for moments like these.

“I’m super proud of our guys because they managed to have a lot of resolve and grind their way through. We had all four of the guys score at some point this weekend and as a result, a team truly won. Wow, what a special moment.”

Led by Occhionero, the Regis Jesuit boys made a Day 2 charge to finish third in the team competition after opening the final round in ninth place. Ralston Valley moved up four spots on the second day to finish fourth and Rock Canyon was fifth.

Individually, Prairie View’s Jeff Nelson, as well as Pine Creek’s Wesley Erling and Dzengelewski, who were tied for the lead after Day 1, finished in the three-way tie for fourth place.

(Brad Cochi)

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

GUNNISON — Through the course of the entire back nine on Tuesday at the Dos Rios golf club, Aspen’s Nic Pevny hit just a single fairway. And he made bogey on the hole.

Fairways and greens are often preached as the keys to shooting a solid round, but with the way Pevny played to capture Aspen’s first Class 3A boys golf individual champion fairways are overrated.

Pevny finished his round shooting an even-par 71 to end his tournament at 2-under total, good enough to be the last man standing.

“The front, I wasn’t hitting my approach shots too well but I got out of there at 2-under so I was happy,” Pevny said.

He should be. He opened the day just one shot ahead of Montezuma-Cortez’s Thayer Plewe. They both made bridie on No. 1 but Pevny stuck his tee shot on two and stretched his lead out to two strokes.

Pevny, dollars on 2. #copreps pic.twitter.com/K5ns5ZkuPa

— Daniel Mohrmann (@DanMohrmann) October 6, 2020

A two shot swing on the next hole tied the two at the top of the leaderboard. Plewe hit the flagstick on No. 3 and tapped in for birdie while Pevny lipped out a near gimme.

On No. 6, Plewe, a lefty, pushed his drive left while Pevny pounded driver down the relatively tight fairway. Pevny made birdie while Plewe made bogey and the two-shot lead for the Aspen junior.

On the back, he shot 2-over but hit two definitive shots that locked up his championship. He made a clutch 10-foot birdie putt to make par on 14 and stuck his second shot on the par-5 16th to about 20 feet for eagle. At that point, he knew the championship was well within his grasp.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

“I had that up-and-down which kind of got the round back. That was really big, that up-and-down,” Pevny said. “I knew (after 16) that if I just made pars, that if I made par on 17, it was probably over.”

As Pevny was busy holding on to his individual lead, Colorado Academy was busy taking over the team race. The Mustangs entered the day in second place behind Kent Denver which didn’t bother them a bit. Rather than dealing with the pressure of holding onto a lead, they had the freedom to chase it down and it was a challenge they happily accepted.

“There was a part of not being in first that was nice,” coach Beth Folsom said. “The expectation wasn’t out there for us to hold it. We just had to make up some ground.”

Sophomore JT Timmers led the way and completely took apart the back nine at Dos Rios. He made birdies on 10, 12, 13 and 16 and only bogeyed 18. He ended his day with a 72 and finished in 7th place.

The key for the Mustangs was Timmers and really everyone, just not allowing mistakes to derail the team title hunt early.

“Bo (Turnage) got a par on the first hole which he doubled yesterday,” Timmers said. “On the back, Jack (Pashel) and I were just feeling like it was going to be a good day. We were playing well coming into this tournament. We all held it together.”

Pashel shot a 74, Turnage shot a 76 and TJ Giordano shot an 86 to help the Mustangs claimed their first boys golf team championship in school history.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Photos from both days of the Class 5A boys golf state tournaments.

Complete team and individual results from the 2020 boys golf state tournaments are below.

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Class 3A

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Class 4A

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Class 5A

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

GUNNISON — The back nine holes of Dos Rios Golf Club seem to be more gettable when looking at them. But for Aspen’s Nic Pevny the battle plan was to attack the front, then just try to stay afloat on the back.

It wasn’t his plan by design but that’s how he executed it.

Pevny shot a 2-under-par 69 to take the Day 1 lead at the Class 3A boys golf state tournament. He was one of just two players to shoot under par as Montezuma-Cortez’s Thayer Plewe shot 70 thanks to consistency on the back nine.

Pevny wasn’t as consistent throughout his round but that was fine on his first nine holes. He made a bogey on the par-3 second before getting the stroke back with a birdie on No. 5. He ran out three straight pars before making a birdie on No. 8 and then making the turn after a big eagle on No. 9.

“I had a lot more wedges in on the front,” Pevny said. “Those led to more birdie putts.”

He started the back nine with a bogey on 10, nothing too considering as the 10th hole seemed to swallow a lot of golf balls during the course of the day. He got the stroke back with a birdie on 11 then played the last seven holes at 1-over with two bogeys and a birdie.

“On the back I wasn’t hitting my tee shots very well,” he said. “Tomorrow I think I’ll be find on the back.”

Despite those errant tee shots, Pevny’s recovery shots were on point and even on bad holes he was giving himself par chances.”

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

He took a two-shot lead into 18 where his ball was caught in between two tree trunks and right in the swing path of Strasburg’s Jacob Gilbert. Pevny was able to mark his ball to allow Gilbert to make his swing and once he placed his ball back, he escaped from immediate trouble and his third shot carried the river in front of the green. He got up and down for bogey, closing his round with the confidence that trouble doesn’t necessarily mean doom.

“I was making short putts and chipping pretty well,” Pevny said. “I was just able to limit the damage.”

His approach heading into Tuesday’s final round won’t be any different. He pointed to his front nine and said that he started his day just playing his game and he’ll maintain that approach when he tees off in the final group.

Kent Denver has a one-stroke edge over Colorado Academy in the race for the team championship. The Sun Devils got a major boost from Jacob Dietrich who shot a life-best 72 to help the Sun Devils take the lead.

“I came in as the No. 4 seed and to do what I did was really special for me and my team,” Dietrich said. “(Tomorrow) I just need to go out and go as low as I can.”

Jeffery Zhou matched Dietrich’s 72 while Brendan Archer shot a 78. Colorado Academy got a 72 from J.T. Timmers, a 74 from Jack Pashel and a 77 from Bo Turnage.

To avoid a frost delay that pushed tee times back on Monday, Tuesday’s final round was pushed back to a 10 a.m. start time. The final groups would then be scheduled to tee off at 11:57 a.m.

Photos from the first day of the Class 5A boy golf state tournament.

The 2020 boys golf state championships are Monday and Tuesday. Find live leaderboards below.

Alternatively, these results can be found on the CHSAA Golf App:

• Apple
• Android

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[cbtabs][cbtab title=”Class 3A”][/cbtab][cbtab title=”Class 4A”][/cbtab][cbtab title=”Class 5A”][/cbtab][/cbtabs]