(Brad Cochi)

ARVADA – The Arapahoe boys golf team has been full of surprises at the Class 5A state tournament these past couple years.

Last fall, it was then-sophomore Will Kates who came out of nowhere on Day 2 to claim the individual title as a relative unknown. This time around, it’s a different Warriors golfer who has put himself, and his team, in position to win it all with a strong final round on Day 2. He’s also got some company as a leading man emerging out of darkhorse status.

Facing some exceedingly windy conditions that made Rolling Hills Golf Course even tougher than usual on Monday, Arapahoe senior Graham Dzengelewski led nearly wire-to-wire on his way to carding a 2-over 73 that ties him with Pine Creek sophomore Wesley Erling for the lead heading into Day 2. The two tied one another for 37th place at last year’s state tournament and certainly weren’t counted among the top contenders when they arrived at the 2020 championships.

(Brad Cochi)

They are now.

“With Will last year, that was a surprise to everybody,” Dzengelewski said. “But I think we all know we all have a chance at it every year, so it’s nice to be able to have that team and have a bunch of guys who come to state ready to go for it.”

Dzengelewski showed up to his final state tournament ready.

The Arapahoe senior started out the day with an eagle on the first hole, a 521-yard par 5. He added two more birdies on the front nine and hit the turn at 3-under. Getting to 3-under quickly turned out to be exactly the cushion he needed to finish the day with a share of the lead, as Dzengelewski picked up three strokes over the final three holes while Erling went 2-under on the back nine.

With Dzengelewski and Erling battling atop the leaderboard, the Arapahoe boys finished Day 1 a single stroke ahead of Valor Christian for the team lead.

“That’s probably the best start I’ve had in a while,” Dzengelewski said. “I think I played the wind pretty well but, ultimately, it comes down to hitting fairways, hitting greens and making putts. I hit a few bad shots but that happens and felt like I put myself in good positions out there so I’ll try to keep doing that tomorrow.”

Behind the Day 1 leaders, Valor Christian senior Lucas Schulte ended his day with a birdie on No. 9 and carded matching 37’s for an overall 74 that tied him with Cherry Creek sophomore Charlie Flaxbeard for third. Sophomore Colin Young, Schulte’s teammate with the Eagles, shot a 75 and will enter Day 2 tied for fifth with Rocky Mountain senior Ty Nelson.

“We started on the back and we had like forty-mile-per-hour winds straight in our face,” Schulte said. “That was tough, so getting off to a good start was important. On No. 8, so my 17th hole, I hit two bad tee shots out on the right. Long story short, I had to take a penalty and then I made a thirty-foot bogey putt. I made a birdie on the last to finish off so I’ll try to carry that over to tomorrow.”

Despite the blustery conditions, 24 golfers shot in the 70’s on Monday. Among them was Kates, who began his title defense with a 77 and is currently in a six-way tie for 10th.

Arvada West sophomore Yusuke Ogi was not among the players who shot in the 70’s, but he might have had the most special day of anyone at Rolling Hills. On the par-3 13th hole, Ogi sank his tee shot from 219 yards out for the second hole in one of his prep career. His first was at regionals last season.

“I was like eight over by the time I got to that hole and I just didn’t feel like I had it,” Ogi said. “The wind was blowing and I don’t know how that happened. I was just in disbelief.”

With Monday’s eventful first round in the books, Colorado’s 5A players will certainly go to bed tonight hoping they wake up to more favorable conditions in which to go for it all on Tuesday.

(Paul Soriano)

COLORADO SPRINGS ­— Mullen’s boys golf team is poised to do something it hasn’t accomplished in 18 years: Win a state championship.

The Mustangs, paced by Mario Dino, Rhett Johnson and Andrew Brady, posted a score of 231 in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament Monday at the Country Club of Colorado.

Mullen leads Cheyenne Mountain (235) by four strokes and Pueblo West (238) by seven strokes heading into tomorrow’s final round. Three-time defending state champion Montrose is in fourth place with a score of 239.

“I’m very proud of what the guys did today,” said Mullen head coach Jerry Koehler. “We had some very strong play from our first two players (Mario and Rhett). They came out, played tremendously well and stayed patient. You’ve got to do that on this course. Our third man, Andrew, played well but had a tough finish.

“But we still got in with three really good scores on this course considering these greens and pin placements. So it was a job well done.”

The Mustangs have won seven boys golf state titles, with their last team victory coming in 2002.

“We’re not done. We’re not done by a long shot,” Koehler admitted. “We know nobody is going to give this to us, so we’ve gotta go out (tomorrow) and we gotta take it.”

(Paul Soriano)

Dino, a senior, shot a 74 to lead all players, while Johnson carded a 76 to finish the first round in a tie for second place. Brady double-bogeyed each of the last two holes and finished with a score of 81.

“It was a good round,” said Dino, who led Mullen to the Region 3 championship by winning the individual title at Quail Dunes on Sept. 22. “But it’s a really hard course. I’m happy with a 74. There were a few bumps in the road, but other than that, it was a great day.”

Johnson nailed three birdies on the day before finishing with three bogeys on the last three holes.

“I left a couple putts out there,” he revealed. “It was a tough course today with tough pin positions. Tomorrow will be the deciding day, but it will be a fun round to watch. We’re pretty excited to be leading after the first day.”

Noah Wagner and Toby Salinas of Pueblo West, Jordan Jennings of Montrose and Noah Keller of Coronado join Johnson in the logjam for second place, just two strokes off the lead.

“It was definitely a grind out there. It’s a great golf course, and it definitely tests your game,” said Jennings, who tied for 11th place at last year’s state tournament. “I made a few good putts early to stay even. One bad swing on No. 8 and another tough break cost me a few strokes, but I knew I just had to keep it together and not get down on myself.

“I’ve just got to go out tomorrow and post a good score and see where I fall.”

And how does he feel knowing that a fourth-straight title will be an uphill battle?

“We’ve had the pressure before so we know how to handle it,” Jennings said calmly. “Some of the younger guys struggled a bit today, but they’re good enough players and they’ll play better tomorrow. So I’m looking forward to it; it’s going to be good.”

(Photo courtesy of Al Pryor)

For what felt like the 100th time, 2020 seemed to have it in for Colorado high school athletics. With the boys golf state championships a month away, it wasn’t a global pandemic that threatened the chances of playing out the two rounds at Dos Rios Country Club.

It was the Colorado weather that reared its ugly head.

On Tuesday, Sept. 8 the weather forecast in Gunnison called for extreme wind conditions. On top of that, there was going to be snow. As the front passed through the town, the conditions were every bit as bad as any weather app or TV meteorologist said they’d be.

When things were over, the Dos Rios Country Club — the site of the Class 3A boys golf tournament — was a mess.

“We lost 40-plus trees on the golf course and thousands of branches and leaves,” general manager Al Pryor said. “It devastated the driving range. We have a line of poles that hold up the net and those poles cracked like toothpicks. It was horrible.”

Pryor was faced with a decision. He could see the amount of work that it was going to take to get the course playable again. Pryor and his course superintendent Jim Mills arrived at the course at 8:30 a.m. the next morning and Pryor began to think he was going to have to make a very tough call to associate commissioner Tom Robinson.

“I thought then that I was going to call Tom and cancel the entire event,” Pryor said. “There was no way. With the devastation I thought it was going to take two or three weeks to get it cleaned up to where it was playable.”

After considering the options, Pryor reached into his deep Texas roots and decided that rather than pass the buck, it was time to roll up his sleeves and get to work.

(Photo courtesy of Al Pryor)

Gunnison is a small community and one that is proud to host an event like the boys golf state tournament. He gathered his staff and called for a member workday to start clearing and repairing the course. It was vital that the members got to enjoy the last remaining fall days to play themselves, but Pryor also wanted to give the high school athletes a memorable experience at his facility.

“We had 25-plus people show for two days with chainsaws, lift trailers and probably got about 40 percent of the big stuff out of the playable areas,” Pryor said. “That left tons of stuff to do, but I knew we’d get it done. When you see it next weekend, it looks like nothing happened.”

When the first players step up to the No. 1 and No. 10 tee boxes at 9 a.m. Monday morning, disaster will have officially been averted in a year where disaster has been the norm.

When recounting the events that took place early last month and what had been done since then, it gives Pryor a huge feeling of pride toward his staff and the community that he has made his home.

“I’ve been the PGA for 45 years, since 1975, and I’ve never seen anything this fulfilling as a small group, a small town that came together,” he said. “Wielding a chainsaw for eight or nine hours a day when you’re not used to it is hard. I had to tell them to stop because everyone was getting tired and I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. It was fulfilling to see this group of people come together to make sure the golf tournament could facilitate a state tournament. It was wonderful.”

(Photo courtesy of Al Pryor)

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

State championship season rolls on as the boys golf tournaments are set to begin play on Monday. The Class 5A tournament will take place at Rolling Hills in Lakewood, the 4A tournament will be played at the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs and the 3A tournament is at Dos Rios in Gunnison.

Each classification has several standout teams as well as multiple teams that can battle for a team state championship. Below is breakdown of what to expect at each tournament when the boys start launching them Monday morning.

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Class 5A

(Brad Cochi/For CHSAANow.com)

Course: Rolling Hills Golf Course in Lakewood

2019 individual champion: Will Kates (Arapahoe)

2019 team champion: Fairview

Weather forecast: Sunny, temperatures in high 70’s (both days)

Outlook: The 5A tournament might have some of the best talent the state has on display. Cherry Creek sophomore Charlie Flaxbeard and teammate TJ Hicks both shot career rounds at regionals and will take a lot of momentum into state. Combined with the veteran presences that players like Kates and teammate Matthew Wilkinson bring and it could make for a fun two-day battle at Rolling Hills. The team race between Cherry Creek, Arapahoe, Lakewood and Ralston Valley should also be fun to track.

Others to watch: Ralston Valley’s Gage Messingham is the top-ranked 5A player according to iWanamker rankings, Lakewood’s Ryan Liao has finished in the top four in the last two years of the 5A tournament and Prairie View’s Jeff Nelson has put together some of the best rounds in the state during the course of the regular season.

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Class 4A

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Course: Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs

2019 individual champion: Micah Stangebye (Montrose)

2019 team champion: Montrose

Weather forecast: Sunny, temperatures in mid-to-high 70’s (both days)

Outlook: After winning the last three team championships, Montrose is going to have its work cut out for it this year. Micah Stangebye is gone but Jordan Jennings has done a great job of leading the team as a senior. The individual race should be an intriguing one as Discovery Canyon’s Kaden Ford and Northfield’s Hunter Swanson return after tying for second place. Lewis-Palmer’s Greg Lewis was right there as a sophomore and has only gotten better in the last year. The team race could come down to host Cheyenne Mountain battling it out with the likes of Mullen, Pueblo West and Windsor.

Others to watchk: Falcon’s Reese Knox has been on fire lately as has Coronado’s Noah Keller. Frederick’s Jake Chesler has been steady all year and Durango junior Levi Tichi has found himself under par on several occasions.

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(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Class 3A

Course: Dos Rios Country Club in Gunnison

2019 individual champion: Westin Pals (Lutheran)

2019 team champion: Lutheran

Weather forecast: Sunny, temperatures in low 70’s (both days)

Outlook: The 3A tournament certainly brings the most collective talent from the widest range across the state. Aspen’s Nic Pevny finished with in a three-way tie for third with Kent Denver’s Jeffrey Zhou and Stering’s Tayleb Schaefer at the end of last year’s tournament. All three competitors are back which means the second day of the tournament could look more like a men’s club Friday night shootout than a final round of stroke play. Aspen, Kent Denver, St. Mary’s, Sterling and Vail Christian will all have a shot to make a run at a team title and it could be the results on the first day that could put either of those teams in the driver seat.

Others to watchk: Montezuma-Cortez’s Thayer Plewe has more poise on a golf course as a sophomore than most men have in their 30’s. He’s looking to keep his hand steady and play his way into contention. Primero’s Lance Peters has shown no fear when feeling the need to pull driver out of his bag. The narrow fairways of Dos Rios might give some players pause before going for the big dog, but if Peters has a spot in mind and needs driver to get there, he’ll waste no time swinging away.

Jeffco Preps With Pleuss is a monthly roundup of Jeffco prep highlights hosted by Dennis Pleuss, Jeffco Public Schools’ sports information director. In the first edition of the 2020-21 prep sports season, we dive into softball action with the Dave Sanders Invitational along with Green Mountain and Wheat Ridge facing off in a Class 4A Jeffco League showdown. The 5A Jeffco boys golf season was entertaining with several top golfers in the state competing during the five league tournament schedule. D’Evelyn boys tennis made a good run at its regional tournament at Colorado Academy. Arvada West cross country team hosted the Durden Invitational that featured Dakota Ridge senior Jacob White as he makes another push toward a top finish at the state tournament coming up in mid-October.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

The CHSAA follows state and local guidelines regarding maximum numbers in facilities. Many of our state events will have some restrictions and modifications on spectator numbers. Please check with your school athletic directors for spectator variances.

(Ben Parris/CHSAANow.com)

Cherry Creek sophomore Charlie Flaxbeard couldn’t make things look too easy. He had to mix a bogey in there every now and then just to keep himself grounded. Or something like that.

Flaxbeard shot a career-low 6-under-par 66 to claim the Class 5A Central Region boys golf title at Overland Park.

Right behind him with a 68 was teammate Thomas Hicks, who also went into the clubhouse shooting the best round of his career. Those two efforts put Cherry Creek on top of the team leaderboard at the end of the day as well.

Flaxbeard’s start to his round was fast as he made three straight birdies to get things going. His first bogey of the day was on No. 6 but he got that stroke right back with a birdie on the seventh. He made another bogey on the par-4 11th, but then turned the jets back on the rest of the way. He made four birdies in his final seven holes to finish his day.

With a birdie on the par 3 – 2nd hole, Flaxbeard goes 2-under after 2 pic.twitter.com/ZUtCoZyKJJ

— Benjamin Parris (@BenParris04) September 23, 2020

Hicks was a little more steady throughout the day as he made two birdies on the front and three on the back and only recorded one bogey.

With top-five finishes from Ryan Liao (70) and Max Lange (70) Lakewood took second as a team to also punch a ticket to Rolling Hills for the 5A state tournament.

Valor Christian’s Lucas Schulte finished third wiht a 70 of his own. The Eagles had four players play inside the cutline and will take a full team to state. Regis Jesuit had Teddy Hummel, Ryan Occhionero and Liam Wood all place in the top 13 overall allowing the Raiders to also take a team to Rolling Hills.

The field for the 5A tournament is nearly set save for the Southern Regional qualifiers who will head to South Suburban on Thursday to claim their spots.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

DENVER — The Montrose boys golf team is heading back to the Class 4A state tournament after winning their fifth straight regional championship.

As a team, Montrose shot a combined score of 236. Summit took second with a 244, good enough to also send a team to state .Steamboat Springs third at 249 and Green Mountain fourth at 252.

Northfield’s Hunter Swanson claimed the individual championship by shooting a bogey-free 5-under-par 67. Montrose was led by Jordan Jennings who shot 74.

Jennings’ teammate, freshman Noah Richmond and Summit’s Ryley Cibula each shot 76 to finish in a tie for third.

“I am extremely happy with our team and that they captured another regional championship,” Montrose Coach Steve Skiff said. “Green Valley Ranch was a tough golf course, but the boys stayed patient and kept battling all day. I am also very proud of our senior leader Jordan Jennings who finished second with a 74.

Jordan played a very solid round of golf today and hit the ball well.He is such a great leader for us. Noah Richmond got off to a slow start, but stayed with the course and finished with a strong 76. (Sophomores) Jake Legg and Rocco Manuel grinded all day long and (both) shot 86. We are very excited to qualify the team again for the state tournament and look forward to playing Country Club of Colorado on Oct. 5 & 6.”

Montrose has claimed the last three 4A team titles and is looking to make it four in a row. Last year’s individual champion, Micah Stangebye, is gone, but this crop of player knows all they needed to do was to qualify to give themselves a shot. They have the experience of playing at a big-level event and can’t wait to once again defend their title.

“I’m just excited that we got our whole team to state,” Jordan Jennings said. “We need to buckle down these next few weeks to get our games sharp for state.”

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Around the state:

Aspen conquers River Valley Ranch

Aspen’s Nic Penvy bogeyed the final hole at River Valley Ranch in Carbondale to shoot 73, but he was still two shots clear of Vail Christian’s Ross Anderson in claiming a regional championship. Both Aspen and Vail Christian qualified full teams for the 3A state tournament at Dos Rios in Gunnison.

Montezuma-Cortez’s Plewe goes low at Hollydot

Thayer Plewe wasn’t messing around when it came to qualifying for state. The Montezuma-Cortez sophomore pounded Hollydot into submission by firing a 65 to claim a regional title.

Colorado Academy had all four players finish in the top 12 to claim the team title and send a full squad to Dos Rios.

Mullen, Riverdale Ridge get teams out of Quail Dunes

Mullen’s Mario Dino had a bit of an adventurous round but finished his day at even par to claim the individual championship at Region 3 at Quail Dunes. The Mustangs also claimed the team title as Rhett Johnson and Andrew Brady claimed top 16 finishes.

Riverdale Ridge was the team runner-up and its squad of Will Balliet, Aiden Sweeney and Bradley Weinmaster will all head to the Country Club of Colorado in less than two weeks.

Nick Fallin shot a 7-under-par 65 to lead Rock Canyon boys golf to a regional championship at Raccoon Creek Golf Course.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Boys golf regionals begin on Monday. Below is a complete breakdown of schedule and information.

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Class 5A

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Class 4A

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Class 3A