After self-reporting an infraction within its softball program, Fossil Ridge has forfeit the team’s win over Mountain Range last week, and suspended its coaching staff for the rest of the season.
Fossil Ridge formally self-reported the infraction to the CHSAA office on Wednesday. The incident had been reported to school officials by the coaches on Monday, and the coaches were immediately suspended while the school investigated.
During a game against Mountain Range on Saturday, Fossil Ridge played an ineligible player in an attempt to avoid a substitution infraction. Two athletes were advised by the Fossil Ridge coaching staff to switch jerseys in the dugout in an attempt to cover up the error.
As a result of their investigation, Fossil Ridge has forfeit that win over Mountain Range. In addition, the school has suspended all coaches present for that game for the remainder of the regular season, and any postseason games this year.
The program and coach have been placed on restriction by CHSAA, as per bylaw 2330.1.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Micah Stangebye’s long birdie putt on No. 18 was quite the exclamation point on his round. He had been good all day but when the ball fell into the cup, the argument could be made that he finished with a great round.
He shot a 3-under-par-69 to grab the individual lead at the Class 4A boys state golf tournament. His teammates also benefited from his 18-hole score as Montrose also came away with the team lead, besting Steamboat Springs by eight shots.
The Indians won the 4A state title last year and knew coming into this year that they were going to get everyone’s best shot.
“You have a target on your back,” coach Dave Woodruff said. “All season long people want to knock the defending champs off. The kids have been there and they’re used to that kind of thing. We’re just telling them to relax and play a round of golf and see what happens.”
That’s the way they approached round one. And it paid off. Stangebye got things rolling off the first tee, making a birdie on the long par-4.
He followed it up with a birdie on No. 2 to quickly move to two-under and feeling like he was able to take advantage of the friendly conditions the Club at Flying Horse had to offer early in the day.
“Going into hole one, I thought par was a good start because it’s not an easy hole,” Stangebye said. “I made birdie and thought that I had an advantage at that point. On birdie two, I realized putts were going in and I felt pretty good.”
The same could be said for Mead’s TJ Shehee. The senior finished 14th in last year’s tournament and felt good about his round at the start of the day. Like Stangebye, he birdied No. 1, but as the day rolled in he struggled on the putting greens.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“I couldn’t make any putts today and I got a little sloppy on my last two holes,” Shehee said. “Aside from that, it was just a consistently boring day all day.”
That boring day resulted in a 74, leaving him five shots behind Stangebye. There are five other players within five shots of the leader, including Steamboat Springs’ Jack Rotermund who is in a tie for second after shooting 73. Steamboat is also second in the team races, trailing Montrose by eight shots.
Rotermund knows that if he can make up strokes on Stangebye it will also benefit the team. The key to making up those strokes is eliminating unforced errors, such as a shot that went into the hazard on No. 14, which resulted in a double-bogey.
“The unforced for me, blocking it right into the hazard on 14, hurt the team,” Rotermund said. “You can’t hit every shot perfectly, but we just have to limit those mistakes.”
Groups will go off at 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning as the second round will complete the state tournament. The key for Stangebye and Woodruff in keeping the lead is to treat Tuesday morning, and Monday night for that matter, is to keep their minds off golf.
An easy way to do that was to get the kids together and enjoy watching some Monday Night Football.
“I think we’ll probably just watch the Broncos and play it as just another round tomorrow,” Woodruff said. “We’ll get some rest and I just want them to have fun and enjoy the time they have out there.”
If they enjoy that time, Woodruff is convinced they’ll play well. As he tries to get the sweep for the individual and team titles, Stangebye isn’t afraid to draw off the energy from his teammates. They might be on the course individually, but he knows they’re all for one and one for all.
“When everyone is playing well it comes to me,” Stangebye said. “When they play well, I play well.”
If they play well on Tuesday, Montrose will have plenty of new hardware to take back to the Western Slope.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Montrose jumped out to an early lead on the both the team and individual leaderboards on the first day of the Class 4A boys state golf tournament.
The Kent Denver senior, who was playing in the lead group and had put himself in position to win the tournament, wanted to have fun. In fact, he didn’t even check the leaderboard until the 16th hole.
By that time, Klutznick was four shots in the lead, well on his way to winning the individual championship.
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“I just prepared myself to play golf,” Klutznick said. “In the past, I’ve really gotten in my own way, started thinking about other people and what they’re going to shoot, kinda trying to predict it. I just decided I’m gonna play golf today.
“The kids I was playing with were awesome,” he added. “I’m assumed they were the ones that are leading, so I was just kind of going in relation to them, and just tried to have fun. I figured at the end of the day, just go out and enjoy it.”
Well, mission accomplished.
Klutznick, who finished fourth a season ago, broke away from a tight leaderboard to win the 3A title by three strokes at 1-under. He becomes the sixth individual champion from Kent Denver.
Aspen’s Jack Hughes (2-over) was second. Peak to Peak’s Davis Long, last season’s champion, finished third at 3-over. Aspen’s Jack Pevny and Prospect Ridge Academy’s Walker Franklin tied for fourth at 4-over.
Hughes, a CU commit, and Pevny led an impressive Aspen contingent which captured the team title, the program’s first. The Skiers, who entered with a one-stroke lead after the first day, had a runaway performance on the second day of the tournament to win.
They were 5-under as a team at one point on Tuesday, and wound up winning by nine strokes, finishing at 14-over. Kent Denver (+23) was second.
“These boys have been outstanding players since the time they were freshmen,” said Aspen coach Mary Woulfe. “They knew this was in their blood, and they just didn’t know when it was going to happen.”
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Dawson Holmes (+8) anchored the team-score for Aspen, and Dominic Lanese IV shot 23-over.
“We were a team of six, not a team of four,” Woulfe. “We had two outstanding players that didn’t make it who would’ve been on that leaderboard. … They’re just smart players, they make good decisions all the way around the course.”
Eaton’s Peter Grossenbacher entered the day with a two-stroke lead, having shot 5-under on the first day. Klutznick entered in second at 3-under, and Pevny was third at 2-under.
The leaderboard tightened up almost immediately on the second day. A double-bogey from Grossenbacher on the second hole, along with a birdie from Pevny and a par from Klutznick, tied the trio at the top.
They spent the rest of the day in various positions of the lead, with Pevny each Klutznick each grabbing the individual lead at one point. By the time the lead group reached the ninth hole, there was a five-way tie atop the top: Pevny, Klutznick, Grossenbacher, Franklin and Telluride’s Carlo Pine all sat at even.
Thru 11 holes, Klutznick and Pevny were tied with Franklin (who had finished 12) at even. Klutznick then birdied his 12th hole to take a one-stroke lead. He held the lead from there on out, as Pevny, Grossenbacher and Franklin dropped strokes.
“I figured I was somewhere at the top, but there are so many great players, I didn’t want to assume,” Klutznick said.
Klutznick added another birdie on 16, and suddenly he led by four strokes. He made par on 17 and bogey on 18 to seal his championship.
“He rose to the occasion,” Woulfe said of Klutznick. “To see him win, and the way he did it, with such grace coming down the stretch, was great.”
Voted upon by coaches and media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
Class 5A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Cherry Creek (8)
6-0
123
1
W
2
Valor Christian (4)
6-0
116
2
W
3
Columbine (1)
6-0
109
3
W
4
Eaglecrest
6-0
88
5
W
5
Pomona
4-2
72
6
W
6
Grandview
5-1
64
4
L
7
Cherokee Trail
6-0
45
8
W
8
Ralston Valley
5-1
35
7
W
9
Fairview
5-1
24
9
W
10
ThunderRidge
5-1
21
10
W
Others receiving votes:
Smoky Hill 10, Castle View 3, Denver East 2, Doherty 1, Highlands Ranch 1, Regis Jesuit 1.
Dropped out
None.
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Loveland (14)
5-0
176
1
W
2
Pine Creek (2)
4-1
161
2
Bye
3
Montrose (1)
5-0
131
3
W
4
Broomfield
4-1
118
4
W
5
Heritage (1)
5-0
75
7
W
6
Longmont
4-1
63
8
W
7
Ponderosa
3-2
60
10
W
8
Greeley West
4-1
58
–
W
9
Fruita Monument
3-2
47
5
L
10
Pueblo West
3-2
40
9
Bye
Others receiving votes:
Air Academy 11, Skyline 11, Grand Junction Central 10, Rampart 6, Vista Peak 6, Chatfield 3, Golden 3, Standley Lake 3, Brighton 2, Windsor 2, Hinkley 1, Wheat Ridge 1.
Dropped out
Skyline (6).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Erie (9)
5-0
131
1
W
2
Discovery Canyon (2)
5-0
119
2
Bye
3
Palmer Ridge (1)
3-2
86
6
Bye
4
Palisade (1)
4-1
81
3
W
5
Harrison
5-0
76
5
W
6
Thomas Jefferson (1)
5-0
75
4
W
7
Holy Family
4-1
58
8
W
8
Pueblo East
3-2
50
7
Bye
9
Durango
3-2
44
9
Bye
10
Fort Morgan
4-1
17
10
W
Others receiving votes:
Lewis-Palmer 8, George Washington 7, Mead 6, Green Mountain 5, Evergreen 3, Frederick 3, Pueblo Central 1.
Voted upon by coaches and media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
Erie 17, Frederick 11, Woodland Park 7, Air Academy 3, Silver Creek 3, Cheyenne Mountain 2, Thomas Jefferson 1.
Dropped out
None.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Lutheran (5)
12-0
113
1
2-0
2
University (4)
11-1
106
2
1-0
3
Eaton (3)
8-5
78
3
2-1
4
Alamosa
18-0
67
5
5-0
5
Platte Valley
9-2
65
4
2-0
6
Colorado Springs Christian
13-2
53
7
5-1
7
Faith Christian
8-3
43
8
2-0
8
Manitou Springs
11-2
39
6
1-1
9
Valley
6-5
21
10
0-1
10
Cedaredge
10-1
20
9
2-0
Others receiving votes:
Middle Park 13, Eagle Ridge Academy 10, Bennett 9, Coal Ridge 8, La Junta 4, Lamar 3, Englewood 2, Resurrection Christian 2, Sterling 2, Buena Vista 1, Jefferson Academy 1.
Dropped out
None.
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Yuma (9)
13-1
90
1
4-0
2
Meeker
14-0
81
2
2-0
3
Wiggins
12-1
67
5
1-0
4
Denver Christian
12-1
62
3
2-0
5
Swink
12-2
46
4
1-1
6
Del Norte
13-1
42
7
3-0
7
Union Colony
11-1
39
6
2-0
8
Rye
11-2
23
8
2-0
9
Vail Mountain
10-3
14
10
3-1
10
Simla
10-4
13
9
2-0
Others receiving votes:
Dawson School 6, Dayspring Christian 5, Akron 4, Hoehne 3.
Dropped out
None.
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Kit Carson (5)
11-1
85
1
1-1
2
Otis (3)
14-0
80
2
2-0
3
Weldon Valley
12-1
59
5
2-0
4
La Veta
10-1
50
3
2-0
5
Briggsdale
12-1
44
4
2-0
6
Walsh
10-0
43
6
1-0
7
Merino
8-4
35
9
0-2
8
De Beque (1)
13-0
28
7
2-0
9
Springfield
7-2
18
10
2-1
10
McClave
9-4
16
–
1-1
Others receiving votes:
Stratton/Liberty 14, Dove Creek 9, Sangre de Cristo 7, Flagler/Hi-Plains 3, Fleming 3, Eads 1.
