The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference announced the 2016-17 Men’s and Women’s Golf Preseason Polls last week. Though both Fort Lewis College teams were picked to finish in the bottom half of the league, there’s reason to think that there might be more promise on the rim than the poll indicates.
“We honestly don’t think much of it,” Skyhawks head coach Guy Begay said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “A lot of that is based on last year’s finish and, knowing what I know about the guys we have coming back and the guys we have coming in, I think we might turn some heads.”
UC-Colorado Springs’s 62 point total makes them the favorites to win the men’s RMAC title. The Mountain Lions got seven of 11 first place votes in the coaches poll and Colorado Mesa was picked as runner up.
UCCS also has the Men’s Preseason Golfer of the Year in Colin Prater. The junior was a Division II All-American last season with two tournament wins and seven top 10 finishes.
The Skyhawks received only got 23 points overall, but returning senior and DHS grad Michael Thomas thinks FLC might surprise people this year.
“I’ve been around town for awhile and I think this is the best team here since 2011,” Thomas said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “It’ll be competitive just to qualify to play on this team, and that’s a good thing.”
Incoming freshmen Tyler Blohm and Eric Neal are expected to make an impact for the Skyhawks immediately. Blohm was the second-place amateur in the 2016 Navajo Trail Open, and Neal was a three-time high school regional champion from Lake Havasu, Arizona.
They’ll join returners Thomas, Skyler Bordeaux, Mitchell Donley, Reed Hodgson, 2015 team MVP Michael Huntley, and Ryan Tanner.
“We played well down the stretch last year,” Thomas said. “I’m not surprised that they predicted us to finish seventh. Maybe they’ll call us the ‘Shockhawks’ by the end of the season.”
On the women’s side, Metro State got 10 of 12 first place votes and is a clear favorite to repeat as league champion.
The Roadrunners are led by last year’s RMAC Golfer of the Year, Allie Johnston, and it was no surprise when she was named Women’s Preseason Golfer of the Year for her senior season.
FLC received 51 points in the preseason poll. The Skyhawks return five golfers from last year’s squad that placed eighth in the RMAC Championship Tournament.
Sophomore Isabella Martinez had the second best scoring average on the team as a freshman and led the Skyhawks in four of the nine events last season. Martinez returns with team veterans Lindsey Blythe, Judith Camacho, Michelle Roth and Lauren Trujillo.
FLC should have another good freshman this year with Summer Vigil, who was part of a state championship team and first team all-state selection at Albuquerque’s La Cueva High School. Adams State transfer Shelby Hindes and New Mexico State transfer Summer Tsosie will also help a team that jumped over 100 spots in the national rankings in just two seasons.
The Fort Lewis men and women will open their seasons Sept. 5-6 at CSU-Pueblo’s Sam Proal Invitational.
jfries@durangoherald.com
