The same five guys, just a year older, a year wiser – and, the Demons hope, a year better.
The Durango High School boys golf team will roll out a familiar lineup when the Demons take to the first tee of the fall season at Gypsum Creek Golf Course in Gypsum on Wednesday. Cameron Barnhardt, Trevor Bogus, Cory Gillespie, Eric Walker and Bo Ward are back for another year as the varsity five for Durango, just as they were a season ago.
Barnhardt, Gillespie and Walker return for their sophomore campaigns, while Bogus and Ward lead the way as the team’s senior duo. Ward, an Ignacio High School student who plays for DHS because IHS doesn’t have a golf program, finished 21st at state a year ago, and Gillespie also was a state qualifier for the Demons.
DHS head coach Kirk Rawles is hopeful that by season’s end, there could be more than two Demons making the state trip.
“I would love to see us obviously win regionals, but outside of that, I think that our core of varsity guys could each individually qualify for state, as well, which means we could go as a team,” Rawles said.
Durango will get a good look at what it’ll take to top the leaderboard at regionals right out of the gate. Gypsum Creek will host the Class 4A Western Regional, so the Demons spent Tuesday playing a practice round on the course heading into Wednesday’s competitive round on the same course.
“We’ll get feedback from that, then we’ll really see what we need to do all year to really gear up to go back there,” Rawles said.
Rawles has followed his players’ progress through the summer as Barnhardt, Gillespie and Ward all have played competitive rounds. All three played in Albuquerque last weekend, and Rawles said all shot well.
“I think they all had a good summer of training to get ready for the season,” he said.
The hope for the Demons is that another year should give the entire squad an increased level of maturity in terms of their individual games. With a pair of solid seniors and a trio of sophomores on the rise, things could be looking up for the DHS program.
“We had three of those guys get varsity letters as freshmen, so that’s exciting, not only for this year, but for when they grow into juniors and seniors as well,” Rawles said.
rowens@durangoherald.com
