There’s still work to do to catch the leaders, but the Durango High School boys golf team is off to a solid start.
The Demons sit fifth out of 12 teams after Day 1 at the two-day CHSAA Class 4A Boys State Golf Championship at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen.
Durango, the Western regional champion, fired a 239, leaving the Demons 16 shots in back of leader Silver Creek’s 223. Valor Christian is second after a 228, with Cheyenne Mountain third at 230 and Coronado in fourth place at 234.
“I thought they hung in there pretty good on a pretty tough course,” DHS head coach Kirk Rawles said.
Trevor Bogus led the way for the Durango quartet with a 6-over 76, good for a three-way tie for seventh behind leader Andrew Rademacher-Howe of Silver Creek, who shot a 1-under 69 and was the only player under par.
“The round that Trevor shot I thought was a really good round,” Rawles said.
Glenn Workman of Pueblo West and Isaac Petersillie of Coronado were at even par, while everyone else fired above par.
“It’s a par 70 course that probably for the high school boys played more like a par-74 course, 75 course,” Rawles said.
Cory Gillespie was next for Durango with a 10-over 80, and teammate Bo Ward sits tied for 35th after a 13-over 83. Durango’s Cameron Barnhardt finished the first round tied for 52nd after a 17-over 87.
Montezuma-Cortez golfer Jakob Rudosky was tied for fifth at 5-over 75.
Play on the second and final day of the tournament will begin at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
“I think if we got in the top three (as a team), it’d be a real productive day,” Rawles said. “I think when we rehash the whole round of each one of them, there’s probably three or four strokes each that they can collect for (Tuesday).
“If they can improve four or five strokes a man across the board, we’ll see where that puts us,” Rawles said.
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