The Durango boys golf team has performed well all year, with different players stepping up depending on the day.
As the calendar turned to October, the stakes rose with regional qualifying for the state tournament on Tuesday at Black Canyon Golf Course in Montrose. Durango stepped up to the challenge and qualified as a team for the 4A State Championship for the first time in six years.
The Demons finished second at the 4A Region 4 Regional with a team score of 219 or +6 over par. Grand Junction won the regional with a phenomenal team score of 207 or -6 under par. Each team brought four players to Black Canyon Golf Course. The top three players’ scores from each team counted toward their team score.
“I’m really optimistic,” Durango golf head coach Kirk Rawles said. “That is probably the lowest we’ve ever shot as a team at a regional tournament … I still don’t think we’ve played our best golf as a team.”
It was Durango’s fourth round at Black Canyon Golf Course this season between tournament play and practice rounds. Rawles said it was huge to be familiar with the course and only have to drive 2.5 hours to it for regionals.
Junior Nolan Pace led Durango with a season’s best even-par-71 for third place. Pace started the day well with a birdie on the first hole and finished the front nine at +2. Pace had three birdies from holes 10-12 and finished his back nine -2. He finished with five birdies, eight pars and five bogeys.
“I wanted to control my game so I played a lot of holes conservative,” Pace said. “I have a shorter driver and I hit about 10 fairways with that. That kept me in play the whole time off the tee box. I had a lot of good irons into every green and that’s how I kept it at least a really contained and manageable round.”
Rawles complimented Pace for his work ethic and the amount of time he put in to drop from a 14-handicap last spring to a 4-handicap this season.
Pace felt proud to lead the Demons to state as a team for the first time in six years. He underplayed the achievement of the team until he got back in town and everyone started congratulating him and the team.
Senior Owen Muraro was the next Demon behind Pace, finishing fifth with a +2-over-par 73. He started the day with a chip-in birdie on the first hole. He had an eagle on the par 5 fifth and finished the front nine even par. Muraro finished the back nine +2. He had an eagle, two birdies, 10 pars, four bogeys and a double bogey.
“Regionals is a qualifier so we didn’t need to do anything special, just hit fairways and make putts,” Muraro said. “We knew we had the skills to do it, go out and execute and we did.”
Durango sophomore Drew Jepson had an off day for his standards. He shot a 75 and finished tied sixth after shooting a +4-over-par 40 on the back nine.
Grand Junction senior Ky Korte won the regional with a -6-under-par 65.
The Demons move on to the 4A State Championship at Tiara Rado Golf Course in Grand Junction on Monday and Tuesday.
Rawles said Grand Junction playing on its home course can be a double-edged sword. The Tigers will have the experience there, but there will be a lot of eyes on them. Rawles will be happy if the Demons finish fourth but thinks they could challenge at the top against Grand Junction, Cheyenne Mountain and Windsor.
“We’re in a great spot,” Rawles said. “We’re exactly where we need to be. It’s a whole brand-new tournament. Everything that has happened for the last two months, throw it out the window and play what’s in front of you.”
Boys soccer beats Montrose 2-1 in key league game
The Durango boys soccer team had a rough patch with its first two home games, dropping contests against Grand Junction and Piedra Vista.
But the Demons responded nicely with wins against Grand Junction Central and Alamosa before playing a huge league game against Montrose on Saturday. The Red Hawks were undefeated in league play.
The Demons scored two second half goals to beat Montrose 2-1.
Durango improved to 7-2-1 overall and 4-1 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League with the win. Montrose fell to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League with the loss.
“I'm so proud of them,” Durango boys soccer head coach Sean Ackerman said. “We set up this formation, our fourth formation of the season, a 5-4-1, to come out and work. We saw that Montrose had a lot of success with their wingers out wide and so we tried to stifle them with the defensive work and we kept the ball. We dominated most of the game.”
Junior forward Dylan Burns scored a goal. Junior forward Isaac Owens had a goal and an assist. Sophomore Owen Martinez had an assist. Junior goalkeeper Quinn Harrison had eight saves.
The game was tied at 0-0 until about 12 minutes to go when Burns scored from the right side. Owens scored shortly after. Montrose scored with two minutes left and the Demons prevailed.
After the Montrose win, Ackerman said the Demons have a path the rest of the season to win the league.
The Demons play at home on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Palisade.
Girls cross country finishes third, boys finish sixth at Desert Twilight
Durango boys and girls cross country had one of its biggest meets of the season at Desert Twilight on Friday at Toka Sticks Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona. Some of the top cross country programs in the Southwest and the country competed across multiple races.
The Demons competed in the championship races, which were the second-highest level races. The Durango girls finished third out of 31 schools in the 5-kilometer championship race. The boys finished sixth out of 37 schools in the boys 5K championship race.
“Everyone ran solid,” Durango cross country head coach Michael Fadil said. “We had a couple of PRs … Most of everyone else was within five or 10 seconds of their season’s best. It was hot, it was hitting 114 or 115 degrees during the day. The races are when the sun goes down so it’s a lot cooler without the direct sun, but it was still really warm.”
Sophomore Lacy Ruggiero finished seventh in 19 minutes and three seconds. Junior Ayumi Lambert had a season’s best time of 20:34.7 and finished 49th. Junior Mira Quayle finished in 50th in 20:36.4 and senior Bryn Aggeler finished 51st for the Demons. Sophomore Olivia Glover rounded out the top five for Durango with a 71st-place finish in 20:58.7.
On the boys side, senior AJ Bonanno finished 27th in 16:20.5. Freshman Caden Voss wasn’t too far behind in 33rd in 16:26.8. Sophomore Rocco Enea finished 75th in 17:05.4, sophomore Jack Purcell finished 80th in 17:09.7 and sophomore Ben Lively finished 117th in 17:31.2 to round out the top five Durango boys.
Fadil said some kids were disappointed in their times because the hype surrounding the race was so big with it being at sea level, flat and fast. But Durango wasn’t alone and not a lot of teams set the world on fire with their pace, according to Fadil.
The Demons travel to Colorado Springs for a regional preview meet on Friday.
Durango volleyball bounces back to beat Grand Junction
After a tough loss to Montrose on Friday, the Durango volleyball team bounced back to beat Grand Junction at home 3-0 on Saturday.
The Demons won 25-11, 25-23 and 25-22 to improve to 6-5 overall and 2-3 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League. Grand Junction dropped to 6-6 overall and 1-5 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League with the loss.
Junior Hadyn Neiman led the Demons with 18 kills and three aces Senior Avery Rike had nine kills, three aces and freshman Devyn Edwards had six kills. Senior Eva Stewart had 31 assists.
Durango hits the road to play Grand Junction Central on Friday at 6 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
