The Durango High School girls golf team showed a lot of resilience to finish second at the 4A girls state championship at Broadlands Golf Course in Broomfield on Monday and Tuesday.
Durango had to travel over 1,500 miles over eight days to compete in regionals in Loveland, then go back to Durango and go back up to Broomfield. The Demons had to balance their finals with their travel. Durango was also supposed to play a full practice round on Sunday before state at Broadlands, but the team only got eight holes in because of hail, lightning and rain from tornadoes in Northeast Colorado.
“It's tough being in Durango and then participating and competing statewide … I'm so proud that they stepped up and got second place at state,” Durango head coach Kirk Rawles said. “I went and played golf today, and I told some friends, ‘Imagine if everybody from the Front Range came and played regionals at Hillcrest and then had to come back and play state at Dalton.’ There are a few strokes out there. But they did great. We're excited we got second and knew we had an opportunity to maybe get first, but it didn't really line up for us.”
Golfers from 30 schools competed at state and 16 schools brought a team of three or four golfers to compete. Golfers played 18 holes on Monday and then another 18 holes on Tuesday for their total score after two days. Each team used their top three golfers’ scores from that day for the team’s score. Both days’ team scores were combined for each team’s final score.
Durango finished with a team score of 513, or +81 over par. The Demons shot +38 over par on Monday and +43 on Tuesday. It was the Demons’ second second-place finish at state in the last three years.
Thorton’s Riverdale Ridge captured the state title with a team score of +68 over par. The Ravens shot +29 on the first day and +39 on the second day. Rawles said Riverdale Ridge had a big advantage because the Ravens are only located about 10 miles from Broadlands and therefore Riverdale Ridge had a lot more experience on the course. Ponderosa was third at +97 over par.
Rawles said dealing with yardages, a lot of water and sand at Broadlands was especially tricky since the Demons didn’t get their full practice round in.
It was one of the more difficult courses Durango played and scoring conditions only worsened on Tuesday with 15-20 mile per hour winds. That, combined with the lack of knowledge of the yardages of the course, made it very difficult for Durango’s golfers to choose clubs.
These subtle nuances cost the Demons a few strokes, according to Rawles.
Pins were also tucked in tricky spots around the course, according to Rawles. One hole that stood out to him was the par 4 ninth hole. At 348 yards, the ninth was a tough driving hole with bunkers on the left and water on the right. The pin was tucked on the right side of the green and guarded by a bunker.
The longtime Durango head coach was proud of how his team embraced the conditions and committed to their shots and plans for holes.
Senior Ellie White finished up her accomplished high school golf career for the Demons with a tied-seventh-place finish out of 81 finishers. White earned first-team all-state for her top 10 finish. She shot +14 over par, or 86 on Monday and an 83 on Tuesday for a combined score of +25 over par.
Landry Frost from Air Academy won the individual title at +7 over par for the two days. Kaylee Meyering from Ponderosa finished second at +8 over par and Macy Kleve from Windsor finished third at +9 over par.
White started her opening round on Monday on the back nine and was +5 over par after the first nine with four pars and five bogeys. On her second nine, White got in trouble on the par 5 third. She hit her drive on the 515-yard hole to the right and had to carry a lake. She didn’t use the right club out of a tough lie and put her ball in the water. White hit it in the water again before she finally made it over. She carded a quadruple bogey nine. White finished her final nine of the first round with a 45, or +9 over par.
On Tuesday, White started on the front nine and finished +6 over par before shooting +5 on the back nine. White found herself in five bunkers on the back nine. She finished with a birdie on the par 3 12th, eight pars, six bogeys and three double bogeys.
Rawles is proud of White’s performance and said it’s a great way to cap off her high school career. Multiple times, White was the player of the year in Durango’s league and made all-state. She went into the Durango High School Athletics Hall of Fame and was a part of both of Durango’s teams in the last three years that placed second at state.
Fellow senior Raimee Brant had a great finish to her high school golf career. She also earned first-team all-state with her tied-ninth-place finish. Brant was +26 over par; she shot +10 on the first day and +16 on the second day.
Brant was very consistent in her first round. She started on the back nine and finished that nine +6 over par. She had an even better last nine and finished +4 on the front. Brant had a birdie on the par 4 eighth hole, six pars and 11 bogeys.
“That was one of her best rounds of the year and one of the most difficult courses we've seen,” Rawles said. “Of all of our players, Raimee hits the most consistently. She hits it hard with a nice little draw. She's not as big as the other girls, but her consistency with her driving and her iron play put her in that position … I was excited for her to see and realize her potential, where she is as a golfer and to get that confidence.”
On Tuesday, Brant had some bigger numbers on her card. She shot 44 on both sides of the course and had seven pars, seven bogeys, three double bogeys and a triple bogey.
Junior Jayden Craig finished 16th at +31 over par for the Demons. She shot +14 over par in the first round and +17 in the second round.
Craig had a pretty consistent first round and shot 43 on both sides; she finished the first round with five pars, 12 bogeys and one double bogey.
In the second round, Craig had a much more colorful scorecard, including an eagle on the par 5 fifth. Craig hit a great drive and then a great hybrid onto the green. She then sank a 25-foot eagle putt.
Craig finished the second round with an eagle, five pars, seven bogeys, three double bogeys and two triple bogeys.
Rawles said it was one of those rounds for Craig where she hit a lot of great shots and putts but didn’t get much out of her round. She got a lot of bad bounces on her shots and had some good putts not go down.
Durango sophomore Dylan Livingston finished tied-19th after she shot +36 over par; Livingston shot +20 on the first day and +16 on the second.
On the first day, Livingston ended with a birdie, three pars, nine bogeys, four double bogeys and a quadruple bogey.
Livingston did better on Tuesday and also had an eagle on the par 5 fifth. She ended her round with one eagle, two pars, 12 bogeys and three double bogeys.
“Dylan is a powerhouse,” Rawles said. “She is a player as she matures and learns how to play golf, is going to be dynamic. She has the physical attributes to hit the ball as far as she wants to. She has soft hands; she's a good putter … she has so much potential. It's going to be exciting to see her develop and see what she can do.”
The Demons will lose two great players in White and Brant to graduation but will return Craig, Livingston and Riley Harms, who will be a senior next year. Harms played in most regular-season matches and Rawls had a lot of great things to say about her growth this year.
Durango had 30 girls play this past year and Rawles hopes some of the younger players put the time in during the summer so they can contribute next year.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
