It’s getting harder and harder to beat junior Drew Jepson these days. Golfing with Durango High School, Jepson has won or tied for first the last three tournaments he’s played in.
Durango team success has corresponded with Jepson’s success, as the Demons won the Montrose Red Hawk Tournament at Cobble Creek on Thursday and finished second at the Grand Junction Central High School Tiara Rado Invitational 2025 on Monday.
Jepson had an incredible round on Thursday to win the tournament at 4-under-par. He started his round with a double bogey on the par 5 second hole and then a bogey on the par 4 fifth hole.
Sitting at 3-over-par after five holes, Jepson proceeded to birdie eight of next 10 holes to get to 5-under-par through 15 holes. He bogeyed the par 3 17th to finish at 4-under-par.
“I've never seen that from anybody on the Western Slope,” Durango boys golf head coach Kirk Rawles said about Jepson. “He just got on a roll, kept going, kept rolling the ball and figured out the greens. That's just amazing to do that when you're on a different course with different greens.”
Behind Jepson was senior Nolan Pace tied-second at 1-under-par. The highlight of his round was an eagle on the par 5 second. Rawles said Pace hit the ball really well, but didn’t figure out the slower greens as well as Jepson did.
Seniors Wyatt Lafferty and Carter Hansen finished tied-19th after both players shot 7-over-par. The Demons won the tournament with a team score of 2-over-par. Fruita Monument was second at 12-over-par, followed by Grand Junction in third at 13-over-par and Montrose at 13-over-par.
On Monday, the Demons finished in second at Tiara Rado Golf Course at 14-over-par. Grand Junction took the victory at 12-over-par, followed by Fruita at 19-over-par.
Jepson tied for first with Telluride’s Fletcher Dale at 1-over-par. Junior Hayes Malone was the second-best Demon in 10th at 6-over-par, followed by Lafferty tied-12th at 7-over-par.
“We have two guys that are capable of shooting under par,” Rawles said. “If we can keep building the supporting group around those two, that gives us an opportunity to get a team to state. Just knowing we have that potential is awesome, and they have a lot of confidence as a result of it.”
The Durango High School boys and girls cross country teams began their season at the Macen Holderman Cleveland Invitational in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, on Saturday. As expected in the preseason, the Durango girls led the way with their strong top two.
Junior Lacy Ruggiero led the Demons as she finished the 5-kilometer race in 18 minutes and 23.2 second. Behind her was freshman Zia Fadil in her long-awaited first high school race. She finished fifth in 18:48.3
Gianna Rahmer from Eldorado High School won the race in 17:37.3, followed by Anna Hastings from ABQ Academy in second in 17:47.3
Durango senior Ayumni Lambert finished in 11th in 19:55.2.
On the boys side of the Durango program, Miles Snow led the way in 13th in 16:24.2, followed by Jack Purcell in 15th in 16:34.
After a 3-0 start to the season, the Durango High School softball team dropped its first game of the season and it wasn’t close.
Montrose came to Durango High School and pulled away immediately, with five runs in each of the first two innings. Down 10-0, after two innings, Durango couldn’t get its bats going and the Demons lost 10-0 in a shortened game.
The second game started with Montrose up 2-0 after two innings. However, lightning was in the area and the game was postponed to a later date.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
