The end of a special season arrived for four Durango High School seniors Tuesday.
The Demons’ boys golf team wrapped up play at the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 4A Boys Golf State Championships at Fox Hill Country Club in Longmont.
The three-time defending Class 4A Western Regional champions weren’t able to mount a run at a state championship, finishing 79-over-par as a team for 10th place.
“The course was not our style,” said DHS senior Cory Gillespie, who qualified for state all four years of his high school career. “We’re all players who can usually get out of tough situations, but this course is tight with big trees, an we got really unlucky on a lot of shots.”
Cameron Barnhardt had the best showing of the four DHS seniors. He shot 15-over 85 on Tuesday to finish 25 over for the tournament, good for a tie for 45th.
Cy Spicer finished in a tie for 60th with a final result of 30 over. Gillespie was tied for 65th at 31 over after a strong round of 79 Tuesday to back up a shaky first round.
“I’m glad he was able to put a better number up (Tuesday),” DHS head coach Kirk Rawles said of Gillespie. “He was happy with it, and I know he worked really hard to make that happen.”
Eric Walker rounded out the team at 32 over, good for a tie for 69th.
The Demons finished two strokes behind Lewis-Palmer and 19 strokes back of seventh-place Steamboat Springs.
Valor Christian defended its state championship won at a combined 5-over-par, 28 strokes better than second-place Silver Creek.
Silver Creek had the individual state champion in Jackson Solem, who shot 1-under 69 Tuesday to finish 1 under for the tournament. He edged Valor Christian’s Colby Welch by one stroke. Windsor’s Cole Krantz and Valor Christian’s Philip Lee tied for third at 2 over.
Rawles said his team simply ran out of gas after a thrilling six-week season that saw the Demons win the regional title in a playoff against Steamboat Springs.
“Sports in Durango, you have to travel far. We had four pretty exciting days in Steamboat and then turned around to go to Longmont for state,” Rawles said. “Through the course of a six-week season, it kind of takes its toll.
“We wanted to make a run to get in the top five, but we never got any momentum on the front-nine. After that, we lost interest a little bit.”
Barnhardt and Gillespie were part of all three regional championship teams during Durango’s streak, with Spicer and Walker a part of the last two.
“This team means the world to me, really,” said Gillespie, son of Jackie and Tracey Gillespie. “I grew up with these boys, and I look at them as brothers. It’s been awesome.”
Rawles knows what the group has accomplished is special, and it will take a lot for any team to match their achievements.
“It’s a special group,” he said. “The bantering and fun we have on road trips, it’s been a lot of fun. Sometimes golf gets in the way of the camaraderie and fun we’ve had.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
