The GHS girls golf team has dedicated long afternoons on the range, and tournaments across the state all season with hopes of peaking at the regional tournament. After a long battle with a grueling course, all four varsity players qualified for the state tournament with top performances at regionals on May 12. Additionally, the girls combined effort earned the team a fourth-place finish against top 2A rivals.
“You’ve got to love it when a good plan comes together, and it came together,” said Head Coach Kevin Mickelson. “We were able to piece all four of their games together, and slide into the state tournament. I’m super proud of these girls for accomplishing that on a really difficult course.”
The Cowboys took on the longest course in North America: RainDance National in Windsor that stretches 8,460 yards from the championship tees. Thankfully, the girls played from a significantly shorter distance, but the course's fast and undulating greens still posed a challenge.
The girls fought through intimidating approach shots, and navigated the course's dangerous green-side bunkers. At the end of 18 holes, the Cowboys’ seniorless roster of Aiden Tomlin, Norah Abila, Faith Pederson and Althea Stansbery still sat in the top-20 — securing their tickets to state.
Tomlin responded to her home tournament win last week at Dos Rios with a top-10 result at RainDance. The junior shot a seventh-place 89. She trailed just behind juggernauts from Resurrection Christian, Aspen and Colorado Academy’s star freshman Sophia Lee, who placed first with a 1-under-par 71.
GHS sophomore Abila also stepped up to the challenge, and shot a 13th-place 110, followed by a 16th-place finish from Pederson. Stansbery scrapped to a 19th-place 118, earning state qualification as a sophomore by the slightest of margins.
Now, the Cowboys will grapple against Pueblo Country Club’s tree-lined fairways and bunker-protected greens at the state championship May 19-20. The event will mark Tomlin’s third consecutive state appearance, and Pederson’s second.
“State will be like playing tennis with the nets down after RainDance,” Mickelson said. “It will be a beautiful, and fair test of golf. We’ll go and stick our noses right in the middle of it, and see what we can do.”
(Alex McCrindle can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or alex@gunnisontimes.com.)
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