After months of back-and-forth travel to courses across Colorado, the GHS girls golf team hosted four rival schools on their home turf at the Gunnison Invitational on May 5. Aiden Tomlin represented the Cowboys from the top of the leaderboard, finishing with a first-place score of 91.
Although the day started with cool and temperate weather, the golfers were met with howling wind and rain midway through the round. But the Cowboys have become well-acquainted with the fickle spring weather, and used their knowledge of Dos Rios’ twists and turns to their advantage.
“As soon as the rain and wind hit, everybody’s scores, across the board, skyrocketed for the period of time,” said Head Coach Kevin Mickelson. “It was a tough day, but it was a good lesson all the way around.”
Tomlin started her round in flying form. The Cowboy No. 1 seed attacked the lengthy par-3 second hole, and chipped in for birdie to gain an early advantage. Tomlin navigated the cottonwood-lined doglegs on the front-nine, picking up key pars on the seventh and ninth. Even when the wind started to blow at the turn, the junior remained ahead of the pack, and polished off the round with a first-place finish. She finished four strokes ahead of Mary Locke of Cedaredge.
GHS underclassman Althea Stansbery also starred amidst the springtime gales. The sophomore battled back from a difficult start, and capitalized for a birdie on the par-4 10th. Stansbery finished her round in 10th place with a score of 104, shedding 10 strokes off her last tournament appearance. The Cowboys No. 2 and 3 players Faith Pederson and Norah Abila tied in 13th, each with a score of 107. The combined score of 302 earned the Cowboys a second-place team finish, just three strokes behind the Alamosa Mean Moose.
Although falling just shy of a home-course victory, the Cowboys will have an opportunity to bounce back at the regional tournament at RainDance National Golf Course in Windsor on May 12. Mickelson said the tough conditions in Gunnison, matched with the fast-rolling greens at Dos Rios will prepare the girls for a strong regional showing, and hopefully state tournament qualification.
“We want to be playing our best golf next week, so every player has some things to shore up the rest of the week at practice,” Mickelson said. “We need to work on picking lines off the tee, and finding angles to attack each hole. RainDance is a course where you can’t pin-seek, you have to play strategically from tee to green.”
(Alex McCrindle can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or alex@gunnisontimes.com.)
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here