Niwot High boys golfers headed to State

Don't blame the Niwot High School Cougars for wanting more from their performance in last week's 4A Region 3 golf tournament at Greeley's Boomerang Links Golf Course. But compared with their results from a year ago, the Cougars can take pride in qualifying two players for next week's 4A State Tournament.

Coming off a disappointing showing a year ago at the regional event, senior Emmett Shell earned his way back into the state competition after his one-year hiatus. Shell cruised to a two-over par 74 to finish in sixth place. The senior shot 70 just over a week ago on the same Boomerang course in the final Longs Peak league event of the season, but couldn't match that round, finishing with five bogeys and three birdies for the two-over total.

"I think Emmett can really do some damage at state," Niwot Coach Ed Weaver predicted. "Of course, he has to show up and play and he has to play well for two days, which isn't always easy. But I think he definitely has a shot at the top 10."

Shell will be joined by teammate Drew Stapp at the 4A State Tournament. The two-day, 36-hole event begins Monday, Oct. 2, at The Bridges Golf & Country Club in Montrose. Stapp, who played limited rounds earlier in the fall, came on late in the season to qualify for the regional tournament and then earned his way into the state tournament field of 84 players by shooting a five-over par 77. It will be the first state tournament appearance for the junior.

Once again it was Niwot's nemesis Riverdale Ridge that rode away with the team title, riding the coattails of senior Bradley Weinmaster. The 2022 4A state gold medalist put together his best round of the season, firing a blistering nine-under-par 63 and taking the regional title by six strokes over Windsor's Kellen Ball. Weinmaster's masterpiece propelled the Ravens, who combined for a three-player total of 215, to an 11-shot victory over second place Windsor (226), and 15 shots over Niwot (230) in third place.

The Cougars' team score was eight shots off the pace they compiled a week earlier on the same course in the regular season finale. If they could have matched that 222-team total, the Cougars would have slipped past Windsor into second place and the automatic four-player team berth into the 4A state tournament. But that wasn't to be.

"It was the stress of the tournament," Weaver said of his team's eight-shot increase. "They need to learn how to play in those difficult situations. I call it 'tournament tough.' They need to develop that tournament toughness in order to be successful at this level."

It also wasn't to be for sophomore Sawyer Bennett to earn an individual berth and his first trip to the state tournament. The Cougars' No. 2 player for most of the regular season finished the regional round in an eight-way tie at 79. Two of the players in the crowd at 79 were from either Riverdale Ridge or Windsor and earned automatic berths into the state tournament. So, Bennett and five others found themselves in a six-player tiebreaker looking to fill the final two state berths available from the region.

Unfortunately for Bennett, after reaching the green on the par 4 first playoff hole in two, he left a 50-foot birdie putt 10 feet short of the hole and then missed the par putt. The bogey eliminated Bennett, who shot a one-over 73 a week earlier at Boomerang. Broomfield's Sam Horne and Frederick's Layne Smotzer came away with the coveted state entries.

"We definitely were in the toughest region," Weaver offered. "Our qualifying score was 78 while the other qualifying scores in the other regions were 83, 83 and 85. That's a big difference. There's going to be someone who shot 85 making it to state while I've got a kid who shot 79 and he doesn't make it. That's just the way it goes, but it shows how strong our region is."

Niwot's lone entry into last year's state tournament, Jackson Sessa, also missed out on a return trip to the 4A tournament. Sessa, who qualified a year ago as a freshman, struggled down the final stretch of the season including at the regionals where he carded a disappointing 83. Three double bogeys and five bogeys spelled doom for the sophomore who will be looked to as a leader on next year's varsity team.

For Shell and Stapp, the State Tournament begins on Saturday with the five-and-a-half hour drive over to the Western Slope. Once settled in, the pair will do some chipping and putting in the afternoon and then play a practice round on The Bridges course on Sunday in preparation for their Monday morning tee-offs.