Team-by-team outlook Class 5A
Boulder Panthers Coach: John Keady
The Scorecard: Keady is in his first season as girls golf coach and thus was still familiarizing himself with the team, but season play began at the Denver East Invitational Tuesday and the Panthers saw four seniors -- Grace Shook, Gabriella Bartsch, Jessie Bush and Rowan Braeckel -- get some good swings in at City Park Golf Course. Keady, who was a head coach at Miramonte (Calif.) High before moving to Boulder last August, said he has a few beginners that he is elated to coach up in 2021.
Broomfield Eagles Coach: Tony Ferraro
The Scorecard: Seniors Brooklyn Davis and Hampton Traylor are returning state qualifiers looking to make their way into the field at the Olde Course in May, and senior Erica Culley is pinned as a girl who can cut a couple strokes off her game to make the state field after being an alternate a year ago. Another to watch is freshman Mia Hureta. “We have nine freshmen on our team this year and four sophomores,” Ferraro wrote, “... a lot of really young players with lots of potential to be really good.”
Fairview Knights
Coach: John Zerwin
The Scorecard: With a stroke average of around 78 last season, now-sophomore Ava Hickey leads FHS as a candidate for a top-10 finish at the Class 5A state tournament after placing 29th as a freshman. She finished sixth in regionals, too. Zerwin’s team is void of seniors, which bodes well for continued growth and togetherness over the next couple of years, and the Knights have a sophomore trio of Jessica Levy and twin sisters Charlotte and Rose Maggio who could make a dent in the Front Range League standings.
Legacy Lightning
Coach: Bobby Ortega
The Scorecard: The Lightning have some dedicated student-athletes who also happen to be pretty good on the links. Seniors Peyton Mcleese and Raven Dukane will look to make a push into low-90s averages this spring, while sophomore Ayla Milan showed nice potential last year with a 32nd-place state finish (two-round total of 170 at City Park).
Monarch Coyotes Coach: Geoff Findley
The Scorecard: The Coyotes had one state qualifier last year in senior Adair Tueton, but a pair of Mohi representatives in Kaelan Norgard and Lexi Girton were mighty close to
qualifying. They’ll both be quality golfers in the Front Range League this spring. “This is their year,” Findley said, adding he has seven freshmen out for the team. As with many Mohi student-athletes, Findley and company are hoping to support Alicia Chapman and Cassie Ferrera who lost their homes in the Marshall Fire. Both have shown resiliency through adversity, the coach said.