Both the men’s and women’s teams began their season last week with big expectations, as they were both projected to finish 3rd in the preseason RMAC poll. Difficult courses caused some struggles, but both teams still finished in the top half of their respective tournaments.
The men’s team took the course in Lakewood, playing at Bear Creek Golf Club which proved to be a tough course for all players involved.
“That is one of the toughest courses I’ve ever played” freshmen Dylan Everett said “I think it’s one of the toughest courses in Colorado from what I know. I haven’t played a tournament on a course that tough, so it was different for me.”
The course measures at a staggering 7,580 yards, nearly a thousand yards longer than the average course. However, the distance didn’t seem to be the biggest struggle for the Mavericks.
“The greens were probably the toughest part of that course…they’re small but with a lot of levels so if you weren’t inside 10-15 feet of the hole, you had a 45-50 footer so you really had to be accurate and then you had to be accurate with the putter,” said Senior Pablo Diaz.
Despite those struggles both players seemed impressed with the way their team stuck in there, touting the mental tenacity of not only themselves, but their teammates. Diaz and Everett both shot best for the team, tying for 12th with a combined score of 220, four over the tournament par of 216.
The match was tightly contested as tournament champion, Xavier Bighaus of Colorado Christian University, shot a 212, or 4 under par, to claim the victory. The Mavericks were propelled to a 4th place finish off the clubs of Diaz and Everett, finishing behind Colorado School of Mines, Colorado Christian, and Colorado State University-Pueblo.
The women’s team had a very similar start to the season, tying with Angelo State University for 6th place out of 14 teams at the Swan Memorial Tournament, played in Broomfield, CO. Senior Myranda Kotlowski and Junior Cassidy Phelan were the top performers for the team, both shooting a 235, 19 shots over the tournament par of 216.
A struggle unique to the Women’s Team is their coaching situation. In early July, Head Coach Kyle Daniell resigned, which rushed in the leadership of new Head Coach Joe Taylor.
Despite the sudden coaching change, the team remained focused.
“For me personally, I kinda like to just do my own thing, and especially if I’m in a good groove,” said Kotlowski.
“It affected us a little bit, but we’re a team, and golf is very individual, so we all kinda told ourselves we have to stick to our game and stick to our goals which is to always do great, and even though we had a quick turn around in leadership, we all worked together to help the new coach because he got thrown into the belly of the beast but we all worked together and I’d say we held our own and played hard,” Phelan said.
CMU finished behind West Texas A&M, Colorado State University-Pueblo, Colorado Christian, Biola University, and Metro State University-Denver. The team looks ahead to the rest of the season, fueled by the middle of the road finish.
Both teams head out of the state later this month, as the women’s team will travel to South Jordan, Utah to compete in the Wasatch Invitational, and the men’s team heads to Ruidoso, New Mexico to the Ruidoso Junior Golf Association (RJGA) South-Central Region Shootout.
