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Gillespie and the Demons rally

DHS junior climbs 6 spots to 11, while Durango is 7th at state

The Class 4A Western Regional champions didn’t have the CHSAA Class 4A Boys Golf State Championships they intended.

After a poor start that mirrored the weather Monday at Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo, the Durango Demons rallied with a 244 on Tuesday to finish seventh out of 13 teams at the state tournament.

Durango High School shot 251-244–495 for 63-over par.

“They played better (Tuesday),” DHS head coach Kirk Rawles said.

Day 1 leader Valor Christian finished 424, 8-under par to win the state tournament in a rout, while Taylor Rodriguez of runner-up Pueblo South (447) was state medalist with matching 69s for a 138, 6-under par.

Jake Staiano of Valor Christian, who tied teammate Coby Welch with the low rounds of the tournament with first-day 67s, finished runner-up at 4-under par. Ross Macdonald of Valor Christian was the only other golfer to finish below par at 2 under.

Cory Gillespie, a DHS junior who has competed at the state tournament three years in a row, improved upon his team-best 77 on Day 1 with a 75 on Day 2 for a 152, 8-over par and a tie for 11th place overall.

“We were super-close,” Rawles said. “Our goal was to get Cory into the top 10 at state. I walked all 18 with him (Tuesday), and I thought he hit it great. If not for a couple of putts, a couple of drives, he was hitting in the 60s. Other than that, he was incredibly solid.

“The 75 really wasn’t indicative of how well he played.”

Gillespie concurred.

“It was a bummer for me,” said Gillespie, who wanted that top-10 finish at state. “Two unlucky swings.”

The course, which Gillespie has played before, was “playing hard,” especially with the three rain delays Day 1 and the wind Day 2.

Fellow DHS juniors Cameron Barnhardt shot 86-84–170 for 26 over and finished tied for 50th; Eric Walker shot 89-85–174 for 30 over and finished tied for 62nd; and Cy Spicer shot 88-89–177 for 33 over and finished tied for 70th in the 83-golfer field.

“Nerves came into effect (Tuesday), definitely,” said Gillespie, son of Jackie and Tracey Gillespie.

“We’ve kinda got a new team, with two guys not used to the state tournament; we expected to play much better, but the way the course was playing ...

Cheyenne Mountain finished third (459), Windsor finished fourth (466), Steamboat Springs finished fifth (467), Silver Creek finished sixth (478), Discovery Canyon and Evergreen finished tied for eighth (496), Lewis Palmer finished 10th (501), Niwot finished 11th (502), Golden finished 12th (512) and Ponderosa finished 13th (527).

From the Western Slope, Britt Walton of Steamboat Springs (3 over) and Hayden Plewe of Montezuma-Cortez (4 over) were the top two finishers in a tie for sixth and a tie for eighth, respectively.

Rawles and his assistant coaches, Kermitt Barrett and Jim Foltz, are ecstatic about back-to-back regional championships and all four state competitors returning for their senior seasons. The coaches coached 30 golfers this season.

“We had a great year,” Rawles said. “We’re already optimistic about next year.

“We’re disappointed, but if we would’ve hit our stroke averages, we probably would’ve hit our mark of being one of the top three teams at state.”

heraldsports@ durangoherald.com

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