Ryne Scholl/Courtesy photo
When alarm clocks buzzed around 3 am, members of the 2022 Summit boys golf team lumbered out of bed in order to compete at the first golf tournament of the season.
After a three hour drive to Cedaredge Golf Club, the Tigers prepared themselves on Friday, Aug. 5, for a full day of golf in the hot, desert-like conditions on the Western Slope.
Heading into the tournament, with tryouts recently completed earlier in the week, head coach Ryne Scholl expected his team to play like it has historically played.
“My assumption was that we would have three guys in the low 90s, and if we had anyone break into the 80s that would be a great start,” Scholl said.
The Summit golf team blew past Scholl’s expectations at Cedaredge, leaving Scholl pleasantly surprised and even more excited for the rest of the season.
The Tigers didn’t just have one player score in the 80s. It had three. The stellar performance helped the team secure second place overall.
The Tigers recorded a combined score of 254 and were the top 4A team at the tournament, only coming up short of Basalt High School. Summit was able to achieve this with three of the team’s top players not traveling to the season-opening tournament.
“It was helpful that Wyatt Willis came out and finished in ninth place for us,” Scholl said of the performances. “We had Jace Melby shoot 84, which was right around the area of his personal best. The kids have been working hard. They worked over the winter. They worked during the beginning of the summer. Hard work pays off.”
Ryne Scholl/Courtesy photo
Willis was the Tigers’ top golfer in Cedaredge, recording a score of 81 on the 18-hole course for a personal best score.
Following Willis was sophomore Melby, who shot 84, and junior Max Kunzek, who shot 89. Following the pair of scores in the 80s were a pair of underclassmen in freshman Taylor Redman and sophomore Evan Wischmeyer.
Redman is one of the four girls who are allowed to be on the Summit High School boys golf team since there is no girls team at Summit High School. Redman was forced to shoot off the blue tees at the tournament with the boys and placed 53 out of 73 competitors. She recorded a score of 108.
Scholl said Redman was very nervous to play in the tournament since this was her opportunity to play a full round of golf at an 18-hole course for the first time in her career.
“I was with her on the first tee. I think she was a little nervous,” Scholl said. “The first two kids stepped up, and they blasted it right into the hills out of bounds. She steps up and she hits her first shot straight down the middle, and I looked at her and said ‘See, I told you could play with the boys.’ It was pretty cool.”
After a long day spent on the golf course in the heat, the Tigers immediately got back on the bus to head back to Summit.
“We were gone for about 15 to 16 hours,” Scholl said. “It’s rather business-like. I am proud of the kids, some of these other teams get the opportunity to spend the night. We are doing it the hard way but doing it the right way.”
The Tigers will have the weekend to rest up before preparing for its second tournament of the season at Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora on Tuesday, Aug. 9. Scholl will take 10 athletes to the tournament, allowing more players to play.
“(A) middle-of-the-pack finish would be a good finish for this team I think,” Scholl said this past weekend. “We will spend some time on Monday working on our short game. I think that is our greatest opportunity for improvement among our team.”