Home

Last week, the members of the Steamboat Springs High School golf team were walking on air after opening the season with a first-place finish at the Grand Valley Tournament at the Battlement Mesa golf course.

On Monday, the Sailors came back to earth after finishing fourth in a field that included a couple of top regional opponents and 15 other teams at the Bookcliff Country Club in Grand Junction.

"We still have some work to do. This season is a learning curve, and we just have to have everything and everyone working together by the time we get to the regional tournament," coach Steve Dodson said by phone following Monday's round. "It's like we took two steps forward last Thursday, and now we took one step back."

However, despite the slight setback, Dodson was happy with his team's effort and refuses to get discouraged even though the team finished behind Western Slope rivals Montrose and Cortez in the final team standings. Montrose won the tournament with a score of 223 followed by Cortez at 232. Battle Mountain was third at 235 and Steamboat finished just off the pace at 237.

The Sailors had three players finish at 79 including Kaelen Gunderson, Scott Ptach and Alan Capistron. Ben Von Thaden shot an 83 and Jace Hvambsal added an 88 to Steamboat's outing.

"We had a tough start to the tournament, but we ended up with three player in the 70s, which is what we are shooting for," Dodson said.

Dodson said, after the tournament, the entire team headed to the driving range and worked on a few small things he thinks the team can improve on in Tuesday's round at the Tiara Rado golf course in Grand Junction for the second tournament in as many days.

"The players knew what we needed to work on, and they were already showing some improvement on the range," Dodson said. "I love back-to-back tournaments. It's a great way to make quick adjustments that can really improve our game."