Silver Creek’s Erin Sargent sinks putt on 18 to win 4A girls golf title
PUEBLO — With a chance to bring home a title, Erin Sargent was in complete command on the 18th green.
The Silver Creek senior sank a birdie putt from about to 12 feet to break a tie with Colorado Academy’s Caroline Jordaan to win the Class 4A girls state golf title. Sargent finished with a 5-over on the tournament to win the championship by one stroke.
Jordaan’s Mustangs cruised in the second day of the tournament to claim the team title, ending Cheyenne Mountain’s run of three-straight championships.
But the excitement of the day belonged to Sargent. After a third-place finish in 2015, she had her sights set on ending this year atop the leaderboard.
“Last year the goal was to win it,” Sargent said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pull through on that. This entire season, I’ve just been prepping myself for high-pressure situations.”
Being tied on the 18th green with a chance to make a birdie? One could call that a high-pressure situation. Once her putter connected with the ball, it was a waiting game that seemed to last forever.
“I honestly didn’t know what to expect,” Sargent said. “I swear this is the line, and I swear this is what it’s going to do and I looked up and sure enough it dropped. I wasn’t sure if it was going to make it, I thought it was slowing down.”
And then emotion took over. Once Air Academy’s Kelsey McKenna finished the hole and hugs were exchanged, Sargent turned to her mother, Brenda, for an tear-filled hug. After coming so close a season ago, Sargent is leaving high school as a champion and will continue her golf career at the University of Wyoming.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the 18th green, Beth Folsom was a receiving a bucket bath from her team. If any doubt lingered that Colorado Academy was coming away with the team title, it was erased early. The Mustangs came out and swung the clubs very well to start Tuesday’s round.
“I felt like they played a lot more comfortably today and more relaxed,” Folson said. “I know score-wise, we were a lot close to what I know we can do than we were yesterday. I think they were a little nervous yesterday.”
As a team, the Mustangs shot a 468 for the tournament. That was 52 strokes better than the Indians, who came away as the runner-up with a 520 for the team. Cheyenne Mountain had one top-10 finisher in Regina Dillon (163) while the Mustangs had two in Jordaan (150) and Kacey Godwin (157).
Jordan got word before the turn that her team was playing well enough that she could amp it up to make a run at the solo title.
“I was talking to my coaches on the front nine and they said everyone else was playing great,” Jordaan said. “Going into today, I wanted to be conservative, but give myself birdie opportunities. When I heard that the rest of my team was on a good start, I definitely went for pins than just (aiming) for the middle of the greens.”
On 18, Jordaan had a chance to turn up the pressure on Sargent. She just missed a downhill birdie putt that would’ve given her the sweep.
But a team title is just as good, if not better. Jordaan played a solid round each day and as a result, she and her teammates got to share their accomplishments with a team title.
“It was incredible,” she said. “As a freshman, I’ve never felt something like that. To help my team get the win was great.”
