5A boys golf: Arapahoe, Kates, sweep team and individual state titles

COLORADO SPRINGS – On Tuesday afternoon of the 2021 5A boys golf state tournament, after 36 holes of competitive golf, the team championship was all wrapped up for Arapahoe, but the individual championship had yet to be decided.

After two playoff holes, Arapahoe senior Will Kates claimed his second individual title in three years, defeating Pine Creek junior Wesley Erling.

“It feels pretty dang cool, I’m not going to lie,” Kates exclaimed after the winning putt. “This has been the goal I’ve been working towards the whole year, to be a two-time champion, and to actually do it is pretty special.”

Kates entered the afternoon tied for third, two strokes behind the leader Erling. He played what he called “shaky golf” on the front nine, but remained within striking distance. He then birdied 12 and 13 to get into a tie for the lead down the stretch.

After two pars, a bogey on 16 set him one stroke behind, and a par on 17 set him up needing birdie on the par four 18th. The hole is a shorter par four, meaning Kates could have either laid up with a wedge, or tried to drive the green.

“I decided to go for it, go for the win.” Kates stated.

His drive landed on the back fringe, and after an up and down for birdie, Kates had his tie with Erling, who parred 18 to send it to sudden death.

After a tie on hole nine, they headed to hole one, a par five. Both landed on the green in three, but, after an Erling miss, Kates drilled his putt from about six feet out to claim the individual title.

As for the team title, the Warriors had become accustomed to coming up just short. They finished runner-up the last two seasons, and third the two seasons before that. They left no doubt this season, finishing with a 438 over the two days to win the title by 17 strokes ahead of Cherry Creek.

“Everyone played really well today, there were no mistakes and no blowups,” Head Coach Harry Buckner said. “They’ve been competing against each other in matches and practices all season. That team competition is what made them as good as they are.”

It is the first team title for Arapahoe since 1988.

For Kates, he becomes the first two-time boys golf champion since Micah Strangebye did so for 4A Montrose in 2018 and 2019.

Pos	Team	Thru	Overall	Round	R1	R2	Total
1	Arapahoe	F	438	216	222	216	438
2	Cherry Creek	F	455	224	231	224	455
3	Highlands Ranch	F	458	225	233	225	458
4	Fossil Ridge	F	459	236	223	236	459
5	Ralston Valley	F	462	225	237	225	462
66	Grandview	F	465	229	236	229	465
67	Pine Creek	F	465	236	229	236	465
8	Columbine	F	469	243	226	243	469
9	Regis Jesuit	F	474	228	246	228	474
10	Arvada West	F	487	248	239	248	487
10	ThunderRidge	F	487	244	243	244	487
12	Fairview	F	492	249	243	249	492
13	Fort Collins	F	499	244	255	244	499
14	Denver East	F	505	252	253	252	505
14	Legacy	F	505	248	257	248	505

Pos	TM	Player	Thru	Overall	Round	R1	R2	Total
1	Arapahoe	Will Kates	F	142	70	72	70	142
2	Pine Creek	Wesley Erling	F	142	72	70	72	142
3	Castle View	Luke Cushman	F	147	72	75	72	147
3	Brighton	Kyle Leydon	F	147	71	76	71	147
3	Ralston Valley	Gage Messingham	F	147	72	75	72	147
6	Grandview	Lukas Beisner	F	148	73	75	73	148
6	Arapahoe	Matthew Wilkinson	F	148	74	74	74	148
8	Arapahoe	Max Zadvorny	F	149	72	77	72	149
9	Highlands Ranch	Ryan Peragallo	F	150	76	74	76	150
9	Arapahoe	Grant Juergens	F	150	74	76	74	150
11	Douglas County	Talen Turnbaugh	F	151	76	75	76	151
11	Cherry Creek	Jonathan Trigg	F	151	79	72	79	151
13	Highlands Ranch	Aiden Krusoe	F	152	73	79	73	152
13	Lakewood	Jace Wright	F	152	78	74	78	152
13	Fossil Ridge	Miles Atkinson	F	152	81	71	81	152
16	Rocky Mountain	Logan Vandermerwe-Smith	F	153	76	77	76	153
16	Ralston Valley	Jordan McCaslin	F	153	72	81	72	153
16	Regis Jesuit	Jake Irvine	F	153	72	81	72	153
16	Pine Creek	Rylen Caldwell	F	153	79	74	79	153
16	Valor Christian	Jack Armstrong	F	153	75	78	75	153
21	Cherry Creek	Charlie Flaxbeard	F	154	72	82	72	154
21	Monarch	Caleb Michaels	F	154	77	77	77	154
21	Fairview	Sawyer Sales	F	154	78	76	78	154
21	Columbine	Qwenton Caldwell	F	154	78	76	78	154
25	Liberty	Alex Lund	F	155	79	76	79	155
25	Grandview	Kenny VanWormer	F	155	76	79	76	155
25	Cherry Creek	Pratham Parmar	F	155	73	82	73	155
25	Poudre	Ryan Woodley	F	155	80	75	80	155
25	ThunderRidge	Dylan Everett	F	155	76	79	76	155
25	Fossil Ridge	Austin Barry	F	155	80	75	80	155
25	Liberty	Hayden Woelk	F	155	81	74	81	155
25	Columbine	Matai Naqica	F	155	81	74	81	155
33	Eaglecrest	Andrew White	F	156	77	79	77	156
33	Fossil Ridge	Alex Rogers	F	156	77	79	77	156
33	Highlands Ranch	Nas Kim	F	156	76	80	76	156
33	Monarch	Talan Gover	F	156	76	80	76	156
33	Fossil Ridge	Grant Samuelson	F	156	79	77	79	156
33	Cherry Creek	Andre Dumonteil	F	156	79	77	79	156
39	Arvada West	Luke Landskov	F	157	78	79	78	157
39	Rock Canyon	Zach Lipfield	F	157	82	75	82	157
39	Broomfield	Mason Hill	F	157	85	72	85	157
42	Legend	Spencer Schlagel	F	158	76	82	76	158
42	Broomfield	Sawyer Hyten	F	158	80	78	80	158
42	Chatfield	Jesse Hand	F	158	85	73	85	158
42	Rock Canyon	Charlie Tucker	F	158	75	83	75	158
46	Fruita Monument	Kade Hayward	F	160	78	82	78	160
46	Legacy	Ben Cerretani	F	160	80	80	80	160
46	Columbine	Matt Cicero	F	160	84	76	84	160
49	Regis Jesuit	Roland Thornton	F	161	76	85	76	161
49	Mountain Vista	Luke Kusserow	F	161	80	81	80	161
49	Grand Junction	Jack Kaul	F	161	79	82	79	161
52	Ralston Valley	Makian Maydew	F	162	81	81	81	162
52	Cherokee Trail	Christopher O’Donnell	F	162	78	84	78	162
52	Regis Jesuit	Will Bikulcius	F	162	80	82	80	162
52	Grandview	Charles O’Donnell	F	162	80	82	80	162
52	ThunderRidge	Ryan Oro	F	162	83	79	83	162
57	Fort Collins	Alex Burns	F	163	82	81	82	163
57	Highlands Ranch	Ethan Leach	F	163	82	81	82	163
57	Loveland	Keaton Koch	F	163	85	78	85	163
60	Regis Jesuit	Cole Dewey	F	164	81	83	81	164
60	Arvada West	Yusuke Ogi	F	164	85	79	85	164
62	Fort Collins	Tanner Stewart	F	165	83	82	83	165
62	Mountain Vista	Brayden Scheich	F	165	84	81	84	165
62	Douglas County	Hunter Glasser	F	165	82	83	82	165
65	Denver East	Oliver Gottesfeld	F	166	80	86	80	166
65	Grandview	Alex Chitkoksoong	F	166	81	85	81	166
65	Arvada West	Robby Capritta	F	166	85	81	85	166
65	Denver East	Brad Fortino	F	166	85	81	85	166
69	Cherokee Trail	Andrew Jang	F	168	84	84	84	168
70	Fairview	Mathieu Zerwin	F	169	86	83	86	169
70	Legacy	Tommy Hammond	F	169	87	82	87	169
72	Pine Creek	Preston Ahner	F	170	85	85	85	170
72	ThunderRidge	Jack Barton	F	170	85	85	85	170
72	Fairview	Chandler Levy	F	170	85	85	85	170
75	Prairie View	Keagan Bond	F	171	83	88	83	171
75	Legend	Ryan Parker	F	171	83	88	83	171
75	Rocky Mountain	Thomas Kline	F	171	81	90	81	171
75	Fort Collins	Ian Hunn	F	171	79	92	79	171
79	Fairview	Nathan Sager	F	172	88	84	88	172
80	Denver East	Kyle Shaw	F	173	87	86	87	173
81	Prairie View	Payton Crawford	F	175	86	89	86	175
82	Legacy	John Mcnabb	F	176	81	95	81	176
83	Pine Creek	Luke Wright	F	178	87	91	87	178
84	Vista Ridge	Bryce Raduziner	F	197	102	95	102	197