4A boys golf: Riverdale Ridge overcomes nerves for first team title in school history

DENVER – Bradley Weinmaster had a lot going through his head when he snapped awake at 4 a.m.

He was in the lead. His team was in the lead. This is state.

So the sophomore did what any golfer in their right mind would do in that moment, he went and hit some balls. By 7 a.m. he had already emptied a bucket and he had yet to even make his way to City Park.

He fell out of the individual lead which was understandable considering that Windsor’s Brentyn Paiz shot a 3-under-par 67 to claim the individual title. But he still needed to play well enough to help his team do something that’s never been done in Riverdale Ridge history.

And when he hit his putt on 18, he knew he had done just that. His hat was off before the ball dropped in the cup and Riverdale Ridge claimed the Class 4A boys golf title, the first team state championship in Ravens history.

“It’s exciting,” Weinmaster said. “In the first round I had a smile on my face the whole day and the entire time after.”

The day didn’t turn into a battle against other golfers or a battle against City Park, it turned into a battle against nerves.

The Ravens held a six-stroke lead over defending champion Cheyenne Mountain and three sophomores and a freshman had to try and hold off three juniors and a senior.

“This whole season we’ve had highs and lows and the mental side of their game has come such a long way,” coach Bobby Brunswick said. “It also takes pressure (for the coaches) to be on them and coach them all the time.”

Weinmaster started the day with a bogey and ended up going 5-over on the front. He made two bridies on the back, but the four bogeys wiped that out. Still, his 77 was exactly what the team needed.

It also needed production from players across the board. Will Balliet was 2-over in Round 1 but rebounded to shoot an even-par 70 on day two. He was the top finisher for the Ravens, taking fifth overall.

“Everyone was nervous,” Balliet said. “But we were ready to go.”

Aiden Sweeney rounded out the Riverdale Ridge scorers, finishing 8-over for the tournament. It wasn’t a bad showing considering the state tournament for them last year was something they’d like to forget.

“Last year, we didn’t have the best performance at state,” Balliet said. “That led us to practicing more and getting better. We came out and got it done.”

And they couldn’t help but peek to make sure they were staying ahead of the field. Balliet said he checked every few holes in the event he needed to get aggressive. Weinmaster checked in every once in a while, as well and breathed a huge sigh of relief as he came down the final stretch of holes.

“On hole 15 I looked at the leaderboard and I knew that we won,” he said.

But it didn’t make that final putt any less historic for himself and for his school.

Team Results

Pos	Team	Thru	Overall	Round	R1	R2	Total
1	Riverdale Ridge	F	436	220	216	220	436
2	Windsor	F	445	214	231	214	445
3	Cheyenne Mountain	F	447	225	222	225	447
3	Silver Creek	F	447	219	228	219	447
5	Falcon	F	450	221	229	221	450
6	Pueblo West	F	458	224	234	224	458
7	Niwot	F	461	220	241	220	461
8	Montrose	F	464	231	233	231	464
8	Steamboat Springs	F	464	232	232	232	464
10	Evergreen	F	468	233	235	233	468
11	Ponderosa	F	476	235	241	235	476
12	Mullen	F	478	240	238	240	478
13	Denver North	F	489	223	266	223	489
14	Lewis-Palmer	F	490	238	252	238	490
15	Skyline	F	519	257	262	257	519

Individual Results

Pos	TM	Player	Thru	Overall	Round	R1	R2	Total
1	Windsor	Brentyn Paiz	F	138	67	71	67	138
2	Falcon	Reese Knox	F	140	68	72	68	140
3	Silver Creek	Ben Harding	F	141	71	70	71	141
4	Frederick	Jake Chesler	F	142	68	74	68	142
4	Riverdale Ridge	Will Balliet	F	142	70	72	70	142
6	Northridge	Traejan Andrews	F	143	70	73	70	143
6	Niwot	Christopher Gunlikson	F	143	69	74	69	143
8	Montrose	Noah Richmond	F	145	68	77	68	145
8	Vista Peak	Dawson Thulin	F	145	75	70	75	145
10	Palisade	Alex Morrall	F	146	74	72	74	146
10	Riverdale Ridge	Bradley Weinmaster	F	146	77	69	77	146
10	Pueblo West	Noah Wagner	F	146	71	75	71	146
13	Denver North	Sawyer Klein	F	147	71	76	71	147
13	Evergreen	Tyler Long	F	147	74	73	74	147
15	Riverdale Ridge	Aiden Sweeney	F	148	73	75	73	148
15	Cheyenne Mountain	Thomas Herholtz	F	148	75	73	75	148
17	Falcon	Brayden Larose	F	149	73	76	73	149
17	Cheyenne Mountain	Campbell Grage	F	149	76	73	76	149
19	Pueblo East	Evan Smith	F	150	76	74	76	150
19	Mullen	Ryan Brady	F	150	75	75	75	150
19	Windsor	Kellen Ball	F	150	71	79	71	150
19	Cheyenne Mountain	Carter Surofchek	F	150	74	76	74	150
23	Silver Creek	Josh Lurie	F	151	74	77	74	151
23	Lewis-Palmer	Gregory Lewis	F	151	73	78	73	151
23	Centaurus	Asa Wentworth	F	151	73	78	73	151
26	Niwot	Emmett Shell	F	152	74	78	74	152
27	Pueblo West	Preston Allen	F	153	77	76	77	153
28	Steamboat Springs	Michael Dinapoli	F	154	79	75	79	154
28	Steamboat Springs	Jeremy Nolting	F	154	76	78	76	154
30	The Classical Academy	Nathan Valentine	F	155	76	79	76	155
30	Ponderosa	Bryar Moss	F	155	78	77	78	155
30	Silver Creek	Quinn Lockwood	F	155	74	81	74	155
33	Ponderosa	Zane Aiken	F	156	80	76	80	156
33	Steamboat Springs	Travis Seitz	F	156	77	79	77	156
33	The Classical Academy	Ben Devolve	F	156	82	74	82	156
36	Pueblo East	Adam Romero	F	157	76	81	76	157
36	Longmont	Trace Saunders	F	157	80	77	80	157
36	Windsor	Carter Hinkle	F	157	76	81	76	157
39	Lewis-Palmer	William Simpfendorfer	F	158	76	82	76	158
40	Pueblo West	Cody ingo	F	159	76	83	76	159
40	Pueblo County	Niko Cozzetto	F	159	81	78	81	159
40	Cheyenne Mountain	Kale Parthen	F	159	78	81	78	159
43	Montrose	Liam Beshoar	F	160	83	77	83	160
43	Summit	Ranger Stone	F	160	74	86	74	160
45	Montrose	Jake Legg	F	161	82	79	82	161
45	Falcon	Benjamin Campbell	F	161	80	81	80	161
45	Skyline	Keaton Schell	F	161	81	80	81	161
48	Coronado	Noah Keller	F	162	78	84	78	162
48	Eagle Valley	Jonathan Boyer	F	162	79	83	79	162
48	Mullen	Ethan Karr	F	162	83	79	83	162
48	Palmer Ridge	Trevor Bradley	F	162	81	81	81	162
52	Windsor	Landon Ball	F	163	80	83	80	163
52	Steamboat Springs	Colin Kagan	F	163	83	80	83	163
54	Denver North	Kaden McClelen	F	165	70	95	70	165
54	Evergreen	Lincoln Mackay	F	165	74	91	74	165
54	Ponderosa	Zach Caldarella	F	165	77	88	77	165
54	Riverdale Ridge	Carter Seis	F	165	81	84	81	165
54	Denver South	Benson Spoor	F	165	81	84	81	165
54	D’Evelyn	Taj Kumar	F	165	85	80	85	165
60	Mullen	Ben Hawes	F	166	82	84	82	166
60	Niwot	Carlos Kipkorir	F	166	77	89	77	166
60	Evergreen	Chase Thompson	F	166	86	80	86	166
63	Durango	Zachary Griswold	F	167	85	82	85	167
63	Evergreen	Duncan McIntosh	F	167	85	82	85	167
65	Golden	Zach Henderson	F	168	83	85	83	168
65	Littleton	Noah Abramson	F	168	84	84	84	168
67	Littleton	Jack Finch	F	169	88	81	88	169
67	Air Academy	Logan Burwell	F	169	83	86	83	169
69	Montrose	Connor Bell	F	170	81	89	81	170
69	Summit	Ricky Ahlquist	F	170	85	85	85	170
71	Mullen	Jack Newton	F	171	86	85	86	171
72	Erie	Donovan Obrien	F	173	83	90	83	173
72	Pueblo West	Michael Whittlef	F	173	86	87	86	173
74	Falcon	Trevor Wolken	F	174	85	89	85	174
75	Skyline	Caden tapia	F	175	84	91	84	175
75	Niwot	Drew Stapp	F	175	85	90	85	175
77	Denver North	Aidan Larson	F	177	82	95	82	177
77	Palmer Ridge	Kyle Wade	F	177	89	88	89	177
79	Green Mountain	Riley McIntyre	F	180	87	93	87	180
79	Palisade	Blake Hooker	F	180	96	84	96	180
81	Lewis-Palmer	Joseph Graff IV	F	181	89	92	89	181
81	Golden	James Sheridan	F	181	94	87	94	181
81	Pueblo Central	Luis Contreras	F	181	91	90	91	181
84	Skyline	Declan Karch	F	183	92	91	92	183