3A boys golf: Montezuma-Cortez’s Plewe captures individual crown, Vail Mountain wins first team title

DENVER – After falling just short back-to-back years, Montezuma-Cortez’s Thayer Plewe left no doubt this time around.

With a blistering six-under 64, the senior captured the individual 3A boys golf Tuesday afternoon at Pinehurst Country Club. Coming into the day trailing by one stroke, Plewe used the strength of six birdies and an eagle to finish with a 134 overall, five strokes ahead of second place.

“This is a dream come true,” Plewe exclaimed. “I’ve had a couple close finishes the past two years, and I came into this tournament as one of the favorites. I think I showed my ability today, the first day I didn’t really make any putts, but I just stayed patient and it felt so rewarding to finish like that.”

Up by just two strokes going into the final three holes, Plewe used an amazing eagle on the par 5 16th to catapult up by three strokes. From there, he birdied 17 and 18 to put the icing on the cake.

“From about 90 feet out, I was front left and it was a back right pin,” Plewe explained. “I have to give credit to my coach there, because I was thinking about chipping it, and my coach just said, ‘Thayer, hit the putter’ and I hit the putter and it went in.”

Plewe is just the second individual title winner in school history, and the first since Shea Sena in 2002. As it turns out, Sena is Plewe’s swing coach.

“I can’t thank him enough, I wouldn’t be here without him,” Plewe added. “To be able to put my name up on that banner next to him is just going to be awesome because it’s going to be both of our name’s side-by-side at the school. I couldn’t be happier about it.”

At the last two state championships, Plewe finished runner-up. This time around, he finished the job.

The team championship side was even tighter, as Vail Mountain prevailed over Resurrection Christian by one stroke, 445 to 446. It is the first boys golf team title for the Gore Rangers, as well as the first top-two finish for the Cougars.

“This feels pretty amazing,” Vail Mountain head coach Will Sipf exclaimed. “It’s been the same four guys the last three years in a row here at the state tournament. Two years ago we finished fifth, last year we finished third, so we had real high hopes this year to get it done. To win by one stroke is pretty incredible.”

Vail Mountain was led by the strength of their top-two in Felix Gruner and Stewie Bruce, who both finished tied for fifth. The third team scorer was Tiki Jaffe, who took 11th. Resurrection Christian was led by day one leader Clint Summers, who finished runner-up for the championship with an under-par 139. Jack Carter and Micah Livingstone were the other team scorers, finishing 16th and 20th, respectively.

The team championship was in doubt all the way until the final hole, as Gruner birdied 18 to put Vail Mountain up by two strokes. Summers kept the Cougars in it, though, birding 17 to cut the deficit to one. On 18, he had a good look for the tying birdie, but his putt came up inches short to secure the title for Vail Mountain.

“As I was watching him line up his putt, I told all my boys to grab their clubs and start warming up,” Sipf said. “It was a pretty wild day overall, I wasn’t trying to look at the team totals very often, but we were leading by six or seven at one point, then toward the end there I was monitoring it a little closer. It was a really tight finish at the end, but I’m glad we pulled it out. It was an awesome day and I couldn’t be prouder of the boys.”

Rounding out the top-10 individuals were Ryan Woodley (Liberty Common), Rudiger Heitz (Holy Family), Ryan Ewoniuk (Severance), Jack Brayman (Peak to Peak), Garrett Exelbert (Basalt), and Carson Miller (Aspen).

In the team race, behind the top two were Colorado Academy in third, Kent Denver in fourth, and Aspen in fifth.