DENVER – The Fossil Ridge boys golf team watch a big lead disappear rapidly on Tuesday’s second and final day of the 2022 boys golf state championships.
 
But the lead didn’t disappear entirely.
 
Opening the final round with a seven-stroke lead following an outstanding Day 1 during which the Sabercats were collectively 6-under, they held on to win the team title by two strokes over Rock Canyon. It was Fossil Ridge’s second boys golf title overall and second in the last five years.
 
“Obviously, I wish we would have played great golf all day long and doubled up on what we did yesterday,” Fossil Ridge head coach Jamie Menefee said. “But it didn’t happen that way, and we knew we’d face some adversity. We didn’t know it would come in buckets quite so quickly. There was a time where it looked like it was heading so far in the wrong direction that we would be out of it.
 
“But then our freshman Landon Houska makes an eagle and Austin Barry comes back behind him and makes two birdies in a row. Then we were right back in it and we got a couple long, clutch two-putts on 18 to hold off Rock Canyon.”
 
The Sabercats finished with a two-day score of 423. Rock Canyon, which played the tournament with just three players instead of the maximum of four and nearly won its first boys golf championship, scored a 425. Highlands Ranch was third at 427, Pine Creek was fourth at 432, and Eaglecrest and Cherry Creek tied for fifth place with matching 436s.
 
“Credit to Rock Canyon, being here with three players,” Menefee said. “That’s a lot of pressure, even more than we had with four. They did a great job.”
 
The individual competition, which ended in Monarch senior Caleb Michaels claiming the top spot, mirrored the team title race on Tuesday.
 
Fossil Ridge sophomore Austin Barry started the day with a four-stroke lead after carding a 6-under 64 on Day 1. His lead disappeared as rapidly as his team’s did on Day 2 and at several points during Tuesday’s round, there were as many as a dozen golfers within two strokes of the leader.
 
Michaels finished with a 2-under 68 and edged Fort Collins senior Ian Hunn, who began the day in sixth and eagled No. 16 to insert himself into the title chase, for the individual title when Hunn bogeyed No. 18 one group before Michaels came up to the final hole and made par to seal the win.
 
“It feels great,” said Michaels, who tied for 21^st last season. “The last hour out there felt pretty long, putting up with all the stress and having three holes left in my career and I don’t get another chance if I mess it up. It feels great now. This is probably one of the best feelings I’ve had in my entire life.”
 
Michaels finished with a two-day score of 137. Hunn and Barry finished in a tie for runner-up at 138. Houska, Pine Creek senior Wesley Erling, who was runner-up last season, Highlands Ranch senior Aiden Krusoe, who had Tuesday’s best round at 66 along with ThunderRidge senior Ryan Oro, and Boulder senior Luke Blankenship all tied for fourth at 139.

Complete Results
 

Pos	Team	Round 1	Round 2	Total
1	Fossil Ridge	204	219	423
2	Rock Canyon	211	214	425
3	Highlands Ranch	220	207	427
4	Pine Creek	217	215	432
t5	Eaglecrest	221	215	436
t5	Cherry Creek	217	219	436
7	ThunderRidge	227	210	437
8	Arapahoe	219	219	438
9	Mountain Vista	221	222	443
10	Castle View	224	220	444
11	Boulder	228	221	449
12	Heritage	222	230	452
13	Ralston Valley	227	227	454
14	Valor Christian	227	228	455
15	Regis Jesuit	241	221	462

 

Pos	Team	Player	Round 1	Round 2	Total
1	Monarch	Caleb Michaels	69	68	137
t2	Fort Collins	Ian Hunn	70	68	138
t2	Fossil Ridge	Austin  Barry	64	74	138
t4	Fossil Ridge	Landon Houska	69	70	139
t4	Pine Creek	Wesley Erling	69	70	139
t4	Highlands Ranch	Aiden Krusoe	73	66	139
t4	Boulder	Luke Blankinship	70	69	139
t8	Eaglecrest	Gregory White	71	69	140
t8	Brighton	Kyle Leydon	71	69	140
t8	Rock Canyon	Charlie Tucker	68	72	140
t11	Mountain Vista	Conner  Scheich	72	69	141
t11	Mountain Vista	Brayden Scheich	70	71	141
t11	Legend	Spencer Schlagel	70	71	141
t14	Highlands Ranch	Billy Verstraate	73	69	142
t14	Rock Canyon	Trey Kahrhoff	71	71	142
t14	Castle View	Luke Cushman	72	70	142
t14	Heritage	Gavin Crowley	70	72	142
18	Rock Canyon	Mason Conrad	72	71	143
t19	Fairview	Sawyer Sales	71	73	144
t19	Cherry Creek	Andre Dumonteil	72	72	144
t19	Columbine	Matai Naqica	75	69	144
t19	Arapahoe	Grant Juergens	73	71	144
t19	Columbine	Alex  Lest	73	71	144
t24	ThunderRidge	Ryan Oro	79	66	145
t24	Monarch	Talan Gover	74	71	145
t24	Cherry Creek	Wyatt Isgrig	71	74	145
t27	Pine Creek	Rylen Caldwell	74	72	146
t27	Highlands Ranch	Jack Bakken	74	72	146
t29	Arapahoe	Max Zadvorny	73	74	147
t29	ThunderRidge	Austin Hunt	75	72	147
t29	Chatfield	Jesse Hand	76	71	147
t29	Castle View	Gavin Amella	74	73	147
t29	Arapahoe	Mac Buckley	73	74	147
t29	ThunderRidge	Dylan Everett	75	72	147
t29	Pine Creek	Luke Wright	74	73	147
t36	Regis Jesuit	Jake Irvine	75	73	148
t36	Eaglecrest	Noah Bennett	72	76	148
t38	Cherokee Trail	Brayden Forte	80	69	149
t38	Ralston Valley	Makian Maydew	74	75	149
t38	Eaglecrest	Andrew White	78	71	149
t38	Westminster	Bielly Phasay	77	72	149
t38	Douglas County	Hunter Glasser	71	78	149
43	Arvada West	Yusuke Ogi	75	75	150
t44	ThunderRidge	Ben Mackert	77	74	151
t44	Regis Jesuit	Roland Thornton	76	75	151
t44	Valor Christian	Ethan Rainey	72	79	151
t44	Fossil Ridge	Kaden Devenport	76	75	151
t44	Ralston Valley	Jordan McCaslin	74	77	151
t44	Fossil Ridge	Grant Samuelson	71	80	151
t50	Valor Christian	Campbell McFadden	73	79	152
t50	Prairie View	Payton Crawford	76	76	152
t50	Douglas County	Talen Turnbaugh	77	75	152
t50	Horizon	Cooper Brennan	74	78	152
t54	Cherry Creek	Charlie Flaxbeard	80	73	153
t54	Arapahoe	Joe  Hickey	75	78	153
t54	Legacy	Ben Cerretani	74	79	153
t54	Boulder	Doug Holleman	76	77	153
t54	Arvada West	Luke Landskov	74	79	153
t59	Valor Christian	Dylan Bundy	82	72	154
t59	Ralston Valley	Deacon Colwell	79	75	154
t59	Fairview	Miles Kuhl	78	76	154
t62	Cherokee Trail	Christopher O'Donnell	79	76	155
t62	Legacy	Luke Tourault	79	76	155
t62	Eaglecrest	Preston Unrein	80	75	155
t62	Castle View	Kade Bracken	78	77	155
t62	Legend	Trevor Seeley	77	78	155
t62	Grandview	Michael Rosman	77	78	155
t62	Heritage	Brody Mackey	78	77	155
t62	Heritage	Sebastian  Hein	74	81	155
70	Denver East	Elijah  Johnson	83	73	156
t71	Boulder	Siadhal Sweeney	82	75	157
t71	Castle View	Enzo Chung	79	78	157
t71	Poudre	Max Meland	78	79	157
74	Denver East	Oliver Gottesfeld	81	77	158
t75	Valor Christian	Maxwell Eide	82	77	159
t75	Brighton	Coby Puzio	80	79	159
77	Mountain Vista	Luke Duffy	79	82	161
78	Highlands Ranch	Nas Kim	81	81	162
t79	Regis Jesuit	Eli Handler	90	76	166
t79	Poudre	Jack Chambers	82	84	166
81	Pine Creek	Bentley Barnett	83	85	168
82	Boulder	Eamon Sweeney	87	94	181