LOVELAND – For nearly every stroke of the 2022 Class 5A girls golf state championships, Loveland’s Katelyn Lehigh was a defending champion chasing a surprising state finals rookie amidst a tight pack of contenders.
 
But late in the second and final round on a slightly soggy day at The Olde Course at Loveland, Lehigh showed the state of Colorado why she was the champ in the first place.
 
Three strokes off the lead and in third place heading into the final nine holes of her high school career, Lehigh caught fire. She carded three straight birdies to cap a stretch of four in six holes and pulled ahead to finish with a 3-under 69 and a two-day score of 144 that earned her the title of repeat champion.
 
“Somehow, this one is even better,” Lehigh said. “If you would have asked me last year, I’d have said, ‘It couldn’t get any better than this.’ But here we are and I don’t have words again.”
 
The win matches the two titles Lehigh’s older sister, Lauren Lehigh, won in 2018 and 2019, giving the Lehigh sisters state titles in each of the past four contested seasons.
 
This one didn’t come easily.
 
Lehigh began the day three strokes behind Day 1 leader Elle Higgins of Valor Christian, who led for most of the first day and held that lead at the turn on Saturday. In the mix as usual was Prairie View senior Lily Nelson, who held the lead for several holes on the back nine and finished just one stroke behind Lehigh with a two-day score of 145. She claimed the runner-up spot for the second straight year.
 
Lehigh then birdied Nos. 13, 14 and 15 to pull ahead. Despite her torrid stretch, Lehigh still had to make a critical putt on No. 18 to avoid a playoff and walk away with the first-place medal.
 
“At the start of the day, I knew I had some work to do,” said Lehigh, who admitted she was possibly the most nervous she has ever been while lining up her final putt. “Back nine, I knew I had some work to do. And then there were three birdies in a row that just kind of flipped the switch and made the difference in the last round.”
 
Higgins finished third with a two-day score of 150. A junior, Higgins’ freshman season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic and she missed her sophomore year because of a torn ACL she suffered during competitive mogul skiing season.
 
“I didn’t play as well as I did yesterday. It was mostly a lot of my putts just weren’t falling,” Higgins said. “But I’m really proud of how everyone finished and how everyone was staying in it no matter what. I was happy for the other two girls – Lily and Katelyn – because they were saying positive things the whole round. I was really happy because it was my first big tournament since my injury, so I’m happy with how I finished.”
 
Higgins may not have won the individual title, but she did lead the Valor Christian Eagles to their program’s first team championship.
 
The Eagles finished with a team score of 469, eight strokes ahead of runner-up and 2021 team champion Loveland. Higgins’ 150 led the team, freshman Brenna Higgins (fifth place) finished at 157, freshman Bella Eide (10^th place) shot a 162 and junior Carmen Carpinelli scored a 173.
 
Of the four, only Carpinelli had ever played at the state tournament prior to this season.
 
“The girls did an amazing job of buying into the idea of team golf,” Eagles head coach Justen Byler said. “We play an individual sport. But for two months of the year, they need to come together and figure out how that works. They relied on each other and Carmen Carpinelli, our junior who is the senior member or the team, led that vision and she did a fantastic job. While all of them scored all year round, they all understood that it doesn’t have to be any one girl on any given day and that they could trust one another and go out there and play with a level of freedom.
 
“They were a team and team golf is a lot more fun when you do that together.”
 
Cherry Creek finished third in the team competition with a score of 499. Rock Canyon was just behind the Bruins at 500. Mountain Vista was fifth at 515.
 
Individually, Mountain Vista junior Abby Aeschleman finished in fourth with a two-day score of 152. Cherry Creek freshman Caitlyn Chin posted a 155 to take fifth. Brenna Higgins’ 157 was good for fifth, followed by Fossil Ridge senior Olivia Steen’s seventh-place 158. Rock Canyon freshman Ashleigh Wilson scored 160 to place eighth and senior teammate Amira Badruddin was ninth at 161. Eide rounded out the top 10 with a score of 162.  

Pos	Team	R1	R2	Total
1	Valor Christian	233	236	469
2	Loveland	246	231	477
3	Cherry Creek	250	249	499
4	Rock Canyon	262	238	500
5	Mountain Vista	258	257	515
6	Cherokee Trail	260	259	519
7	Arapahoe	272	256	528
8	Legend	270	261	531
9	Castle View	282	265	547
10	Chaparral	274	275	549
11	Regis Jesuit	280	270	550
12	Grandview	280	291	571
13	Heritage	290	284	574
14	Broomfield	294	283	577
15	Legacy	285	295	580

 

Pos	Team	Player	R1	R2	Total
1	Loveland	Katelyn Lehigh	75	69	144
2	Prairie View	Lily Nelson	74	71	145
3	Valor Christian	Elle Higgins	72	78	150
4	Mountain Vista	abby aeschleman	80	72	152
5	Cherry Creek	Caitlyn  Chin	81	74	155
6	Valor Christian	Brenna Higgins	79	78	157
7	Fossil Ridge	Olivia  Steen	80	78	158
8	Rock Canyon	Ashleigh  Wilson	83	77	160
9	Rock Canyon	Amira Badruddin	85	76	161
10	Valor Christian	Bella Eide	82	80	162
11	Cherokee Trail	Chunya Boonta	83	80	163
11	Rampart	Jenna Bistline	80	83	163
13	Arapahoe	Molly Stratton	85	79	164
13	Loveland	Reece Bandemer	86	78	164
15	Ralston Valley	Brooklyn Mueller	81	85	166
16	Fairview	Ava Hickey	85	83	168
16	Cherry Creek	Kate  Cowser	82	86	168
16	Lakewood	Kayla Wong	86	82	168
19	Chaparral	Brooke Hudson	77	92	169
19	Fossil Ridge	Ellie  Barry	83	86	169
19	Loveland	Maryn  Harlow	85	84	169
22	Eaglecrest	Savanna Becker	90	80	170
23	Legacy	Ayla Milan	88	84	172
23	Arapahoe	Brynn Dzengelewski	89	83	172
23	Highlands Ranch	Joie Chun	86	86	172
26	Valor Christian	Carmen Carpinelli	89	84	173
27	Cherokee Trail	Devin Gilbreath	87	88	175
27	Legend	Jocelyn  Barrus	90	85	175
29	Broomfield	Hampton Traylor	87	89	176
29	Heritage	Kayla Robinson	91	85	176
29	Cherry Creek	Maddie Li	87	89	176
29	Rampart	Madison Brown	88	88	176
29	Legend	Talia Wilson	83	93	176
34	Mountain Vista	Ava Staver	89	89	178
35	Rock Canyon	Alexis Murphy	94	85	179
36	Regis Jesuit	Ella Denslow	90	90	180
36	Castle View	Sydney McCord	93	87	180
38	Grandview	Caroline Ryan	92	89	181
38	Loveland	Jordyn  Bandemer	96	85	181
38	Cherokee Trail	Kaleigh Babineaux	90	91	181
38	Castle View	Melana Pszanka	96	85	181
42	Grandview	Courtney  Ladymon	91	91	182
42	Chaparral	Joey  Jung	94	88	182
42	Legend	Paige Carlson	97	85	182
45	Regis Jesuit	Audrey Whitmore	97	87	184
45	Fruita Monument	Cierra  Noetzelmann	91	93	184
47	Mountain Vista	Shae  Maiorana	89	96	185
48	Regis Jesuit	Caitlin Neumann	93	93	186
48	Rock Canyon	Katie Fleming	97	89	186
50	Castle View	Haylee Von Behren	94	93	187
50	Monarch	Lexi Girton	99	88	187
50	Rocky Mountain	Samantha Orr	91	96	187
53	Lakewood	Sumin Kim	95	93	188
54	Heritage	Claire Robinson	95	94	189
54	Castle View	Shelby  McCord	95	94	189
56	Columbine	Ella Dailey	92	99	191
56	Arvada West	Olivia  McCandless	94	97	191
58	Legend	Delaney  White	101	91	192
58	Arapahoe	Evie Rogers	98	94	192
58	Cherokee Trail	Haylee Clark	94	98	192
61	Doherty	Lauren Kachel	98	95	193
62	Regis Jesuit	Georgia Meysman-Sharpe	100	94	194
62	Prairie View	Maddie Klink	105	89	194
62	Legacy	Peyton McLeese	94	100	194
65	Pine Creek	Megan  Carlson	97	99	196
65	Douglas County	Payten Baca	100	96	196
67	Broomfield	Brooklyn Davis	101	96	197
67	Horizon	Ella Neuhauser	104	93	197
69	Chaparral	Hanna Ryel	103	95	198
69	Brighton	Kaylin Leydon	97	101	198
71	ThunderRidge	Avery Basler	97	102	199
71	Brighton	Raleigh Puzio	100	99	199
73	Denver East	Jasmine  Linkenheil	97	103	200
74	Arapahoe	Peyden Gobble	106	95	201
75	Smoky Hill	Caroline  Garland	102	100	202
76	Broomfield	Mia Huerta	106	98	204
77	Arvada West	Makenzie Sproles	100	105	205
78	Grandview	Allie Arritola	97	111	208
78	Mountain Vista	Kellie Hare	102	106	208
80	Heritage	Kaylee Macias	104	105	209
81	Columbine	Emory Crawley	108	105	213
82	Legacy	Kalianna Boglino	103	111	214
83	Pine Creek	avery valdez	113	109	222
84	Grand Junction	Stefani Mendez	114	109	223