4A Boys Golf: Cheyenne Mountain Sweeps State Titles

GRAND JUNCTION — Sophomore Brayden Destefano stood above the rest and helped the Cheyenne Mountain boys golf team bring home the Class 4A state title on Tuesday at Tiara Rado Golf Course.

Destefano shot a one-under-par-70 on Tuesday for a two-round score of 138 to capture the individual title. His senior teammates Charlie Doyle (142) and Ethan Ivany (149) placed second and sixth, respectively. Fellow sophomore Fenn Mullins took 21st with a 159. 

Cheyenne Mountain’s three-over 429 was 18 strokes ahead of second-place Grand Junction, which finished second for the second consecutive season.

“It’s awesome. We wanted so bad this season, we’ve been working our butts off,” said DeStefano, who took 13th as a freshman. “This just caps it off.”

Destefano spent much of the second round with Grand Junction’s Ky Korte hot on his tail. Korte trimmed the deficit to as few as three strokes at one point. But two birdies on the back nine helped Destefano pull away.

Destefano finished with nine birdies and an eagle in the tournament.

“I knew I had to make a couple of birdies coming in and did what I had to do,” said Destefano, who muscled out a blister on his right foot for the final few holes. 

This is Cheyenne Mountain’s fourth boys golf title. The Red-Tailed Hawks previously won it all in 2022, 2020 and 2004.

The second-place Tigers were right there with the Hawks for much of the first day. But Cheyenne Mountain pulled away in the back nine on Monday and kept the ball rolling on the final round.

“The back nine yesterday set the tone for today,” said coach. “We had kind of a slow start but these players are not afraid to go deep. And that’s what we saw on hole 10 yesterday and it continued today. That’s a tribute to them and what they do in our offseason, which is their summer series.”

Doyle shot a 75 on Monday but bounced back with a 67 on Tuesday, the best second-day score of any golfer.

Korte finished third for Grand Junction with a 145. He was one over on Monday and two over on Tuesday. Jack Kaul (sixth with 149) and Hunter Simmons (10th with 153) also cracked the top-10 for Grand Junction.

The other medalists were: Windsor’s Tadese Keyworth and Pueblo West’s Parker Shaw (both fourth with 147), Skyline’s Zack Lacrosse (eighth with 151), Durango’s Drew Jepson (ninth with 152) and Highlands Ranch’s Billy Verstraate (10th with 153).

Windsor, Durango and Air Academy rounded out the top five teams.