4A Girls Golf: Hale Defends Title, Leads Erie to Third-Straight Championship
COLORADO SPRINGS – The hat trick is in the books for the Erie High School girls golf team.
The Tigers won their third Class 4A state championship by a massive 60 strokes at the Country Club of Colorado’s par-71 course Tuesday.
“I said this a few times, I’m really lucky because I’m just in the right place at the right time,” Erie coach Brandon Bird said. “We have a once-in-a-generation talent times two or even three. I don’t know if I coached 100 years if I would have a group of girls like this come through Erie again.”
Erie finished atop the leaderboard with a 460 total, while Holy Family (520) and Steamboat Springs (526) were a distant second and third, respectively.
Erie was paced by senior Logan Hale who won her second individual state title in a row with an even-par 142 after two rounds. Hale is headed to play golf at the University of Denver next fall.
And Hale didn’t work alone.
Her teammate Hadley Ashton tied for second with Windsor’s Macy Kleve as each had 158 totals. Logan’s younger sister Taylor Hale, a junior, was fifth at 160, and Holly Drennen rounded out Erie’s scoring, tying for 45th place.
Bird praised Logan for her performance.
“The conditions were tough, and Logan was able to not think what the wind was doing to everyone, she just hit the next shot and played the next ball,” Bird said. “That’s just a testament to how clutch she is, and how she can separate out all the external factors and just focus on her ball.”
Logan put her latest title in motion with a blistering 67 opening round Monday, which included six birdies. The highlight of round two, which was delayed for an hour because of rain, was an eagle on the second hole.
“It was definitely tricky out there and (Monday), I felt like I played better and had a better mindset,” said Logan, 18. “Of course there were challenges going into day two, I was trying to not let the lead get to my head. I just started thinking too hard and the pieces weren’t clicking as well as (Monday), but it was comforting to know I had a little space to work with especially on the back nine (Tuesday). I just started soaking everything in.”
Logan also was thrilled to be part of the three-time team state champion Tigers.
“Having such an amazing team takes a level of stress off,” she said. “I have confidence in my team, and we know if we play our games, we are going to have a pretty good chance at winning. Wanting to get that three-peat was a constant level of motivation.”
