5A Girls Golf: Valor Christian Sweeps Team, Individual State Titles
BROOMFIELD — There were new faces and much less drama, but the same end result as last season for the Valor Christian girls golf team at this season’s Class 5A state tournament.
For the second year in a row, the Eagles had the individual state champion — Brenna Higgins both times — and brought home the team championship, which the program has now done for three-consecutive seasons.
On Tuesday at The Broadlands Golf Course, coach Justen Byler’s Valor Christian team won by a whopping 25 strokes with Higgins the only holdover from last season, showing the tremendous depth the program team has developed over the past few seasons. The Eagles became the first program to three-peat in 5A since Cherry Creek in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
“Our girls have experienced a level of golf that is special,” Byler said. “They’ve played complimentary golf all year long. Even in this tournament, we had all four girls contribute and score over the course of two days and that makes it special. For two months, we get to be a team and play for a school in a sport that’s normally not like that. They did it very, very well.”
At the forefront was Higgins, who won a gritty championship last season as a sophomore when she had to go extra holes with Smoky Hill’s Sophia Stiwich before she prevailed.
This season, Higgins seized the title on the final day, when the junior was the only player to shoot under par and won by six strokes after entering the day down by one to Rock Canyon junior Ashleigh Wilson. Higgins shot par or better on every hole and made three birdies on the front nine and back nine on her way to a 6-under-66 and two-day total of 138.
“I think this year was good because I was just rolling,” Higgins said. “Last year was harder, because I obviously wasn’t striking the ball as well or making as many putts.. …I think it’s a lot about preparation and I put that in.”
Higgins credited her ability to knock down virtually every 5- or 6-foot putt she had, which helped during a round in which she made birdies on two par-5s, three par-4s and the par-3 No. 6.
Added Byler: “She was locked in. I saw it on Hole 1. …She was just very relaxed all day long and it allowed her to execute. She executed superbly.”
But even taking Higgins’ score out, Valor Christian would have won the title by double-digit strokes thanks to the performances of junior Bella Eide, sophomore Aja Blankenship and freshman Ella Scott.
All three players finished in the top 17 individually, as Eide shot a 74 in the second round to tie for eighth, while Scott ended up 11th — helped tremendously by her opening round of plus-1 73 — and Blankenship had a 79 in the second round to finish 17th.
The race for second place in the team standings lasted from start to finish of the final round — which was delayed for 30 minutes by lightning and a rain squall with just a few holes remaining for the leaders — as Fossil Ridge, Rock Canyon and Cherry Creek leapfrogged each other periodically throughout the day.
In the end, the SaberCats secured the runner-up trophy with a team score that was seven strokes better than in the opening round.
Leading the way for Fossil Ridge was junior Abbi Beld, who shot 1-over-par in the second round and tied for sixth, while junior Ellie Barry played steady golf on her way to 10th place.
Wilson carded six birdies and shot 71 in the opening round to have the lead, but slipped behind Higgins after just two holes as they played together. While Higgins made a birdie on No. 2, Wilson made bogey to flip the leaderboard. Wilson made three birdies on the back nine, however, and finished with a 73 that brought her in second place by a three-stroke margin over Ralston Valley sophomore Addison Hines and Cherry Creek’s Caitlyn Chin, who both shot 147 over two rounds to tie for third.
The top 10 was rounded out by Legend freshman Maddie Makino in fifth, Wilson’s Rock Canyon teammate Ashley Chang in a tie for sixth and Regis Jesuit junior Audrey Whitmore, who shot the same score as Eide to tie for eighth.
