GREELEY -- At Boomerang Golf Links, there was really no doubt who was above the rest.
 
Holy Family was dominant during the Class 3A Girls Golf State Championship. So dominant, in fact, that they finished third (Peyton Mraz), fifth (Steffi Heitz), and seventh (Acadia Curtis) in the individual results during the 36-hole tournament. It all added up to a final score of 44-over par 476. The Tigers outpaced Mullen by 31 strokes and Lutheran by 43.
 
"Four years ago when I took over as head coach, we only had a couple individual championships," Heikke Nielsen said. "To bring a team championship to Holy Family in girls golf, that has never been done before. It's very satisfying. I've always preached team culture, preached togetherness. It's very difficult in an individual sport to accomplish team goals. I'm very proud of our players for doing that."
 
Timnath sophomore Cheyanne Schrick was the individual champion, shooting an impressive 74 the first day and 76 the second day. Even so, Holy Family prevailed as a group. Its depth certainly paid off.
 
"We had six golfers in the Top 15 in the state all season," Nielsen said. "Only four get to be here. The week-in and week-out battles that we have within our own team are more difficult. They want to celebrate their team's successes, but they also want to beat each other."
 
Mraz, a junior, rose to the occasion and beat nearly everyone. She held a two-shot lead after a day-one score of 72. She didn't have the same type of performance Tuesday (83) as she did Monday. Nonetheless, for a golfer who was competing in her first state tournament, third place was still quite an accomplishment.
 
"A couple years ago she had a scoring average of right around 100," Nielsen said. "For her to be in the final group, shooting even par in the first round with a 2-shot lead. I couldn't be more proud. It just shows her work ethic, her dedication, her life story. That she perseveres like no other. She's somebody that the team looks up to. Under the circumstances, I thought she played awesome."
 
Heitz, after placing 10th in 4A last year, also performed well.
 
"Steffi did great," her coach said. "Aside from a few holes that tripped her up in round one, she probably would've been right there contending for the state championship."
 
Both Mraz and Heitz are juniors, while Curtis is just a sophomore.
 
"I'm thankful for our girls golf community at Holy Family," said Nielsen, whose team finished runner-up in 4A last year. "We're going to lose a few this year, but the program's future is bright. I look forward to defending our state championship."
 
Holy Family won't be the only ones defending a title.
 
Timnath's Cheyanne Schrick will be in the same position. After trailing by two strokes entering Tuesday, Schrick started scorching hot with three birdies in the first six holes.
 
"It was a big confidence boost," she said with a smile. "It definitely set me up."
 
Schrick's 1-under on the front nine gave her a 5-shot lead over Mraz and Littleton's Zoe Bar-Or. Despite less than ideal conditions, with blustery wind, Schrick enjoyed playing at Boomerang Links.
 
"I actually like it better," Schrick said when comparing Boomerang to her home course (Harmony Club in Timnath). "I like all the par 5s, all the birdie opportunities. It's just a really fun course."
 
And, it's always fun to be a state champion.
 
"I'm not in shock, but I'm just ecstatic that I won," she said. "It means a lot. I'm really looking forward to the next couple of years."
 
As the pressure mounted and the wind blew even more on the back nine, the sophomore did experience some adversity. Schrick had two bogeys and two double bogeys from holes 11 through 17. But, she did have a sensational long putt for birdie on hole 13.
 
"It was a lot of nerves, but I pulled through today," Schrick said. "I think it all worked out."
 
It sure did. After finishing fourth in 3A as a freshman, she's already tasted gold.
 
"I figured out some stuff with my swing and working on my short game some more," Schrick said of her improvement since 2024.
 
Bar-Or finished 8-over par, two strokes behind Schrick, for second place. Makena Thayer of Battle Mountain was fourth at 155, Katharina Cosby of Steamboat Springs was sixth at 163, Kaitlyn Grommeck of Steamboat Springs and Chace Atkinson of Lutheran tied for eighth at 166, and Avery Tychsen of Berthoud was 10th at 168.

Schrick also became Timnath's first golf champion. The Cubs could be a rising power in the sport as their boys won the middle school championship this spring.