Exhibiting sportsmanship, showcasing their polished swings and flashing their million-dollar smiles, members of the Dolores High School girls golf team left a lasting impression at the Class 3A Region 4 Golf Tournament in Gunnison on Tuesday.
In addition, the team placed third overall in the 10-team tournament behind Colorado Academy and Vail Mountain High School and qualified three golfers for the Class 3A State Tournament for the first time in school history.
“I’m so proud of these girls; they are really making history in our area,” Dolores head coach Monica Plewe wrote in a text message to The Journal. “We have had one or two (state) qualifiers every year, but this will be the first time in our program’s seven-year history that (we qualify three).”
Among the members of the team who qualified for the state tournament was junior Dimery Plewe, who did not have her best day but still managed to post a score of 89 and place sixth overall in the tournament.
Also qualifying for state was junior Kiara Lingenfelter, who was solid throughout a round that saw her card a 94. Junior Kalli Partington rounded out the Dolores qualifiers by posting a single-round score of 109.
While the Lady Bears’ fourth team member, Kailey Case, narrowly missed out on state qualification after shooting a 114, the junior will travel to the state tournament as an alternate and will be allowed to compete in the event if other competitors withdraw.
“The majority of the field came in with abnormally high scores, mostly because they played a tricky course with multiple forced carries,” Monica Plewe wrote. “So many holes on the course just got out from under snow two and a half weeks ago.”
This year’s Class 3A State Tournament will take place at Eagle Ranch Golf Club in Eagle May 20-21. The tournament will take place over two rounds and will feature Class 3A competitors from around the state.