Cheyenne Mountain claims third 4A boys golf title in five years

GRAND JUNCTION – When Cheyenne Mountain senior Charlie Doyle made the turn during his second round at Tiara Rado, he sent a text message to his teammates.

“Best nine right here,” it said.

According to Doyle, the boys responded with enthusiasm and all of a sudden, the mindset for the Red-Tailed Hawks had changed.

“I stopped thinking go win the day and started thinking how many can we by,” Doyle said.

The answer turned out to be 18 shots. Cheyenne Mountain totaled a 3-over-par 429 to capture the Class 4A boys golf title for the third time in five years. It’s the fourth title in team history and third title since head coach John Carricato took over the program in 2015.

Perhaps even more impressive is that this makes 115 total team state championships for Cheyenne Mountain, the second-most in state history behind Cherry Creek. Playing with that kind of history in mind helps each generation of players want to live up to the expectations of the school and of this golf program.

“It helps us get some motivation for future years,” sophomore Brayden Destefano said. “Next year I think we’ll be pretty strong so hopefully we can keep winning.”

Destefano was the star of the weekend as he finished 4-under for the tournament. He shot a 68 on Day 1 and followed it up with a 70 on Day 2.

After a disappointing 4-over round on Monday, Doyle bounced back and shot 67 for the low round of the day on Tuesday. That included sinking a tough birdie putt on 17 and a two-putt birdie on 18 after melting his tee shot with his driver, finding the putting surface 300 yards away.

Ethan Ivany may have been the glue that kept the entire thing together. He shot an even 71 on Day 1 and even though he went 7-over in Round 2, it was his initial round that helped the Hawks build a six-shot lead over Grand Junction. He finished sixth on the leaderboard to give the Hawks three players in the top 10.

The Tigers finished second as a team with three top-10 players of their own. Ky Korte finished at 3-over to finish third, Jack Kaul was tied with Ivany at sixth at 7-over and Hunter Simmons rounded out the effort at 11-over to take 10th.

From an individual standpoint, Destefano is the fourth champion in Cheyenne Mountain history, but just the third different player to win. Chase Mercer won in 1997 and Tom Glissmeyer won back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004.

Winning a second straight team title is now on the radar for the Hawks, but Carricato knows that he’ll miss his two seniors in Doyle and Ivany.

“If people could see what they do behind the scenes with this team, they would really appreciate that and see what I see in them,” Carricato said. “What I see are great young men and incredible leaders and the icing on the cake is how they performed.”