Yuma High School boys golf team is heading down the final fairways of the 2023 season.
Yuma is playing in the Northeastern League Championship today, September 14, at Sky View Ranch in Sterling.
Coach Benjamin Weathers said the team has had its ups and downs but still have a lot on the line today.
“We are in second place as a team behind Wray,” he said. “The points get doubled at the league championship, so anything is possible.”
JJ Ward enters the tourney in fourth place in the league. Brodie Castillo, Kaleb Jones and Kyle Schuetz all sit just outside the top 12, and with strong showings could move into the league honorable mention territory.
The varsity foursome then heads to Greeley on Tuesday for the Class 3A Region 3 Tournament at Boomerang Links. The regional field includes Akron, Arickaree, Burlington, Brush, Berthoud, Eaton, Flagler, Frontier Academy, Forge Christian Academy, Holy Family, Holyoke, Jefferson Academy, Liberty, Liberty Common, Limon, Severance, Sterling, Strasburg, Stratton, Timnath, Wellington, and Wray.
“We have played in some events this season that most of our regional teams have been at and have played ok in a few and struggled in a few,” Weathers said. “It all boils down to how you play that one day. These kids have so much pressure on them at regionals to try and qualify. Even the top kids in the state say that regionals is more stressful than state.”
The coach said the region is full of great players so a qualifying score is going to be pretty low. According to his research, he said one probably will have to shoot between 82-84 to have a chance at qualifying for state.
“We had a six-way playoff last year for one spot and the cutoff was 85,” Weathers said. “Our region is better this year than last.
Yuma wrapped up the regular season this past week with some strong efforts.
The varsity had a great day last Friday at the Akron Invitational, finishing second with a team score of 249, which is the lowest team score for the program in eight years.
Ward closed with consecutive birdies to shot a 77, his best high school tournament round. (It even came after he had a weird triple bogey when he lost his ball in the middle of the fairway.) Castillo had one of his best high school scores shooting an 84. Jones shot an 88, which is his best varsity score. Schuetz shot an 89, the first time has broke 90 in a high school event.
Yuma finished up Monday at the Sterling Invitational. Jones shot a 95, Castillo 104, Will Noble 104, Fynn Sims 113 and Carter Benish 121.
Weathers said the team has had some sickness over the past week, which allowed some other players step up and get some varsity experience.
