Pueblo Central's Sofia Contreras earns second straight top-10 finish at state finals
The 2024 CHSAA State Championships for girls golf concluded this week and Pueblo Central’s Sofia Contreras was able to chip away at the competition to finish for a tie for sixth overall in the state.
Pueblo West sent a team to the finals and Pueblo County also sent two golfers as well to round out the participants from Pueblo that made it to the two-day final tournament.
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The Hornets sent up senior Katelynn Neal and junior Capreese Lisac. Both were able to qualify for the tournament thanks to a big round where Neal shot 14-over 86 and placed seventh and Lisac shot 17-over 89 and tied for eighth place during qualifiers.
The Cyclones had three of the top-10 individual finishers in the qualifiers. Sophomore Clayre Wagner led the way shooting 11-over 83, with fellow sophomores Gabi Benfatti 17-over 89, tied for eighth, and Scotlyn Gamble 18-over 90, tied for 10th close behind her. Kylie Sergejev would round out the fourth golfer to make it from Pueblo West.
Contreras finished second overall in the qualifier with 1-over 73 to be the lone representative from Pueblo Central at the tournament.
The finals were held at the Country Club of Colorado, in Colorado Springs. The first day of the tournament was a big feeling-out process for most of the girls; however, Contreras had played hard and shot a 75 on the first day earning her a top-two spot going into the final round.
Unfortunately, a slightly shaky second day had Contreras drop while some other competitors made some big pushes. In the end, the sophomore would finish in a tie for sixth place. It's a big improvement from her freshman year when she finished in a tie for ninth place.
For the Cyclones, they finished as a team in eighth place with an overall score of 559. Gamble led the way in this one for the team, scoring 94 in the first round and 92 in the second. Wagner was right behind her scoring 91 and 99 respectively.
The Hornets would end up near the bottom of the leaderboard in the final tournament. Lisac would finish in 51st place with her scores of 95 on the first day and 101 on the second day. Neal would finish in 73rd place with scores of 101 and 112.
Ultimately, on the final day, Erie made a huge push from several of their golfers to not only take over first place in the individual standings but also in the team standings and they would be crowned your 2024 CHSAA girls golf state champions.
Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @chowebacca. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Contreras top-10 individual; Pueblo West earns top 10 team finish
