Sports | 3A/4A state golf roundup: Erie, PRA lead after Day One

May 20—The girls state golf tournaments began at various locations around Colorado on Monday and, in Classes 4A and 3A, local teams sat well in contention for team and individual championships going into Tuesday.

In a move that was surprising to no one that's been paying attention, Erie's ladies shot straight to the top of the leaderboard during the 4A competition at the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs.

Thanks to a phenomenal, 4-under par (67) performance from senior Logan Hale, the Tigers held a 33-stroke cushion over second-place Steamboat Springs, as they collectively shot 15-over par. Hale led the next golfer, Pueblo Central's Sofia Contreras, by eight as her sister, Taylor Hale, finished Day 1 tied at third with a 79.

The ladies had to fight through unforgiving conditions to reach their scores.

"Man, the first day was a battle," head coach Brandon Bird said. "The conditions were tough. The course was playing hard. You saw some girls have the worst day of golf they've seen in years and yet somehow, the Hale sisters were incredible. I mean, what Logan did today was immaculate. I think it's hard to put into words how good she was.

"When you look at the rest of the field and you realize, well, 4-under for her, she's done that before. But on a day like today, that was just a masterpiece. The wind was just wild today. I don't even know if that was forecasted, but it was gusting especially on that back nine at Country Club of Colorado."

Hadley Ashton ended her day at eighth (82) to just barely jet ahead of Holy Family's Acadia Curtis. Curtis led the other Tigers with an 86, sitting her at a tie for 13th, as Steffi Heitz added one more top-20 finish for Holy Family with a tie for 19th and an 88.

Niwot's Wendy Cheruiyot enjoyed a spot at 13th thanks to her round of 86.

Down in 3A, at the Olde Course at Loveland, Prospect Ridge Academy dominated most of the field with all four of its golfers gracing the top 20. The Miners collectively scored 33-over par, but only led St. Mary's Academy by 10 strokes.

Hope Torres led the way with second and a 2-over par 74, followed by Ye Yoon Choi (14th, 87), Kate Dinges (16th, 88) and Leyni Stavola (20th, 90). Peak to Peak sat at fifth in the team race thanks to Ava Sommer (14th, 87), Kaylee Craig and Rihana Bhandari (tied for 20th, 90) and Shriya Sharma (30th, 93).