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Aspen’s Pevny returns to course, rolls to 10-stroke victory at Battlement Mesa

Aspen High School
Courtesy

Returning from a short competition hiatus, Aspen High School junior Nic Pevny won for the second time in only two tournaments this season as the AHS boys golf team competed Thursday at Battlement Mesa Golf Club.

Pevny, who led AHS to the win in the season-opening tournament on Aug. 7 in Cedaredge, rolled to a 10-stroke victory on Thursday, shooting 3-under 69. He was even par on the front nine and bogeyed the 10th before going 4-under over the final eight holes, including a birdie-birdie finish. He also eagled No. 7, a par 5, after his second shot left him only a few feet from the pin.

“It felt good. I hadn’t played a tournament in a while, so it felt good to go out and get the win,” Pevny said. “I’ve been playing pretty well recently, so I knew I could go pretty low. It’s just a matter of if my putts were going to drop or not, and I dropped a couple today, so it was helpful.”



Montrose’s Noah Richmond and Fruita’s Kade Hayward finished tied for second with 79, while Palisade’s Alex Morrall and Montrose’s Jake Legg tied for fourth with 80. Montrose standout Jordan Jennings was sixth with 83.

Montrose, the reigning Class 4A state champion, won the team title with a collective 242. Aspen was second with 252, followed by Fruita Monument in third (258), Grand Junction in fourth (269) and Rifle in fifth (270). Basalt did not compete.




“It was a pretty exciting performance on Nic’s part today against those Montrose guys,” AHS coach Mary Woulfe said. “If we could have pulled out one score into the 80s today, we would have probably taken them down.”

Behind Pevny, the next best Skier was senior Cole Kennedy, who shot 91 to finish tied for 17th. Aspen’s Sky Sosna and Keaton Miller both shot 92 to tie for 19th, and Peter de Wetter shot 101 to tie for 41st. AHS was still missing a few key players and has yet to compete with a true varsity lineup this season.

Both Aspen and Basalt were scheduled to compete Monday at Eagle Valley, but AHS has opted out with school activities starting.

Aspen plans to play at Rifle on Tuesday.

The Skiers also remain set to host an event on Sept. 14 at Aspen Golf Club, while River Valley Ranch in Carbondale will host the regional tournament a week later.

The 3A state championship will be held Oct. 5-6 in Gunnison.

OTHER SPORTS GET GOING

The other three high school sports allowed to play this fall along with boys golf — cross country, boys tennis and softball — will get going in the coming week, if not this weekend.

Both Aspen and Basalt tennis teams open their seasons Saturday, with BHS hosting Fruita in a rare home event and AHS set to go to Grand Junction for the annual Lowry Bishop Tournament.

The Longhorns have a new head coach this season in Sarah Varner; Steve Sand is back coaching Aspen.

The softball season will get underway Tuesday when Aspen hosts Basalt. The Longhorns are coming off arguably the best season in program history, which saw them reach the state quarterfinals as the No. 2 seed. BHS does have to replace standout Zoe Vozick, who signed to play softball at George Mason.

Cross country gets underway Aug. 29 when BHS hosts the Longhorn Invitational at Crown Mountain Park. Basalt has the state’s defending girls 3A champion in senior Sierra Bower, who this week announced her commitment to Furman.

acolbert@aspentimes.com