Despite losing Team Colorado members to graduation, Lutheran and Cherokee Trail 1-2 in 5A state meet after day 1; AJGA winner Cayden Besler atop 4A leaderboard
By Gary Baines
Lutheran and Cherokee Trail High Schools may have lost two of the best junior golfers Colorado has produced in the 2020s to graduation, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at how the two teams fared on Monday at the midway point of the Class 5A boys state high school golf tournament.
Brayden Forte (Cherokee Trail) and Nicholas Brooks (Lutheran) were 2026 graduates and have gone on to claim individual titles in their first month as college golfers — a very unusual feat for players from Colorado at the NCAA Division I level.
Despite those big personnel losses, Lutheran leads the 5A state tournament after Monday’s first round at Columbine Country Club — at 4 over par — and defending champion Cherokee Trail is tied for second with Cherry Creek and Rock Canyon, three behind. Lutheran came into the state tournament with the second-best season-long scoring average, relative to par, behind only Cheyenne Mountain (4A).
But with the top six 5A teams all within six strokes of one another going into Tuesday’s final round, much is left to be decided.
In all, four state golf tournaments will conclude on Tuesday at sites ranging from Alamosa to Pueblo to the south Denver suburbs. Here’s how things are shaping up at each site after Monday’s opening round:
— Class 5A at Columbine Country Club in Columbine Valley: Just like the team competition, the individual standings are very close after round 1 at Columbine, a course which hosted the 1967 PGA Championship.
Three players share the lead at 2-under-par 70, including junior Connor Young from nearby Columbine High School. Also at that figure are two other juniors — Aidan Lynn from Rock Canyon and Pierce Johnson from Boulder.
Young birdied four straight holes in the middle of his round (No. 18 and 1, 2 and 3 as he started on No. 10) and finished with five birdies overall, offset partially by three bogeys — the same totals as Johnson recorded. Lynn made only six pars on Monday, carding seven birdies and five bogeys.
Luke Edwards, a freshman from Fairview and the youngest son of University of Colorado men’s golf head coach Roy Edwards, opened with a 71 and holds fourth place at 71. Junior Ash Edwards, Luke’s brother and Roy’s older son, posted a 76. Ash Edwards finished second to then-teammate Miles Kuhl at 5A state last year.
As noted, the 5A team race is a very tight one, with Lutheran (+4) followed closely by Cherokee Trail, Cherry Creek and Rock Canyon (all +7), Arapahoe (+9) and Arvada West (+10).
— Class 4A at Lone Tree Golf Club: Sophomore Cayden Besler of Falcon, who this past summer broke through to win the title at the AJGA Junior Open at The Bridges in Montrose, has put himself in position for another big golf title in the state.
The left-hander shot a 5-under-par 67 on Monday despite making a double-bogey 7 on the 16th hole at Lone Tree Golf Club, to take a three-stroke lead at the halfway point of the 4A state tournament.
Besler carded seven birdies, with his only over-par score for any hole on Monday coming at the 16th, to be the only player in the 4A field to shoot in the 60s on day 1.
Besler, who came into state with the fourth-best season-long stroke average this season (3.98 shots under par), is trying to improve upon his fifth-place showing at state as a freshman in 2025.
Junior Bode Truman of Monarch stands in second place at 70, while sophomore Liam Holt of Timnath, senior Fenn Mullins of Cheyenne Mountain and senior Everett Lewis of Northridge share third at 71.
University of Colorado-bound Cheyenne Mountain senior Brayden Destefano, the 2024 individual state champion, shares sixth place at even-par 72. Destefano, the CGA Match Play runner-up this year, had the best season-long stroke average in high school golf during the regular season, at 5.24 shots under par.
Cheyenne Mountain, the top-ranked team statistically in the state (regardless of classification) this year, leads the 4A team standings at 2 over par, while Timnath is second (+7) and Falcon and Kent Denver third (+8). Cheyenne Mountain won the 4A team title two years ago.
— Class 3A at Cattails Golf Course in Alamosa: Junior Levi McDowell of Resurrection Christian and sophomore Braylon Ball from Windsor Charter Academy matched 3-under-par 68s to share the lead after day 1 at Cattails. And trailing them by a stroke is Frontier Academy junior Isaiah Fowler, who lost in a playoff in the 2A state tournament last year.
McDowell racked up six birdies and three bogeys, while Ball carded five birdies and two bogeys. Fowler eagled the 554-yard par-5 10th hole and stood 5 under through 13 holes, but bogeyed three of his last five.
Similar to the 5A tournament, the 3A team leaderboard is packed, with the top nine teams separated by seven strokes. Forge leads the way at 14 over par, followed by Resurrection Christian (+15) and Alamosa (+16).
— Class 2A at Pueblo Country Club: On a day when no one in the field finished near or under par at always-challengingPueblo Country Club, senior Connor Mellott of Monte Vista grabbed a one-stroke lead with a 3-over-par 74.
Mellott, who finished fifth at state last year and ninth in the inaugural 2A tournament in 2024, recorded two birdies and five bogeys on Monday.
Junior Ashton Park of Cedaredge and sophomore Banks O’Brien of Telluride are next best at 75. O’Brien eagled the 564-yard seventh hole on Monday.
Vail Christian leads the 2A team race by 12 after posting a 22-over-par total on day 1. Monte Vista (+34) and Rangeley (+36) are second and third, respectively.
Here are the leaders after day 1:
5A AT PAR-72 COLUMBINE CC IN COLUMBINE VALLEY
Team (Best 3 Individual Scores)
Lutheran 220
Cherry Creek 223
Cherokee Trail 223
Rock Canyon 223
Arapahoe 225
Individual
Connor Young, Columbine 70
Aidan Lynn, Rock Canyon 70
Pierce Johnson, Boulder 70
Luke Edwards, Fairview 71
Jonah Kent, Fossil Ridge 72
Crew Fitzgerald, Lutheran 72
Cooper Kelly, Cherry Creek 72
Dylan Boyce, Arvada West 73
Anthony Chen, Cherokee Trail 73
Van Simmons, Lutheran 73
Kai Jorde, Castle View 73
4A AT PAR-72 LONE TREE GC
Team (Best 3 Individual Scores)
Cheyenne Mountain 218
Timnath 223
Kent Denver 224
Falcon 224
Monarch 232
Individual
Cayden Besler, Falcon 67
Bode Truman, Monarch 70
Liam Holt, Timnath 71
Fenn Mullins, Cheyenne Mountain 71
Everett Lewis, Northridge 71
Brayden Destefano, Cheyene Mountain 72
Greysen Kilburn, Timnath 72
Cooper Buchholz, Golden 72
Wil Sallee, Loveland 73
Zach Zaitz, Kent Denver 73
Zack Lacrosse, Skyline 73
Caleb Grenier, Sand Creek 73
3A AT PAR-71 CATTAILS GC IN ALAMOSA
Team (Best 3 Individual Scores)
Forge 227
Resurrection Christian 228
Alamosa 229
Colorado Academy 230
Basalt 231
Frontier Academy 231
Individual
Levi McDowell, Resurrection Christian 68
Braylon Ball, Windsor Charter Academy 68
Isaiah Fowler, Frontier Academy 69
Grady Ortiz, The Classical Academy 70
Joey Banks, Forge 70
Trevor Youssi, Colorado Academy 71
Hayden Dorsey, Manitou Springs 72
Serjio Najera, Alamosa 72
Camden Nitzel, University 73
Blake Didier, Basalt 74
2A AT PAR-71 PUEBLO CC
Team (Best 3 Individual Scores)
Vail Christian 235
Monte Vista 247
Rangely 249
Rye 250
SkyView Academy 250
Individual
Connor Mellott, Monte Vista 74
Ashton Park, Cedaredge 75
Banks O’Brien, Telluride 75
Bryson Elam, Rangely 76
Cian Courtney, Vail Christian 76
Wyatt Hansen, Vail Christian 76
Trevor Meltz, Vail Mountain 79
Ty Wood, Rye 79
Jack Bastian, Denver Academy 80
Collen Todd, Golden View Classical Academy 81
For all the results, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com