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Crawford, Aspen take top honors at ‘The Hill’

Jeff Caspersen
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado – Clayton Crawford, Jesse Beetham and Ryan Smith have now all won tournaments for Aspen’s boys golf team this season. Coulter Young has yet to, but did lead the team with a 70 at an Aug. 19 tourney in Montrose.

Not many teams in Colorado pack that kind of one-through-four punch.

“All year, we’ve been close,” Crawford said. “It’s good. We’ve got a lot of depth, which is never a bad thing.”



Led by a tournament-best 72 from Crawford, the Skiers put their depth on display at Monday’s Glenwood Springs Invitational.

Tailing close behind were Smith (74), Young (77) and Beetham (82).



Crawford’s win was his first of the season, an effort he backed with on-target putting.

“I putted very well,” the freshman said. “I hit some errant shots, but was always able to make up for it with a 10-foot putt.”

Crawford birdied his final two holes of the day – No. 9 and No. 1 – on the nine-hole course known to locals as “The Hill.” Those birdies helped him hold off Smith, whose 74 put him second ahead of Battle Mountain’s Brady McDonald. Young’s 77 netted him fourth place.

Aspen dominated the team standings, posting a score of 223. Battle Mountain took second with a 237.

Rifle sophomore Danny Bartels only started taking golf seriously about two years ago. It’s scary to think how advanced his game would be if he had picked it up earlier.

The sport Bartels “didn’t like right away” because he wasn’t very good at it is now treating him well.

At Monday’s Glenwood Invitational, the young Bear shot a 9-over-par 79, one of his best scores of the season. That landed Bartels fifth place in the tournament and helped his team to a third-place overall finish.

Teammate Jacob Withee finished right behind Bartels with a sixth-place round of 80. Ty Caron chipped in with an 87 and Triston Quigley shot an 89.

Rifle’s team score of 246 was matched by host Glenwood Springs. Kevin Flohr led the way for the Demons with a sixth-place score of 80.

Flohr, still seeking a round in the 70s this season, thought he was on pace for such a total early on. He owned a 37 after nine holes. Unfortunately, his second set of nine saw him shoot a 43.

“I was kind of disappointed,” the senior said. “I did quite a bit worse on the back nine.”

Still, Monday saw Flohr post one of his better scores of 2010.

“I’ve been shooting in the mid-80s, so today was a little bit better,” he said.

Robert Reynolds (82) and Kyle Winkler (84) rounded out the Demons’ top three scores.

Roaring Fork senior Micah Evonitz shot an 82 to pace Roaring Fork, which saw Madison Bailey shoot a 90 and Thomas Cerise a 91 to round out its top three.

jcaspersen@postindependent.com


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