HIGHLANDS RANCH | With a fantastic finish to a steady day, the Cherokee Trail boys golf team came away with the Class 5A Central Region championship Wednesday.
An eagle from sophomore Dalton Sisneros on Hole No. 18 at the University of Denver Golf Club made him the third member of coach Jason Leclaire’s Cougars to finish with a round under par that helped push them past Rock Canyon atop the leaderboard.
Brayden Forte had a sparkling back nine that included six of his seven birdies on the day and carded a 3-under-par 69 that earned the Cherokee Trail sophomore medalist honors by a stroke. Close behind were teammates Sisneros and junior Christopher O’Donnell, who each shot 71 to tie for fourth.
That gave Cherokee Trail the the scores it needed to get past Rock Canyon, the Continental League champion, which had a lead as large as four strokes in the back stretch of the tournament. The Cougars finished with a team score of 5-under 211, while the Jaguars finished with a 1-under 214.
Cherokee Trail’s team finish landed an automatic team berth in the Oct. 2-3 5A state tournament at Collindale G.C., but it wasn’t needed as freshman Anthony Chen would have qualified individually with his plus-5 77.
Aurora’s two other teams in the regional field, Smoky Hill and Rangeview, finished eighth and 11th, respectively. The Buffaloes came out with a state qualifier in sophomore Hudson Roth, who shot 82 and made the group of 13 individuals not on one of the top two teams that earned state berths.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2023 CLASS 5A CENTRAL REGION BOYS GOLF TOURNAMENT
Sept. 20 at University of Denver Golf Club
Team scores (top two teams qualify for state): 1. CHEROKEE TRAIL 211; 2. Rock Canyon 214; 3. Castle View 231; T4. Columbine 237; T4. Legacy 237; 6. Poudre 250; 7. Mountain Range 253; 8. SMOKY HILL 254; 9. Chaparral 259; 10. Doherty 267; 11. RANGEVIEW 353
Top 15 individuals (par 72): 1. BRAYDEN FORTE (CHEROKEE TRAIL) 69; T2. Gavin Amella (Castle View) 70; T2. Nathan Kim (Rock Canyon) 70; T4. CHRISTOPHER O’DONNELL (CHEROKEE TRAIL) 71; T4. DALTON SISNEROS (CHEROKEE TRAIL) 71; T4. Charlie Tucker (Rock Canyon) 71; 7. Trey Kahrhoff (Rock Canyon) 73; 8. Mason Conrad (Rock Canyon) 74; T9. Drew Dawson (Columbine) 76; T9. Max Riley (Poudre) 76; T9. Luke Tourault (Legacy) 76; 12. ANTHONY CHEN (CHEROKEE TRAIL) 77; 13. Alex Lest (Columbine) 78; 14. Jacob Handt (Mountain Range) 79; T15. Jensen Riederer (Legacy) 80; T15. Logan Christensen (Castle View) 80
Aurora team-by-team results (in order of finish)
Cherokee Trail (211): 1. Brayden Forte 69; T4. Christopher O’Donnell 71; T4. Dalton Sisneros 71; 12. Anthony Chen 77; Smoky Hill (254): T19. Hudson Roth 82; T23. Reece Nuwash 84; T30. Connor Daniel 88; 37. Charles Newton 93; Rangeview (353): 41. Gabriel Naranjo 113; T42. Wyatt Sandness 120; T42. Yosiyah Marcanno 120; 44. Aidan Johnson 124