Boys Golf: Practice tees off new season Monday

AURORA | Boys golfers get a head start on the rest of the sports for the 2015 fall prep sports season, as they begin practice Monday.

Tryouts and practices commence with an eye toward the start of the season, which opens later in the week in some cases for city boys golf teams.

Practice for the remainder of the fall prep sports — football, volleyball, softball, boys soccer, cross country, boys tennis, field hockey and gymnastics — commence on Aug. 17, though may teams hold conditioning camps this week leading up to the start of practice.

There’s a lot to look forward to based on how last season ended for Aurora boys golfers, as six of the 10 city players who teed it up at the Colorado Springs Country club expected to return.

Regis Jesuit saw its streak of four straight 5A state championships comes to an end, but the Raiders still managed to post a sixth consecutive season in the top two as they finished in a tie with Lakewood behind winner Coronado.

Seniors Andrew McCormick and Bennett Rogers return for Regis Jesuit, which always seems to field a deep varsity team after a competitive tryout process.

Cherokee Trail has back two of its top players in senior Ji Woo Jang and junior Bradley Scalia, who helped the Cougars win the Centennial League championship and qualify for state as a team for the first time in program history.

Coach Troy Flores’ team finished seventh and expect to return Scalia — a state qualifier in each of his two varsity seasons — along with Jang, who was the Centennial League medalist last season.

Smoky Hill senior Paul Cleveland, a two-time state qualifier, and Eaglecrest sophomore Davis Bryant also return after playing at the state tournament last season. Cleveland’s teammate, Kyle Colen, lost in a playoff with a trip to state on the line in 2014 after making the tournament as a freshman the previous season.

For a full preview of the 2015 Aurora boys golf season, see this week’s edition of the Aurora Sentinel on stands Thursday or visit aurorasentinel.com for the online version.

Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel