AURORA | Eaglecrest’s Gregory White matched his career-low for a round in state tournament play Tuesday, as he fired a 2-under-par 69 to pull himself up the final leaderboard of the Class 5A boys golf state tournament.
The junior (who qualified as an individual for the second straight season for coach Stan Adams’ Raptors) has now played six state tournament rounds in his three varsity seasons and his 69 matched his second round performance from 2022, when he tied for eighth place when the tournament took place at City Park G.C.
White birdied three of his final four holes at CommonGround G.C. to pull himself up from 30th after the first round (in which he shot a plus-3 74) and into a tie for 15th with a group that included junior Brayden Forte of Cherokee Trail. White — who tied for 25th as a junior — made seven birdies in the second round after just two in the opening round.
The other two individual qualifiers from the Aurora area in the field were teammates Reece Nuwash and Hudson Roth of coach Danny Hudson’s Smoky Hill team.
Nuwash made his state debut with a round of 74 on Monday — though he was as low as 4-under as he made the turn and briefly shared the lead — and the sophomore followed that with a 73 to finish in a tie for 32nd place. Nuwash (a first team Centennial League performer during the regular season) sunk a birdie putt on Hole No. 18 to earn his fourth red number of the day (three of his birdies came on par-5s).
Roth, a junior, qualified for the state tournament for a second straight season and he posted a score that was 10 strokes lower than last season, but it only moved him up one place in the final standings as the depth of the field improved. Roth shot both state rounds in the 90s and finished 84th last season at Collindale G.C. in Fort Collins, while he had rounds of 84 and 89 this time.
NOTEBOOK: The level of play in the state noticeably took a step forward this season and that bore out with a glance at the state leaderboard. Last season, when the 5A state tournament was held at Collindale G.C., only state champion Charlie Tucker of Rock Canyon shot under par and two others (including Cherokee Trail’s Brayden Forte) finished at even-par. At CommonGround G.C., a whopping 13 players finished under par and another shot even par. Going further, a total of 26 different players carded at least one round that was under par: Grandview’s Michael Rosman and Dalton Sisneros were under par in both rounds, while Forte and teammate Christopher O’Donnell, White and Regis Jesuit’s Sam Walker had one apiece.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
