Eagle County prep golfers end season at 3A state tournament

Makena Thayer and Julia Borejszo culminated their successful multi-sport seasons at the 3A state golf tournament earlier this week.

Thayer, a four-sport Battle Mountain athlete, placed fourth overall — tying her program-best finish from last year — in her third-career state appearance. The junior shot an opening round 80 on Monday at Boomerang Links in Greeley and tied for the second-best day 2 round with a 76.

“The first day I was kind of upset just because I kind of made a lot of dumb mistakes. But the second day I was happier,” said Thayer, who won six of the seven regular season meets she entered this spring. After dealing with gale force winds at the regional in Gypsum last week, Thayer said she was mentally ready when the breezes picked up on the second morning of play. She parred her first four holes and had three pars and two birdies on the back nine.

“I was hitting my driver well,” she stated. “Normally it’s my best club, but recently I’ve been having some problems with it. It’s been going right, but I started figuring it out on the second day. Once my drives were going down the middle, it was pretty easy to hit it close to the pins.”

Borejszo — who also qualified for the state wrestling tournament in her rookie campaign on the mat — carded a 98-97 score to place 37th overall in the 84-person field.

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“I will say I’m surprised how I was able to manage and be successful in two sports — one that I just started — while staying on top of my grades,” said the junior, who finished the year with a 4.1 GPA while taking four AP tests. “I’m proud of myself for that.”

Borejszo said she was hoping for a little more over the two-day tournament in Greeley.

“I know I could have done better. I shot an 89 earlier this year and I thought I could keep progressing,” she said. “But I’m still not too mad about it.”

“I am proud of the way Julia competed,” said Eagle Valley head coach Zach Haglin, who felt the 5,887-yard course was “challenging but fair” and “required accuracy off the tee box.”

“State is always difficult and I thought she did a great job of staying focused through both rounds,” he continued. “I know she’ll use the experience from this week to improve her game over the summer.”

Borejszo said she was in a little funk from a swing confidence and consistency standpoint, but was saved by her accurate approach shots and excellent putting. On her second round front nine, she flashed her true potential with a pair of birdies and a par. On the par 5 ninth hole, she chipped onto the green in three and nailed her first putt.

“That was kind of a window that showed my best game, if you want to call it that,” she said. “It was just difficult to do that on every single hole, especially since my shots weren’t very consistent.” 

After placing 13th as a freshman and fourth last year, Thayer said she came into this tournament with a different expectation.

“This is the first year I came into states like actually thinking I could win it,” she said. While her calm, happy-go-lucky demeanor has quickly become her trademark, sometimes it backfires.

“I don’t always think through the shots I’m hitting,” Thayer explained. After going par-birdie-par-birdie, Thayer arrived at the par 3 13th hole with all kinds of momentum. The wind was blasting her in the face, too.

“I should have clubbed up two, but I only clubbed up one because I wanted to hit it close to the pin,” she said with a laugh. “And then I hit it in the water.” She still managed to close out the round with four-straight pars.

“I just wanted to shoot a good score,” she said. “I hope next year is better. Every year my scores have lowered.”

Timnath’s Cheyanne Schrick took the overall crown with a two-day total of 150. Littleton’s Zoe Bar-Or (152) was second while Holy Family’s Peyton Mraz (155) finished one shot ahead of Thayer in third. There wasn’t a single senior in the entire top-7.

Thayer said she doesn’t have any firm plans for the summer, but hopes to work on her putting a little.

“I’ll probably play in some COPGA (Colorado PGA) tournaments and some AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) tournaments and just see what happens from there,” she said.

Borejszo just got a summer job at Gypsum Creek and plans to hit the range every day. She also hopes to take a pro lesson or two and play as many rounds with her dad as possible. For now, the dual-sport athlete is taking both passions — wrestling and golf — seriously.

“Maybe I’m more naturally gifted in wrestling, but I wouldn’t say one sport is my favorite or anything,” she said. “I have goals in both.”