Nic Pevny was forced to hobble around the golf course on a bad ankle, all while trying to fine-tune his new swing. Still, the Aspen High School senior managed a 75 on Monday at Aspen Golf Club for a fifth-place finish in the AHS golf team’s lone home tournament of the fall.
“It’s feeling a lot better, so should be getting back to normal soon,” Pevny said of his new swing. “I just had a lot of movement in my lower body, on my back swing. So I was going to have to switch it up at some point and just thought this was a good time. … It’s coming together. It’s feeling good.”
Pevny, who is the defending Class 3A individual state champion, led the Skiers to a third-place team finish on Monday, which was best among the classification. Columbine, a 5A program, took top honors with a collective 224, followed in second by 4A Steamboat Springs at 226. Aspen shot 234.
Pevny’s 4-over-par was good for fifth, placing him four strokes behind tournament winner Qwenton Caldwell of Columbine. Steamboat’s Michael Dinapoli and Columbine’s Matai Naqica each shot 72 to tie for second, while Steamboat’s Colin Kagan shot 74 to finish in fourth, a shot ahead of Pevny. Montezuma-Cortez standout Thayer Plewe was sixth with 76.
“Today was tough. We were the top 3A school, but we would have liked to have been closer to Columbine,” Aspen coach Mary Woulfe said. “Those are very doable numbers for us, but we didn’t get there today.”
Aspen senior Will Stiller shot 77 to tie for seventh, second among the Skiers. AHS junior Sky Sosna shot 82 to finish in a tie for 12th overall, AHS senior Lucas Lee was 15th with 84, and AHS sophomore Sasha Forman was 21st with 88. The Skiers had numerous others play as well, with most of those scores not counting toward the overall team standings. Sophomore Carson Miller’s 80 was the highlight.
“I’m feeling pretty good about the team,” Pevny said. “We’ve been playing all right, not bad. Will has been playing really good, which has been good. It’s been helping out a lot. I’ve gotten off to a slow start, but hopefully I can turn that around.”
The Skiers are building toward next month’s regional tournament, and then early October’s state tournament. Pevny, Sosna, Stiller and Lee have settled into the top four spots at the moment, though they have plenty of players within striking distance of being one of the four to make that regional squad.
“That bodes well for us in the long run that Lucas is learning how to dig deep. And we got some guys chomping at his heels that played out there today,” Woulfe said. “These young freshmen are learning that it’s not about what score they post right now. It’s about what they are learning, what can they take from every round of golf.”
Next up, the Skiers will play again Tuesday in Basalt’s home tournament at River Valley Ranch in Carbondale. The Longhorns did not compete Monday in Aspen.
