After placing sixth in two tournaments at the beginning of last week, the Summit High School golf team competed in its third tournament of the week on Friday, Sept. 2, at the Dos Rios Golf Course in Gunnison.

Despite facing physical and mental fatigue, the Tigers continued to play exceptionally well at the Gunnison High School Invitational. In fact, the team matched its best team finish of the season thus far, placing second overall among 15 teams.

Leading the way for the Tigers for the first time this season was sophomore Jace Melby. Melby has been a consistent cornerstone for the Summit golf program this season, regularly scoring in the mid-80s to be the Tigers’ second- or third-best shooter.

At the Gunnison High School Invitational, Melby shot well under his usual score in the mid-80s to record a final score of 75. The score marks a personal best for the sophomore and was good enough for him to place second overall in the individual standings. 

The rest of the Summit golf team followed up the performance from Melby. Junior Max Kunzek shot 80 for a personal-best score of his own, but he signed off on a score of 82, which kept him locked into the inaccurate but worse score due to tournament rules.

Sophomore Tyler Short recorded 86 strokes, and sophomore Austin Meadors scored 95. The Summit golf team also took Kate Eldredge to Gunnison so that she could play in her second-ever, 18-hole high school golf tournament.

After recording a score of 110 in Grand Junction on Aug. 22, Eldredge shot a personal-best 102 in Gunnison. 

The Tigers combined for a score of 243, just one stroke behind Pagosa Springs. Despite trying to explain the situation to tournament officials, head coach Ryne Scholl said Kunzek was not allowed to change his reported score to the score of 80 he truly shot.

Without the score mishap, the Summit boys golf team would have won its first tournament of the year.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances in Gunnison, the Tigers went into the Vail Mountain School Invitational on Tuesday, Sept. 6, ready to prove their worth once again. 

The Tigers did just that, placing ninth out of 18 participating teams. The team shot a total of 251. 

Short led the Tigers in Vail, recording a score of 79 to tie for 17th place with Hunter Salani of Vail Mountain School. 

“It was good,” Short said of his play in Vail. “I started out good, but the middle was not so good. But I came back strong. I kept working at it.”

Kunzek recorded the second-best score for the Tigers. He shot 86 for a three-way tie for 36th place. Kunzek tied with senior teammate Rece Greff and Gunnison’s Carson Zummach.

Sophomore Evan Wischmeyer and junior Wyatt Willis rounded out the performances for the Tigers. Wischmeyer barely edged out his personal-best score of 92 with a score of 91 to tie for 51st. Willis recorded a 95 to place 61st. 

“We are close,” Scholl said of the team’s performance in Vail. “Most of the team, at this point, has shown the ability to play 14 strong holes. Over the next two weeks, we will continue to work through how to avoid the blowup hole, as well as how to mentally close out an important round.”

The Summit Tigers will have a brief respite from competing before traveling to Salida on Thursday, Sept. 8. Following the tournament in Salida, the Tigers will only have three tournaments before the regional golf tournament at Eagle Ranch Golf Course in Eagle. 

“I think we are doing pretty good as a team,” Short said. “We just got to beat these two teams at regionals, and I think we can at least get two people to state this year. I know a bunch of us can do it — just got to get the head right and keep playing.”