The Eaton golf team ended the season with another great performance at the state championships. On Oct. 5 and 6, the Eaton golf boys managed to golf their way right into a 9th place finish at Dos Rios golf course in Gunnison, Colorado, to finish off their season. Through many ups and downs within the season, the four boys that went to state came through and truly put on a great performance. Eaton golfers Senior Dillyn Schmidke (21), Freshman Peyton Walker (24), Sophomore Cole Lockey (23), and Junior Matt Paris (22) all made it to the state championship and helped Eaton finish off this season.

In addition to all four golfers competing very well at regionals, they also competed well at state. Following last year’s 11th place finish, the boys knew they needed to step it up to show other teams what Eaton is truly made of. With an overall score of 508, Eaton left with a 9th place finish.

Schmidke led the team and placed 36th, followed by Walker who placed 50th, Lockey who placed 59th, and Paris, bringing it home, placing 60th. Although they played very well, the Eaton golfers could not top Colorado Academy’s performance with an overall score of 456 to take the title.

Golfer Cole Lockey said, “I feel like the first day at state we struggled because we were still getting to know the course but did much better the second day.” This is one of the big advantages of playing in a two-day tournament. Even though the boys played well the first day, they thought they could play even better after they really got a feel for the course on the first day.

  The unfamiliarity of the course helped provide a good challenge and an obstacle that the boys had to find their way around. Golfer Peyton Walker (24) said, “We could practice more and maybe do more practice rounds as well.” Although the golfers played very well at state, there are many more places they can go with their talents.

Not only did they play well at the state championship, over the entire season, the golf boys had many great finishes. On Aug. 11 and Aug. 27, the Eaton team placed third in the Estes Invitational and the RCS Chip Challenge Tournament.

Just before that, on Aug. 26, the golf boys finished in second place at the Greeley City Boys Golf Championship, or the Frontier Invitational. Another great finish happened at their own Eaton Invitational, where the entire Eaton team came through and took first place.

In addition to the boys golfing well, they also bonded as a team. This is a big aspect of sports because as a team, a lot of time is spent together. Lockey said, “My favorite part about the whole experience is all the memories we had. I’ll forever cherish them and always be grateful for what we had this year.”

Many memories come out of these tournaments, practices, and hours upon hours spent with the people around them.

The more the team gets along, the easier it is to get comfortable. This is a big aspect of golf and all sports because when an athlete is comfortable and relaxed, it gives them a better playing environment. Golfer Matt Paris said, “We need to work on being more relaxed before tournaments, that way we play our best golf in all tournaments.”