{"id":25526,"date":"2024-10-01T01:07:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T07:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-panthers-catch-fire-en-route-to-regional-golf-title\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:19:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:19:47","slug":"montezuma-cortez-panthers-catch-fire-en-route-to-regional-golf-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-panthers-catch-fire-en-route-to-regional-golf-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez Panthers catch fire en route to regional golf title"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez High School golfers, from left, Gavin Frost, Zye Kuenzler, Vince Lopez, and Frankey Montoya, celebrate their 3A Region 1 golf tournament team title at Conquistador Golf Course on Monday. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTEZ \u2013 Before the season, a lot of uncertainty surrounded the realignment of CHSAA classifications \u2013 with Montezuma-Cortez now having to face off against larger schools in the recalibrated 3A field. Yet, even as the names within the tournament field changed, the results stayed the same \u2013 everyone looking up at the Panthers at the top of the leaderboard.<\/p>\n

Playing their home course at Conquistador Golf Course on Monday afternoon, the Panthers adjusted to the late September breezes to blow past the 3A Region 1 field, scoring a 229 as a team to win the regional by 10 strokes. Senior Vince Lopez captured the regional individual title as the only golfer under par, while his three teammates all landed inside the top 20.<\/p>\n

Lopez, joined by classmates Gavin Frost and Frankey Montoya, as well as freshman Zye Kuenzler, continued a strong legacy of Panther teams protecting the home turf. Led by first-year head coach Michael Doyle, another sub-230 round as a team puts the Panthers among the high-flying programs vying for a state title at Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 7-8.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Vince Lopez tees off on the 10th hole in the 3A Region 1 golf tournament at Conquistador Golf Course on Monday. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez freshman Zye Kuenzler hits his approach shot on the 15th hole in the 3A Region 1 golf tournament at Conquistador Golf Course on Monday. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Gavin Frost tees off on the 11th hole in the 3A Region 1 golf tournament at Conquistador Golf Course on Sept. 30, 2024. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Frankey Montoya chips on to the green on the 13th hole in the 3A Region 1 golf tournament at Conquistador Golf Course on Monday. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lopez took all the drama out of the individual title race with a sparkling back nine, turning a one-shot deficit to Pagosa Springs junior Johnathon Smith into a five-stroke victory. Lopez posted a birdie on 11 to build his lead to three shots, then added back-to-back-to-back birdies on 14, 15, and 16 to seal the win. His 33 on the back nine closed out a round of 70 (-2) for his first regional title and his fourth state appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wedge game was really working \u2013 and it helps to know these greens,\u201d said Lopez, \u201cas the round went along, I definitely felt more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn past years we\u2019ve been close to winning,\u201d added Lopez of his team\u2019s breakthrough at regionals, \u201cbut this year we were able to pull through \u2013 it\u2019s awesome. This is good motivation to build off of as we head to state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuenzler joined Lopez with a steady back nine, particularly as the winds increased their tenacity in the later holes of the round. After opening with a 40 on the front nine, Kuenzler dropped in a tricky putt on 13 for par, then followed that with a birdie on 14. Three pars capped his round of 78 (+6) \u2013 good for fourth overall \u2013 and his first opportunity to face the state field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I needed to score to help the team,\u201d said Kuenzler, who made adjustments to his game as the conditions dictated, \u201cthe course got harder, so I had to club up and change where I aimed.\u201d He then added, \u201cIt\u2019s awesome to do this for our seniors to do this in their last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frost stroked home a birdie on the finishing hole to close out an even par stretch for the final five holes. His round of 81 (+9) also included a birdie on the 4th hole, as the senior makes his second state appearance for the Panthers. Frost added to his haul of high finishes in his senior campaign with an eighth-place effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great that we got to do this in front of our home fans,\u201d said Frost, \u201cand to win this as a team means a lot to us. Vince was a huge part of carrying us today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior Frankey Montoya can now add golf state qualifier to his state appearances for Dove Creek in both wrestling and baseball. Montoya battled his way through the windy conditions to score an 89 (+17), which included balanced front and back nines (45-44) and a birdie on the 10th hole to place him in a tie for 18th overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese four years have meant so much \u2013 I\u2019ve learned a lot, not just about golf, but about life,\u201d said Montoya, who qualified for state in his first ever regional appearance for the Panthers, \u201cand it\u2019s crazy to think that I only started playing when I was a freshman \u2013 and how far I\u2019ve come since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peak to Peak claimed the other team qualifying spot, finishing with a score of 239. The Panthers head to Pueblo for their state tournament action beginning on Monday, Oct. 7, with the two-day, 36-hole competition wrapping up the following afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be one heck of a trip to Pueblo,\u201d said Frost, \u201cwe\u2019re looking to go and play our game.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lopez earns medalist honors as M-CHS rolls on home course<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25526"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78976,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25526\/revisions\/78976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25526"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}