{"id":26369,"date":"2024-07-31T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panther-golfers-lopez-and-frost-lead-team-into-new-look-class-3a\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:38:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:38:39","slug":"panther-golfers-lopez-and-frost-lead-team-into-new-look-class-3a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panther-golfers-lopez-and-frost-lead-team-into-new-look-class-3a\/","title":{"rendered":"Panther golfers Lopez and Frost lead team into new-look Class 3A"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Vince Lopez, seen here putting during the Panthers\u2019 home invitational at Conquistador Golf Course in August 2023, looks to lead the Panthers this fall, a season after Lopez placed in the top-10 at state to help Montezuma-Cortez claim seventh in 3A. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTEZ \u2013 Long after the course has emptied for the evening, a solitary figure cuts a striking silhouette against the setting sun on the driving range at Conquistador Golf Course.<\/p>\n

The fluid swing of Montezuma-Cortez senior golfer Vince Lopez stings another ball out of sight into the summer night. He then drags another range ball on to a patch of turf and repeats the process.<\/p>\n

Lopez anchors an upperclassmen-heavy Panther boys golf team on the heels of three consecutive seasons finishing in the top 25 in the state field. His eighth-place finish his junior year served as his career-best. And with another passing offseason, he appears to only have gotten stronger.<\/p>\n

Lopez finished second overall in the Conquistador Golf Course Club Championship, shooting 1-over par over the two-day event, playing from the course\u2019s longest tees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of fun to play with \u2018the adults\u2019 in the Conquistador Men\u2019s Golf Association, especially since I don\u2019t get to play with them all that often,\u201d Lopez said of his runner-up effort.<\/p>\n

Alongside Lopez, classmate Gavin Frost enjoyed a massive breakout season during his junior campaign, dropping his scores regularly into the low to mid 70s, emerging with Lopez as one of the best one-two punches in the region.<\/p>\n

In his state debut last fall, Frost finished tied for 55th among individual qualifiers, helping the Panthers tie for seventh in the team standings.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Gavin Frost, seen here during the Panthers\u2019 home invitational at Conquistador Golf Course in August 2023, looks to lead the Panthers this fall. Frost broke out a season ago to finish as one of the top Panthers golfers, making his first state appearance and helping Montezuma-Cortez place seventh in 3A. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

For Frost, golf became a passion later in life than most of his peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember watching the 2019 Masters and Tiger Woods, and being amazed that someone could hit a ball that far,\u201d Frost recalled. \u201cI learned that I wasn\u2019t as in to the other sports I played when I was younger, like football, wrestling and baseball, and I decided to stick with golf around eighth grade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frost points to a competition after his sophomore season that helped catapult his game to new heights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the North American Indigenous Games in Canada, and not only did it help me break 80, but I also got to meet kids from all tribes all over the continent \u2013 it was an awesome experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lopez became a fixture on the course from a young age, absorbing guidance from countless resources, including head professional Micah Rudosky, Panthers alumnus and 2002 state champion Shea Sena, and former teammate and 2022 state champ Thayer Plewe.<\/p>\n

Lopez has poured countless hours into his work on the practice greens, hoping he can add his name to the state champions banner that hangs in \u201cThe Jungle.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Plewe\u2019s teammate during his freshman and sophomore season, Lopez recognizes some similarities between their games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both are fast swingers of the golf ball, but it was also good to learn how to approach each hole \u2013 sometimes it\u2019s not always the best thing to hit the ball as far \u2013 and I\u2019ve been learning where I need to sit back a bit so I can put more spin on the ball,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lopez also said having Frost there to push him has been \u201creally helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that he\u2019s going to push me every tournament for the top spot on the team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For both Lopez and Frost, the mental aspect of the game has been a major improvement over their four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stopped focusing on more than one shot at a time,\u201d Frost said about his improved mentality. \u201cAnd I knew that I didn\u2019t need to worry before each tournament, that the results would eventually come.\u201d<\/p>\n

The duo now looks to lead the charge for a Panther program eyeing yet another strong season and continued prominence as one of the Western Slope\u2019s top program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese last four years have been the best times of my life,\u201d Frost said. \u201cIt felt like I was a freshman just a couple weeks ago, but to be out here with my teammates, it means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panthers ready for 3A shift<\/div>\n

On a late July afternoon, the driving range was abuzz with high school energy. For consecutive years, the Panthers boast a roster exceeding double figures. As new coach Michael Doyle proudly points out, the Panthers feature not only its players, but also some players from Dolores, Mancos and Dove Creek.<\/p>\n

A number of talented incoming freshmen complement a strong cohort of seniors. This comes as CHSAA implements a significant shift to the growing golf scene by adding a 2A classification. Montezuma-Cortez remains in 3A, but will now find themselves as one of the smallest schools because it will compete against schools double its enrollment.<\/p>\n

Many of the new teams in their 3A region will converge on Conquistador on Sept. 30, in which the Panthers will host the regional competition. The Panthers will also entertain home tournaments on Aug. 8 and Aug. 27 leading up to regionals.<\/p>\n

Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s road trips will include Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo on Sept. 6. The 3A state championships will be held at that same course on Oct. 7-8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Montezuma-Cortez seniors carry torch for traditionally strong program<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,2261,28,642,37,36,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-golf","tag-headlines","tag-high-school-sports","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26369","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=26369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79328,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26369\/revisions\/79328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26369"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}