{"id":45232,"date":"2021-08-13T18:14:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T18:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/plewe-to-pace-talented-panthers-golf-team\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:23:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:23:49","slug":"plewe-to-pace-talented-panthers-golf-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/plewe-to-pace-talented-panthers-golf-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Plewe to pace talented Panthers golf team"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Ryan Sanders practices his putting while head coach Todd Plewe watches. (Courtesy photo)<\/span>Courtesy photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Coming off an eighth-place finish in the 2020 3A State Championships, the Panthers enter the fall with the confidence of a squad that has established itself as one of the premier programs in the classification.<\/p>\n

Montezuma-Cortez High School\u2019s mix of returning veterans and fresh faces have the Panthers poised to finish near the top of the leaderboard throughout the season.<\/p>\n

Under second-year head coach Todd Plewe, M-CHS continues to draw players out to the program, lifelong and newer golfers. Over a dozen student-athletes will don the orange-and-black for the Panthers this fall, a sign that pleases the head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a great junior golf program in this community,\u201d said Plewe, \u201cand we know that the depth of this team is testament to the community support of the high school program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior Thayer Plewe headlines the returners for the Panthers, the defending state runner-up from his sophomore year. Plewe battled neck-and-neck with Nic Pevny of Aspen in the final round of last year\u2019s championships, and has his sights set on challenging for the individual title again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a really good team,\u201d said Plewe, \u201cso we know we can do some really good things this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for his own game, Plewe knows that his countless hours on Conquistador Golf Course will pay dividends this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been really working on my short game,\u201d he added, \u201cand I\u2019m hoping that my game from 100 yards and in will help me get ready for the big tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Panthers also return state qualifier Kaden Huff, a sophomore, as one of the leaders for this year\u2019s squad. Significant time on the course this summer has Huff ready to take the next steps to get back to the state championships. \u201cPlaying in the state tournament was a great learning experience,\u201d said Huff, \u201cand the whole team\u2019s focus is on improving throughout the year so that way we can get back there again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Ryan Sanders practices his putting while head coach Todd Plewe watches. (Courtesy photo)<\/span>Courtesy photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A pair of newcomers, freshman Vince Lopez and senior transfer Ryan Sanders, appear poised to make an immediate impact for the Panthers. \u201cI definitely want to contribute what I can to this team,\u201d said Sanders, \u201cknowing that this team has had a strong program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Add to the mix a number of Panthers hungry for positions on the varsity squad, M-CHS enters the fall season as one of the deepest teams in the region.<\/p>\n

M-CHS finished just 15 strokes away from a top five finish at last year\u2019s state tournament, and the team-based focus from Coach Plewe has his players honing in on the mental aspect of their game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a difficult sport,\u201d said the coach, \u201cin which you can only control how you play and you handle the challenges within each round. Regardless how the round is going, we want our young men to be able to focus on making every moment important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGolf is a game of life experiences,\u201d added Huff, \u201cand even when you struggle, there are things that you\u2019re going to take from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery stroke matters, and every person on the team matters,\u201d said Thayer Plewe, \u201cand I want this program to built around those principles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s Thayer Plewe won the individual title at Cobble Creek this week, leading the Panthers to a third-place finish. Plewe sunk five birdies and only had one bogie to finish with a 68 and win the crown.<\/p>\n

The Panthers also have posted a dual victory over Pagosa Springs during their early season competitions, but have their sights set on their home invitational, set for Sept. 2 at Conquistador Golf Course.<\/p>\n

M-CHS also landed the honor of hosting the 3A regional tournament three weeks later, with the 18-hole competition set for Saturday, Sept. 21. Top team and individual performers from the regional tournament will move on to 3A State Championships at Spring Valley Golf Club in Elizabeth on Oct. 4-5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M-CHS sets sights high for 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2261,28,36,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-golf","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45232","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=45232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86409,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45232\/revisions\/86409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45232"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}