Cheyenne Mountain’s Regina Dillon tees off on No. 15 at the Spartan Invite. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
COLORADO SPRINGS — The Cheyenne Mountain girls golf team hasn’t forgotten how to win even though former coach Bill Paulson is no longer at the helm.
Heck, the Indians even lost their best player from last year in Kylee Sullivan, the Class 4A individual runner-up and they haven’t missed a beat. If anything, they’re stronger as a unit and they continued to prove it Monday as they won the Spartan Invite for their seventh consecutive tournament win.
“It’s a whole team effort, which is different than last year,” Regina Dillon said. “Last year, it was all Kylee. This year, I need to do well, Maxine (Choi) needs to do well and Ellie (Broker) needs to do well. Kylee gave us a safety net, but now it’s us and it feels great that it’s a team effort.”
And it all starts with team chemistry.
Coming into the season, the girls knew that they were not going to have Sullivan giving them a fast jump out of the gate and that they would have to rely on each other at various times. And the results have shown that they are able to do just that.
Dillon was the top placer for the Indians on Monday as she shot an 11-over 83 to take fourth. Rampart’s Arielle Keating finished first at 5-over.
But it Broker and Choi who also placed in that top 10 that allowed Cheyenne Mountain to come away with the team win. Through stretch of wins, those three girls have regularly finished in top 10.
“As far as the coaching piece, I don’t think there’s anything different,” coach John Carricato said. “I can tell you that they needed to find their identity from last year to this year. Last year, they relied on one play and this year they all have to rely on each other.”
And the girls are close enough and have developed a tight enough bond to do so. They have plenty of trust in each other and know that in the event that one player is having an off day, the others can pick up the slack.
“We have a very tight team bond this year,” Choi said. “That’s what helps with our scores is having a tight team together, but we also have a lot of motivation to do better this year.”
If that motivation continues to drive the Indians at this rate, it could lead to a fourth-consecutive state golf championship.
Cheyenne Mountain golf coach John Carricato consults with Maxine Choi during the Spartan Invite. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
And even though hoisting the trophy at the end of the year has almost become an expectation for the program, the girls know that they need to put plenty of work into it. Carricato, who also took over for the boys team, has done a great job at putting his players in a position where they will succeed the most, while still getting them to enjoy the time spent on the course.
“I think that Coach (Carricato) is the best person for the job,” Dillon said. “We just have such a great relationship with him. We can joke around and it’s just great.”
The Indians will look to extend their winning streak to eight when they head to the Pueblo Centennial Invitational next Monday at the Pueblo Country Club, the site of the 4A state tournament.