Despite finishing her round in a brief rain shower, Mountain View junior Jaya Hickey walked off the 18th green Tuesday at The Olde Course with a smile.
Not only did she tie for third place in the fourth Longs Peak League event of the season, but her 84 was the lowest round of her career. Her previous best had been an 87, also at The Olde Course.
Hickey’s personal-best round featured five pars and two birdies, including one on the par-5 17th hole.
“I had a pretty decent round,” she said. “I was glad that I was able to keep my composure and finish strong. This is my new PR. My last PR was an 87, also at this course, but I beat it today. It’s exciting.”
A year ago as a sophomore, Hickey became the first Mountain View golfer to qualify for the state tournament since 2019.
Her season this year got off to a rough start. She shot a 121 at the Resurrection Christian Invitational at RainDance National on March 31. Since then, she has improved each time on the course. With Tuesday’s 12-over-par round, she jumped into the top 50 in Class 3A’s iWanamaker rankings.
“I definitely feel like I’ve gotten a better grip on my distances of each club and my short game,” she said. “I’ve practiced a lot, which has helped me lose 30, almost 40 strokes since RainDance.”
That ranking will be more important later in the season. Instead of a regional tournament to qualify for state, the top 84 in the iWanamaker rankings will make up the state field in each classification.
Hickey has used her experience at state last year to help her in the early portion of this season. She has also put in some extra work, even when she was playing volleyball for the Mountain Lions in the fall.
“State was almost my turning point moment,” she said. “I was like, ‘OK, I really want to focus.’ So, last summer I practiced a lot. Last fall, I dedicated most of time to golf over volleyball, and I feel like that’s definitely helped me shave strokes this year.”
Mountain View finished fourth as a team among the eight squads competing Tuesday, with a score of 300. The Mountain Lions were 20 strokes behind third-place Northridge.
After being near the bottom of the league the past few years, Mountain View has shown it is a team on the rise this season. At the LPL event at Mariana Butte last Friday, it finished third among the eight teams.
“I definitely feel like our program is on the rise,” Hickey said. “Coach (Raquell) Castillo has done so much for our program. Practices have so much structure, and I feel like we get better, just a little better, every day.”
Also scoring for Mountain View on Tuesday were Sadie Gallatin, who tied for 16th with a 107, and Amelia Gallatin, who tied for 18th at 109.
Timnath won the tournament with a 238, 40 strokes better than second-place Berthoud. The Spartans were two strokes better than Northridge.
The Spartans had two golfers finish in the top 10. Avery Tychsen tied for sixth with an 86, and Madie Kuntz was 10th with a 91.
“It was a pretty rough start,” Kuntz said of her round. “I had a couple of triple-bogeys and some other bad holes, but at the end I pulled myself together and came back.”
Berthoud is inside the top 10 in Class 4A, and both Tychsen and Kuntz are in the top 40 individually.
The Spartans have finished second in three of the four LPL events so far this season. They were fifth at Mariana Butte last week without Tychsen playing.
Berthoud’s third scorer Tuesday, Julia Reed, was 13th with a 101.
“I feel like it’s going great,” Kuntz said of the Spartans’ season. “All the girls, especially Julia and Avery, we all get along really well. It’s a fun time, a lot of laughs and smiles.”
Thompson Valley finished fifth among the eight teams Tuesday with a 315, 15 strokes behind the Mountain Lions.
The Eagles were led by Elin Drake, who finished 12th with a 98. Thompson Valley’s other two scorers were Izzy Javernick, who was 15th with a 106, and Tessa Howell, who tied for 21st with a 111.
