Tenney leads Lady Cougars charge

LAKEWOOD — It wasn’t the way Madison Tenney wanted to start her round, but the Evergreen sophomore more than showed composure advanced for her years in closing it.
Thinking she had to score better the Lady Cougars’ No. 1 girls golfer, after firing 4-over on the Par-4, 298-yard first hole, settled into a groove to finish with a 10-over 42 at The Homestead Golf Course on April 12.
“I had a rough hole the first hole. I shot an eight,” Tenney said. “(My round) kind of got better, but I still bogeyed a couple and then I parred a couple, too.”
Tenney was Evergreen’s lone top-10 finisher in the nine-hole 4A Jeffco League meet, tying for seventh. Senior Jennifer Butler just missed out on the top 10, posting a 12-over 44. D’Evelyn’s Emilee Strausberg and Natalie Lusk, along with Valor Christian’s Tori Glenn, shared top medalist honors, each firing a 5-over 37.
Despite her relative youth, Tenney is knocking on the door of being one of the Jeffco League’s top golfers, Evergreen head coach Mike Kuzava said.
“The key with her is she’s having one or two blowup holes and then she plays great. So we just got to work on mitigating or trying to minimize one or two bad holes and she’s going to be one of the top players. She already is, but she is still young,” Kuzava said. “She’s still learning tournament golf. She’s a sophomore and hadn’t played competitively until last year. We know these are growing pains she’s going through, but frankly I think she’s ahead of where we thought she would be.”
Getting off to a strong start wasn’t Butler’s problem, but finishing the round was. The Evergreen senior was only 3-over after five holes, including back-to-back pars on No. 2 and 3, but she struggled to 9-over on the last four holes.
Yet, despite a 4-over on the Par 3 No. 6 and double bogeys on the next two holes, Butler was content with her round.
“I just tried to shoot the best I could and I ended up shooting 44, which was pretty good for me,” Butler said. “I was pretty happy with it. I could’ve done without a few holes and few sandtraps, but, overall, it was pretty good day.”
Valor Christian, as it has become accustomed to, took top team honors with a 162 score, led by three finishers in the top eight. Green Mountain snuck into second at 173, followed by D’Evelyn (177), Golden (185) and Evergreen (190).

Gabriel Christus

Evergreen’s Madison Tenney chips the ball onto the first green during a tournament April 12 at Homestead Golf Course in Lakewood.

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Gabriel Christus

Evergreen’s Jennifer Butler hits the ball out of the rough on the fifth hole during a 4A Jeffco League tournament April 12 at the Homestead Golf Course.

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4A JEFFCO LEAGUE MEET
APRIL 12, THE HOMESTEAD
TEAM SCORES: Valor Christian 162, Green Mountain 173, D’Evelyn 177, Golden 185, Evergreen 190, Elizabeth 193, Wheat Ridge 203, Conifer 239, Arvada 244
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS: Emilee Strausberg, D, 37; Natalie Lusk, D, 37; Tori Glenn, VC, 37; Karli Denk, G, 38; Siera Alvaredo, GM, 38; Laura Cohan, VC, 39; Madison Tenney, Ev, 42; Ashley Roo, VC, 42; Sarah May, WR, 42; Leonora Nikont, GM, 43
OTHER EVERGREEN SCORERS: Jennifer Butler, 44; Rachel Bectholdt, 48; Kelsey Evezich, 56; Maddie Moran, 61