Prep recap: Capital golfer didn’t just get redemption. He dominated for district title
Capital’s Trevor Garus spent the past year stewing. Then he took out all those frustrations Monday at Falcon Crest Golf Club.
The 16-year-old sophomore fired a six-under 65 — the best round of his life — to run away with the individual title at the 5A District Three boys golf tournament.
He finished eight shots ahead of Eagle’s Beau Sahr (+2) to leave no doubt and set two historic milestones. He’s the first individual district champion from Capital since 2005, the year he was born. And he led the Eagles to their first state tournament berth since 2013.
“There’s no words to describe it,” Capital coach Matt Fraley said. “We hardly ever have this caliber of golfer come to Capital. So it’s just a phenomenal opportunity for him and for our school.”
The day got off to a rough start for Garus, the son of Boise State volleyball coach Shawn Garus. A freakish May snowstorm delayed tee times by an hour and created miserable conditions. Then Garus bogeyed his first hole, bringing back painful memories from a year ago.
Garus carded an 82 as a freshman last year at Boise Ranch. He hit 17 greens but needed 43 putts. He spent much of the past year kicking himself for it, blaming himself for Capital missing the state tourney by seven strokes.
But Garus quickly rebounded Monday, birdied his next three holes and never slowed down. He finished the round with eight birdies and two bogeys for a 17-stroke improvement from a year ago.
“I was definitely thinking about that all day,” Garus said of last year’s performance. “That was a rough one. I thought about that for a really long time. That really motivated me to practice.”
Garus said the difference this year was simple: confidence.
“I’m just able to step up and just feel like I belong,” he said. “I feel like I’m able to just come out here and compete every single time.”
Monday’s wintry conditions did not lend themselves for anyone to break par, let alone go 6 shots under. But Garus said he refused to let the weather affect him.
“It’s the same for everyone,” he said. “Just let everyone else complain about it, and I’m just out there playing a normal round of golf.”
EAGLE BACK ON TOP
Defending state champ Eagle climbed back atop the local leaderboard Monday, clinching its first district since 2014. The Mustangs finished with a 303 total, six strokes ahead of Boise, last year’s district champ.
The perennial power rode a balanced effort Monday, with three players finishing inside the top 10. Besides Sahr, Blake Helms (tied for fourth, 74) and Zach Shipp (tied for 10th, 78) had solid rounds.
“Our strength is really in the back end, coming in and doing their job,” Eagle coach Jeff Dunn said. “Everybody knows they don’t have to go out and show this huge number. I can just go be myself and do my job, and things will take care of themselves.”
Capital (322) finished third and Timberline (325) fourth to join Eagle and Boise with automatic bids to the 5A state tournament at Nampa’s RedHawk Golf Course on May 16-17.
3A DISTRICT GOLF
Homedale senior Tea Uranga repeated as the 3A District Three girls golf champion, shooting an 80 at TimberStone to finish 15 shots ahead of McCall-Donnelly’s Lexi Larson.
Weiser’s Carter Williams cruised to the boys individual title with a 75, 10 shots ahead of McCall-Donnelly’s Thomas Knudson. Williams finished second a year ago at district on a playoff hole.
In the team races, McCall-Donnelly (440) and Fruitland (460) took the top two girls spots. Homedale (354) and McCall-Donnelly (372) captured the automatic state berths for the boys.
2A DISTRICT GOLF
Cole Valley Christian swept the boys and girls team titles for the second year in a row.
The Cole Valley girls shot a combined 346, 30 strokes ahead of runner-up Ambrose. The Chargers’ boys shot 326, 22 shots ahead of Nampa Christian.
Cole Valley Christian’s Chloe Singpraseuth added an individual medal to the haul. She shot a 1-under 71 to top the girls’ field, five shots ahead of Ambrose’s Katrina von Behren.
Ambrose’s David Chacon captured the boys individual title at 73 (+1), three strokes ahead of North Star Charter’s Gavin Rodeghiero (76, +4).
5A District 3 Boys Golf Tournament
Monday
At Falcon Crest
Team scores (Top 4 to state)
1, Eagle 303. 2, Boise 309. 3, Capital 322. 4, Timberline 325. 5, Mountain View 327. 6, Kuna 339. 7, Borah 347. 8, Rocky Mountain 350. 9, Meridian 364. 10, Centennial 370. 11, Owyhee 375. 12, Skyview 376.
Top 12 individuals (all to state)
1, Trevor Garus, Capital, 65. 2, Beau Sahr, Eagle, 73. 3, Cam Chandler, Skyview, 74. t-4, Blake Helms, Eagle, 74. t-4, Cole Luekenga, Kuna, 74. 6, Braden Anderson, Boise, 75. 7, Ben Haws, Boise, 76. t-8, Harrison Bond, Capital, 77. t-8, Landen Gerrish, Centennial, 77. t-10, Will Strong, Boise, 78. t-10, Zach Shipp, Eagle, 78. t-10, Ryan Shephard, Timberline, 78.
3A District 3 Girls Golf Tournament
Monday
At TimberStone
Team scores (Top 2 to state)
1, McCall-Donnelly 440. 2, Fruitland 460. 3, Weiser 476. 4, Homedale 493. 5, Payette 510.
Top 5 individuals (all to state)
1, Tea Uranga, Homedale, 80. 2, Lexi Larson, McCall-Donnelly, 95. 3, Gwen Parker, Homedale, 106. 4, Piper Lamm, McCall-Donnelly, 107. 5, Lucy Hickey, Homedale, 109.
3A District 3 Boys Golf Tournament
Monday
At TimberStone
Team scores (Top 2 to state)
1, Homedale 354. 2, McCall-Donnelly 372. 3, Fruitland 378. 4, Weiser 410. 5, Parma 420. 6, Payette 462.
Top 6 individuals (all to state)
1, Carter Williams, Weiser, 75. 2, Thomas Knudson, McCall-Donnelly, 85. 3, Luke Henry, Homedale, 87. 4, McCoy Swallow, Homedale, 88. 5, Willie White, Homedale, 89. 6, Kinley Balkovetz, Homedale, 90.
2A District 3 Girls Golf Tournament
Monday
At Centennial
Team scores (Top 1 to state)
1, Cole Valley Christian 346. 2, Ambrose 376. 3, Compass Charter 459.
Top 4 individuals (all to state)
1, Chloe Singpraseuth, Cole Valley Christian 71. 2, Katrina von Behren, Ambrose 76. 3, Grace Singpraseuth, Cole Valley Christian 82. 4, Ashley von Behren, Ambrose 84.
2A District 3 Boys Golf Tournament
Monday
At Centennial
Team scores (Top 3 to state)
1, Cole Valley Christian 326. 2, Nampa Christian 348. 3, Ambrose 353. 4, Compass Charter 360. 5, Cascade 455. 6, Marsing 462.
Top 7 Individuals (all to state)
1, David Chacon, Ambrose 73. 2, Gavin Rodeghiero, North Star Charter 76. 3, Jaden Walter, Cole Valley Christian 76. 4, Parker Wallace, Cole Valley Christian 79. 5, Luke Birkinbine, Compass Charter 80. 6, Caden Yett, Nampa Christian 81. 7, Hunter Sutton, Compass Charter 82.
This story was originally published May 9, 2022 at 8:51 PM.
