After finishing eighth at the Class 4A state tournament a year ago, the Loveland boys golf team enters the 2026 season with high expectations, and a new coaching staff.<\/p>\n
Tyler Bishop has taken over to lead the Red Wolves, replacing longtime head coach Bill Stephens, who guided the program for 15 years. Bishop\u2019s assistant coach is Tanner Comes.<\/p>\n
Bishop\u2019s list of accolades and accomplishments is long. He was an all-state player at Skyline High School and a Division II All-American at Colorado-Colorado Springs. He was also the RMAC golfer of the century before turning pro.<\/p>\n
He has three professional victories and was a two-time U.S. Open sectional qualifier.<\/p>\n
After a stint as an assistant at UCCS, he spent time coaching high school golf at Silver Creek, where he led the team to two state tournament appearances.<\/p>\n
Following a little time away from golf, he heard of the opening at Loveland and went for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWork kind of got in the way of me being able to give it all my effort,\u201d Bishop said of coaching. \u201cI took a couple of years off and I\u2019ve missed it. To find a program that has this many kids \u2014 we have 21 kids out here and all 21 are extremely committed to getting better \u2014 I couldn\u2019t dream of a better scenario. I\u2019d say I got pretty blessed and lucky with these 21 kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to Skyline, so I wouldn\u2019t say Loveland was a direct rival, but I knew of them. And it\u2019s tough to find a coaching opportunity because typically these programs have teachers or parents being coaches. I happened to stumble on this a few months ago, that they were recruiting a coach. They did a pretty thorough interview process. So, I\u2019d say I just got, I\u2019m going to say lucky, that they were looking and was fortunate they picked me.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the top of the group of 21 golfers Bishop has is senior Will Sallee. Sallee finished fourth at last year\u2019s 4A state tournament, despite making a double-bogey on the final hole.<\/p>\n
Bishop has already been impressed not only with Sallee\u2019s play on the course, but his ability to lead and mentor the younger golfers on the team.<\/p>\n
Sallee is excited to end his high school career with another top finish at state while also helping groom the players who will be the future of the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m good friends with the freshmen coming in and I\u2019ve been playing with them all summer,\u201d Sallee said. \u201cWhat I didn\u2019t learn as a freshman is what I try and teach them, because there\u2019s so many things that people don\u2019t tell you about every part of golf. So, I want to make them as good as possible, and I want to spread all the knowledge that I have about the game. And I know the coaches will do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sallee is one of two returning state qualifiers for the Red Wolves this season. The other is sophomore Easton Colley, who last year as a freshman tied for 41st at state.<\/p>\n
His experience as a freshman both during the season and at the state tournament is something he believes will be a valuable asset going into his second year on varsity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just awesome to play and be a great player and play with my teammates and have fun,\u201d Colley said. \u201cI try to do the best that I can. I learned (at state) nerves are good and just play as best as you can. Just go out there and just play good. You\u2019ve just got to do as best you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although he didn\u2019t qualify for state last season, another veteran for the Red Wolves this year is senior Wyatt Harlow, who was consistently in Loveland\u2019s top four or five last fall.<\/p>\n
Among the incoming freshmen, Asa Swetnam has the potential to be one of the team\u2019s top golfers this season. An accomplished middle school golfer, he is eager to see what the high school experience is like.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the competition is a lot different than middle school,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m kind of excited for high school season. I think we will be pretty good. My game is probably at its peak right now. I\u2019m playing really, really nice. I\u2019ve learned a lot from Will, our senior, and I hope to keep learning from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Sallee is aiming for an individual state championship, the Red Wolves haven\u2019t ever won a state title as a team.<\/p>\n
Sallee and coach Bishop believe with the number of golfers out this year and the experience of the returners, this season\u2019s team could not only qualify but finish high in the standings at the 4A state tournament in Lone Tree in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want as many kids to try out as possible, and I hope everybody can get better and improve,\u201d Sallee said. \u201cIf we do that, we\u2019ll have a fantastic team. Everybody seems bought in and everybody wants to be part of the program, which is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a pretty young team that are all right there to be the next person up,\u201d Bishop added. \u201cSo, we are very optimistic about the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mountain View Mountain Lions<\/p>\n
Head coach: Joe Ernst (Fifth season)<\/p>\n
Last year: Last in Longs Peak League<\/p>\n
Returning state qualifiers: None<\/p>\n
Others to watch: Sam Holt (Sr.), Damon Houser (Sr.), Easton West (Sr.), Cooper Nelson (So.), Wyatt Cooper (Fr.), Wesley Cooper (Fr.)<\/p>\n
Coach\u2019s outlook: \u201cAs always, the Mountain View High School golf program is looking to improve our position in the league and hopeful that we will have one or two golfers who finds their game at the right time to qualify for a spot at state. As a school with a small golf program we are happy with the small success we find throughout the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson Valley Eagles<\/p>\n
Head coach: Erin Bender (Fifth season)<\/p>\n
Last year: Third in Longs Peak League<\/p>\n
Returning state qualifiers: None<\/p>\n
Others to watch: Justin Porter, Rylan Adent\n<\/p>\n
Coach\u2019s outlook: \u201cWe are excited to have a young team with so much potential. The last two years we have qualified one player to state each year. This year we feel confident in qualifying an entire team (3-4 players).\u201d<\/p>\n
Berthoud Spartans<\/p>\n
Head coach: David Hunn (Ninth season)<\/p>\n
Last year: Second in the Longs Peak League, 10th at 4A state<\/p>\n
Returning state qualifiers: Mason Sears (Jr.)<\/p>\n
Others to watch: Michael Major (Sr.), Noa Barr (Sr.), Paxton Stark (Fr.)<\/p>\n
Coach\u2019s outlook: \u201cThe Spartans are looking forward to competing back in the Patriot League. Berthoud has a quality shot at placing in the top two to three in the league. We have a very competitive group of players that are ready to push each other and compete with anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Resurrection Christian Cougars<\/p>\n
Head coach: Rick Meis (10th season)<\/p>\n
Last year: First in Patriot League, fourth at 3A state<\/p>\n
Returning state qualifiers: Levi McDowell (Jr.)<\/p>\n
Others to watch: Bear Smith (Fr.), Wyatt Salazar (So.), Lincoln Goings (So.), Reid Nguyen (So.), Garrett Snyder (So.), James Cosner (So.), Cullen Corrigan (Jr.), Luke Thayer (Jr.), Austin Peters (Jr.), Marshall Knutson (Sr.), Sammy Greenfield (Sr.)<\/p>\n
Coach\u2019s outlook: \u201cDefending Patriot League championships and a 3A state championship in Alamosa first week in October.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After finishing eighth at the Class 4A state tournament a year ago, the Loveland boys golf team enters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18601,18595,1792,8298,10918,44,154,18602,898,899,18603,18596,18597,54,18598,18599,56,18600],"class_list":["post-47844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-berthoud","tag-berthoud-spartans","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-news","tag-front-range","tag-golf","tag-high-school-sports","tag-larimer-county","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-loveland","tag-loveland-red-wolves","tag-mountain-view-mountain-lions","tag-news","tag-preps-boys-golf","tag-resurrection-christian-cougars","tag-sports","tag-thompson-valley-eagles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}