Rio Rancho's Black, Piedra Vista's Yost earn 5A state golf titles

FARMINGTON — It was several months back, even before the spring portion of the high school golf season had teed off, that Jason Black made this observation. In hindsight, it sounded more like a declaration.

He’s got a great chance to win it this year, he said.

He was speaking as the boys golf coach at Rio Rancho High School.

But he was probably speaking more emphatically as a father.

And on Tuesday at San Juan Country Club, his son, Payton, a senior for the Rams, won the Class 5A state championship.

On a breezy, but not overly demanding windy day in the Four Corners, Black shot a 5-over par 76, and his two day total of 8 over 150 gave him a three-stroke victory over Alamogordo’s Landon Wright.

“Words can’t describe it,” Black said. “I cried in the bathroom after scoring, and I’ll probably cry on the bus ride on the way home. This means a lot. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.”

Dyson Wright of Alamogordo and Isaac Cota of Volcano Vista tied for third, a shot behind Landon Wright who bogeyed four of his last six holes.

Like a good number of players in the field, it proved difficult to grind out a steady round.

Consider Black, who recorded just 11 pars in 36 holes.

“I think I have a bad habit of wanting to win (too much). No matter what it is, I’m competitive, and I don’t like to lose,” Black said. “Sometimes you try to force things to happen. … Coming into this week, it was about playing free, relaxing, enjoying my last event with my dad as my coach.”

The 5A boys team event went to a playoff between La Cueva and Volcano Vista. Each team had three players in the playoff, taking on the par-3 18th hole.

Volcano Vista’s aggregate was 10, a shot better than La Cueva.

“We already made a comeback, we were down 12 strokes (to La Cueva) to start the day, and we made it that far,” Cota said. “We knew we could get it done.”

Both finished 36 holes with a team score of 641. Alamogordo’s boys placed third, eight shots behind the Bears and Hawks.

The 5A girls tournament belonged, perhaps even before everyone teed off on Monday morning in Round 1, to Piedra Vista senior Annie Yost.

Yost, headed for Florida Golf Coast, easily played the most brilliant golf, boy or girl, of anyone at the three state tournament venues this week,

Yost started the day in front after a solid 2-under 71 on Monday.

On Tuesday, she shot one of the great rounds in the history of the tournament, a spectacular 7-under 66, as she finished the two days with a 137 total, 9 under on her home course. She made nine birdies in her round on Tuesday.

Fittingly, she closed with a final birdie on the 18th, her final hole, and successfully went back-to-back in 5A, after her victory at Twin Warriors Golf Club a year ago.

“I could just cry telling you (how meaningful this is),” Yost said. “It’s been a big weight on my shoulders. For the last six months, a dark cloud (has been) over my head.”

Dark?

“Because you just want to perform in front of the people you love and the people you grew up with,” she answered. “You couldn’t have written it up better. This has been the best day of my life.”

Yost during one stretch made eight birdies in a sizzling 12-hole stretch. She opened with a bogey, but birdied Nos. 3, 5, 6 and 9 to turn at 3-under. After parring the 10th, she birdied four straight holes, 11-14, and a near hole-out eagle at 12 was the first time she thought “this is my day.” And then closed in style to some loud cheers.

She knows San Juan CC like the back of her hand. This is her home track, a course she’s played hundreds of times.

“Tournament golf is a lot different,” she said, unable to suppress a wide smile. “I’m just thrilled.”

Said her father Tom, who said this was the best round of golf his daughter had ever played, given the pressure of the circumstances: “Everyone was expecting her to win, which is a blessing and a curse. … She’s been a wreck the last week.”

Yost finished 12 shots in front of Organ Mountain’s Eleanor Warden, who started the day just three shots behind. Not surprisingly, Piedra Vista’s girls also won the 5A title, although the Panthers needed most every bit of Yost’s efforts. Piedra Vista finished the 36 holes at 670, a dozen shots in front of runner-up La Cueva. Centennial was far back in third place.

Piedra Vista’s girls and Volcano Vista’s boys won the state championship for the second year in a row.

Prep golf photos: State champions crowned

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