RIVERTON – The Bulldog golfers were busy the past week. On Thursday they traveled to Riverton for their spring invite.
The lone lady bulldog, Haylee Nelson, continued her winning streak by shooting an 86 for a nine-shot victory besting two other all-state golfers from Riverton and Lander.
On the boys’ side, Tate Nichols finished second with a 73, Dylan Nelson tied for fifth with a 78, Brecken Sandlian tied for ninth with a 79, Ace Keil tied for 15th with an 81, and Fletcher McKee rounded out the scoring with an 88. The boys finished second to Kelly Walsh by seven shots after shooting a team score of 311.
On Friday, the bulldogs sent split squads to Scottsbluff and Torrington. In Torrington on Friday, Haylee Nelson once again found herself atop the leaderboard by tying for first place after shooting a 90. She tied last year’s 3A state champion Maddie Brace from Douglas.

The boy’s JV golfers also fared well in Torrington with Ben Tatro and George Kontour shooting a 94 and 107, respectively.
The varsity boys visited Scottsbluff on Friday and were led in scoring by Tate Nichols (77) who placed second, and Brecken Sandlian (79) who finished solo for fourth place. Ace Keil shot an 87, Fletcher Mckee 92, and Dylan Nelson 96. The boys tied for second with Gering behind home team Scottsbluff by six shots after shooting a team score of 338.
“Haylee is really playing some steady golf right now and it shows because she keeps landing on top of the leaderboard. She is beating or tying fellow all-state golfers from last fall, which bodes well for her heading into next season. I know for a fact she will put in a ton of work this summer, continue to play competitive golf through the WSGA, and be ready to lead a very talented group of young and upcoming golfers,” stated Coach Nichols.
“Playing two events in two days with close to 11 hours on the bus was tough on our boys. We had a quick turnaround, coming home late from Riverton and leaving early for Scottsbluff the next day, which gave our golfers about six-seven hours of sleep in their own bed. I’ll take full responsibility for scheduling that turnaround as our boys really struggled in Scottsbluff on Friday. I was predicting the team would have gotten more sleep on the bus, but the yellow submarine is not always the most optimal place to catch some Z’s. With that said, I felt our boys played well enough to win in both Riverton and Scottsbluff. When you lose tournaments by six and seven shots it’s not on one player, but rather the entire squad. Teams win when the other golfers in the lineup pick up the slack when their teammates struggle. We have some tough shoes to fill next year losing Brecken and Dylan, so these spring tournaments give our young guys that did not play varsity last fall an opportunity to see what it takes to perform at the varsity level.
"Honestly, coach Ryan Gonzalez, the players, and myself, do not put too much stake in winning spring tournaments. We all know the grind starts during the spring season, continues through the summer, and prepares them for the fall season which is when the hardware is won. We are very confident our boys and girls will finish the spring season strong and commit to the grind by pushing each other each and every day this summer,” coach Nichols said.
The Casper invitational for Monday was been cancelled due to weather, so the Bulldog golfers will conclude their spring season in Gering and another home event the following week.