Simmons swings into first

GJHS senior Hunter Simmons claims first at state golf

Landon Ward, Online Editor • October 16, 2025

GJHS senior golfer Hunter Simmons practices putting. Simmons placed 1st at state with a two-day score of 1-under-par 139.

Grand Junction High School gained its newest state champion after the 2025 4A Colorado High School Sports Association (CHSSA) state golf tournament.

This season the Tigers were coming off a successful state tournament last year in which they placed 2nd overall as a team for the second year in a row. In that season GJHS class of 2025 graduate Ky Korte placed 3rd.

“[The team] improved a lot, worked very hard over the summer, and they played in a lot of tournaments. They came into this season and they exceeded my expectations,” said boys golf coach Tom Lefebre.

GJHS senior is the first individual state champion for boys golf in 38 years. The last Tiger to win the boys golf state championship was Monte Montgomery in 1987.

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“I struggled at the start and then was able to overcome some challenges and learned from those hardships at the start of the year and was able to better that and get ready for state,” said Simmons.

As a team, the Tigers placed 7th overall in the state tournament this year as a team..

“We were kind of an underdog going into the year, and we had a very successful year and a lot of the players played great,” said Simmons.

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About the Contributor

Landon Ward, Online Editor

Landon Ward is a Junior at GJHS, and is the Online Editor for the Orange and Black newspaper. He enjoys playing tennis and the outdoors. He joined the Orange and Black during the second semester of the 2023-2024 school year.