St. Mary's Sullivan putts injury behind

   Four years ago, St. Mary's Kara Sullivan's 9:15 a.m. tee time Monday at the 4A state girls golf tournament would never have crossed her mind.

    Today, it's all she can think about.

    A skiing accident broke the then-seventh-grader's left femur in 11 places. Six hours of surgery repaired her leg and ended her hopes of competing in gymnastics. Soon healthy, she shifted her interest to golf. That paid off recently with her first berth to the state tournament at the Rolling Hills Country Club in Golden on Monday and Tuesday.

    The two-day 5A tournament is held at the same time at Littleton's Raccoon Creek Golf Club.

    Sullivan is the first to qualify for a state girls tournament for St. Mary's, according to athletic director Ed Latimer.

    "I'm really stoked," Sullivan said. "It's pretty sweet to make it to state and make the top 100 in Colorado. That's exciting."

    The area's top 4A hopeful is Cheyenne Mountain's Justine Kemp, who won the Colorado Springs regional and led the Indians to a tie for second place. She is joined by teammates Corey Broker and Becky Nelson.

    In the two-day 5A meet, Metro League champion Palmer should contend for a spot in the top five, coach Jason Kohl predicted.

    With three advancing to state, the Terrors qualify as a team but do not have an extra fourth golfer, whose score could be thrown out after a bad round.

    "It would take good days for all three girls," Kohl said.

    Freshman Forre Zook, older sister and Metro champ Jamie Zook and third qualifier Elizabeth Raitz are all playing well as of late.

    Doherty's Paige Crawford has improved steadily, while Maree Wurtz, last year's Metro champ, has state experience. Jamie Zook and Crawford are both possible top-10 finishers, Kohl said.

    With water hazards on 14 of 18 holes, Raccoon Creek Golf Club in Littleton is a course that demands accurate drives. It also had fast greens during Palmer's practice round, while wedge and lob shots had a hard time sticking to the greens, Kohl said.

AREA QUALIFIERS

Class 5A
Alyssa Burroughs, Pine Creek Paige Crawford, Doherty Elizabeth Raitz, Palmer Alli Slamkowski, Air Academy Sam Stancato, Coronado Gabi Tomaselli, Pine Creek Ashley Trimbach, Coronado Maree Wurtz, Doherty Forre Zook, Palmer Jamie Zook, Palmer

Class 4A
Sawyer Bisel, Cañon City Corey Broker, Cheyenne Mountain Jordyn Dougal, The Classical Academy Cara Jorgensen, Fountain-Fort Carson Siobahn Kahanic, Limon Justine Kemp, Cheyenne Mountain Becky Nelson, Cheyenne Mountain Kara Sullivan, St. Mary's Sarah Willie, Cañon City