If there's just one goal the Coronado boys' golf team wants to achieve, it's this: To prove last season's success wasn't a fluke.

The Cougars have the talent to back it up, too.

"I think we're a better team than we were last year," Coronado coach Rick Rienks said. "I think we're deeper."

The Cougars' top three golfers from last season — sophomore Noah Keller, junior Andrew Merz and senior Jack Cintron — are back. Junior Alexander Cintron is expected to be part of the team's top four players, who look to build on Coronado's Class 4A Region 1 championship run in 2018.

Keller, Merz and Cintron all qualified to last year's state tournament. But that's when, they said, things got tough. The Cougars finished 10th overall, highlighted by Merz's 47th-place showing. They believe they could've done better.

"I think we were all excited to make it to state," Merz said. "I think we put a little too much pressure to play good. I think this year we're more relaxed; we know what it's like."

Coronado has seen success on the state's biggest stage before. It won the Class 5A title in 2014.

This year's favorite to win the 4A title is Montrose, which captured last season's championship with underclassmen. Palmer Ridge could also be in the state mix. The Bears welcome back three of their top four golfers from last season.

This year's Coronado team is prepared. The players participated in countless summer tournaments and practiced nearly every day at golf courses across the Pikes Peak region.

"We're ready to come back really strong," Keller said.

The sophomore has already proven he can compete with the area's best. Last week, he took second at the Palmer Terrors Invitational with a 1-under-par 72 — a performance followed by teammate Merz's 2-over, enough for 10th. The Cougars took third in the standings.

"We're very happy with the way we finished," said Rienks, the Coronado coach, "but we're not satisfied."

In other words, this season could be different.

"We struggled at state," Rienks said. "State was really tough ... it was a hard go for our kids. It was a good learning experience. It made them even hungrier now to get back to state and do better. And they're all capable of doing it."