Steamboat Springs — Nolan Sankey can admit last week was bad.

A senior on the Steamboat Springs High School golf team, Sankey came into the season as one of the squad’s only carryovers from last year’s varsity team. He opened the season as the team’s No. 1 player.

He didn’t play like it, however, struggling through the season’s first three tournaments.

“Those were a couple of my worst rounds,” he said. “I wasn’t striking the ball well and that got to me around the greens. I got flustered and made some high numbers.”

All three rounds came in at more than 90 strokes, not competitive in high school golf.

Finally Tuesday, back on the familiar turf of Steamboat’s Haymaker Golf Course, it came together.

Sankey shot a 75 to lead the Sailors to a second-place finish at their home course.

“I’ve been working about coming though the ball better, and today, that really clicked,” he said. “I was able to play my misses correctly when I had them and was able to go after some of the things I knew I could go after.”

That left Sankey tied for seventh individually.

Shaving 20 shots off the scores he was carding last week was something to celebrate.

“I felt like I had more pressure on me, because I was playing the No. 1 spot and because it was my senior year,” Sankey said. “It was really nice to come out today and play like this.”

Steamboat got more than just one good round Tuesday.

Two more came from a pair of the youngest varsity players on the team. Sophomore Jack Rotermund and freshman Tommy Henninger each shot 76 to fill out the team’s three scoring positions.

They finished tied for ninth.

Other varsity players included Jack McNamara, who shot an 83, and Jacob Taulman, who shot an 84.

Overall, it amounted to the best tournament of the young season for Steamboat, second with 227 strokes and tied with Grand Junction.

“I’m incredibly happy for the kids. They played really, really well,” Steamboat coach Andrew Donner said. “Those scores reflect where our ability can be.”

Montrose ran away with the tournament, carding a 217 on the strength of Glen-Michael Mihavetz’s first-place score of 69. Barrett Jones, of Eagle Valley, and Trevor Olkowski, of Grand Junction, tied for second after each shot a 70.

Having packed five events into the first 10 days of competition, Steamboat now has a whooping six days off before heading to Grand Junction Monday for more action.

To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 970-871-4253, email jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @JReich9