Morgan golf ties Park City for first at Utah High School Invitational

The Morgan golf team kicked off their defense of their state title last week with matches at Union, Vernal and Magna.  After three tournaments, the young team has recorded two ties for first place and an outright victory at another.

The Trojans senior Lance Loughton is currently at the top of the 3A golfers leaderboard with an average adjusted score of 68.67, leading second-place Cayson VanBeekum from Ben Lomond (69.12) and third-place Jace Benson (71.41), a Morgan freshman, is sitting at third.  

Head coach Dennis Peterson is cautiously optimistic about his team.  “It’s early to be ranking people after two tournaments, there aren’t a lot of scores to be going off.”

“It’s the pre-season, and we are the team to beat as returning state champions. Everyone wants a piece of us. To get back to state, we have got to get better than we are,” he said.

Peterson, who is modest about his team’s accomplishments, said that “golf is getting stronger and stronger every year.”

“We have more junior players at Round Valley who are just playing golf weekly. We haven’t seen this in years past.  This year we had 39 boys tryout for the golf team!”

In the early 3A Team rankings Union’s adjusted average score, 296.58,  is currently .01 lower than Morgan’s, 296.59.  Richfield is close behind while Juab is six strokes back in averages.    

“Union came out of left field,” Peterson noted. “We were expecting the usual teams to be tough, but Union is playing very well early, and they are deep.”

At the Union Invitational Aug. 20, Loughton shot a 6 under par 66, to lead the pack and bring home individual medalist honors while Benson broke even at 72 to take third behind VanBeekum who shot a 68.  Sophomore Caleb Reese and freshman Korver Toone both recorded 80s as the Trojans third and fourth scorers. Morgan and host Union both finished with 298 in the team race.

The next day at Dinaland in Vernal, Loughton and Benson both finished 1 under at 71 in a tie for second with VanBeekum shooting a 2-under par, 70, to earn medalist honors.

As a team, the Trojans bested Union 299 to 303, with Toone recording a 78 and Reese a 79.

“It’s going to be a tight battle with Lance and Ben Lomond’s VanBeekum,” Peterson said. “They play together a lot in the summer, and they are both great golfers.”  He continued, “Jace is doing well, too! Even though he’s a freshman, he’s played a lot of golf. It’s all just golf to them.”

Friday, Aug. 23, Morgan went up against 13 other teams from 4A, 5A, and 6A schools at the Utah High School Invitational at the Copper Golf Club in Magna. Even though they were the only 3A school in the competition, Morgan tied Park City for first place with both teams shooting 292.  The Trojans Loughton brought home medalist honors with a 5 under par, 67.  

Despite the team’s success, Peterson said he will remain “nervous” at the beginning of the season. “We haven’t hit our stride, and it’s been closer than what it needs to be. We are better than our scores are showing.”

For a coach who has won five of the last six state championships with the Morgan boys teams, Peterson knows his golf and will continue to guide his young team. In addition to Loughton, senior Daxton Loertscher will represent the Class of 2026. Cash Peterson and Carter Smith are the juniors on the team, and sophomores Kaizer Olaveson and Caleb Reese represent the Class of 2027. The talented freshmen, Benson and Korver Toone, round out the current players who have competed in the varsity tournaments.