Griz golf program signs two

The Montana women's golf program has signed a pair of prep athletes to scholarship contracts.

Zoe Bar-Or (Greenwood Village, Colo./Littleton HS) and Ellie Sticha (Alexandria, Minn./Alexandria Area HS) will join the Grizzlies as freshmen next fall.

Bar-Or has been on an upward trajectory on the Colorado junior scene, going from 17th at the Class 4A state tournament as a freshman to a tie for sixth as a sophomore to a second-place finish at the Class 3A state tournament as a junior for Littleton High.

She was named first-team Class 3A All-State after her junior year.

"She has a chance to show up and be one of our top players," said coach Jimmy Mee. "She's just gotten better and better the last year and a half.

"She seems really excited to get after college golf. She's someone who should make that jump fairly quickly, with her tournament background and Colorado junior golf experience. The state is developing a lot of players who are going to college and being successful right away."

Bar-Or was one of eight girls who were selected to Team Colorado in 2025, the state's junior golf team that was formed by the Colorado Golf Association to get elite golfers into the U.S. National Development Program.

"It's her second year on that team," said Mee. "She's gotten to play a ton of golf and a higher level than your normal high school tournament. It's all Division I golfers competing in those tournaments, so she's going to come in with a lot of high-level golf experience."

Sticha has been competing for Alexandria Area High's varsity team since she was an eighth grader.

She won six tournaments last spring as a junior, including the Central Lakes Conference and Section 8-3A titles before tying for 20th for the second straight year at the Minnesota Class 3A state tournament.

Alexandria Area High won back-to-back Section 8-3A team titles when Sticha was a sophomore and junior and went on to twice finish fourth at the Minnesota Class 3A state tournament.

She ended her junior year ranked 10th in Class 3A by the Minnesota State High School League.

"She's a great kid. As soon as we got her here on a visit, you could tell she was excited to put the work in and wasn't afraid of the challenge that's in front of her to come in and compete for a spot right away," said Mee.

"She's more of a late-bloomer into golf and has gotten more serious about it the last couple years. She's been working nonstop on her game."

Montana will lose two golfers from this year's team in the spring to graduation, Hannah and Raina Ports.

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