Griz open fall season in Colorado

The Montana women's golf team will open its fall season this week when it plays at the two-day Bear Brawl in Greeley, Colo.

The 54-hole tournament, which will be contested at the Greeley Country Club, will be played Monday and Tuesday.

It's Montana's first tournament in the state of Colorado since opening the 2006-07 fall season at the Colorado State Ptarmigan Classic.

The six-team tournament will feature the Bears and Grizzlies of the Big Sky Conference, plus CSU Bakersfield, St. Thomas, Southern Illinois and Texas-Rio Grande Valley.

Northern Colorado was picked third in the Big Sky preseason poll, collecting one first-place vote. Montana was picked ninth out of 11 teams.

Fourth-year coach Jimmy Mee will compete with a roster of Katie Lewis (1), Kate Bogenschutz (2), Zoe Bar-Or (3), Bella Johnson (4) and Hope Torres (5).

Torres is from Broomfield, Colo., Bar-Or is from Greenwood Village, Colo. "It's nice to get kind of close to home for them, plus it's a good event," said Mee.

This week marks the collegiate debut of Bar-Or, a freshman who played well enough in qualifying that she'll compete as Montana's No. 3 golfer in Greeley.

Bar-Or was one of her graduating class's top golfers in Colorado, tying for third at the Class 3A state championship as a senior and competing in Colorado's competitive junior golf circuit.

"It's nice that it's kind of home-ish, so it should feel somewhat comfortable," said Mee. "She knows what golf in Colorado is like, so hopefully that helps.

"Mostly I want her to go have some fun. She gets to start with a home game. For a freshman she's been very unflappable."

It will be a new feel for Montana, which is playing its first tournament since the 2021-22 season without Raina Ports in the lineup.

Ports wrapped up her career last spring with a career scoring average of 76.51, best in program history. Her sister, Hannah, played in 83 career rounds and also wrapped up her time as a Grizzly last spring.

Bogenschutz is this year's team's lone senior. Johnson is a junior, while Lewis and Torres are sophomores.

Johnson, at 78.31, had the returners' best scoring average last season. Bogenschutz (78.34) and Lewis (78.90) joined Raina Ports in playing all 29 rounds in 2025-26.

Torres averaged 79.93 while playing in five of Montana's 10 tournaments last year.

The team also has on the roster junior Anna Stensrud and freshman Ellie Sticha, who will make their fall debuts in two weeks at the Yellowstone Intercollegiate in Bozeman.

"It's a different group of players. Different attitudes, different feel," said Mee. "It will be fun to see what happens."

Montana will host the Sun Mountain Intercollegiate in late September at the Missoula Country Club, then close out the fall at the French Broad Collegiate Invitational in Arden, N.C., in late October.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Zoe Bar-Or

Kate Bogenschutz

Bella Johnson

Katie Lewis

Raina Ports

Anna Stensrud

Ellie Sticha

Hope Torres

University of Montana Athletics