Conference championships, which mark the start of the most important part of the school season, begin within the next week and continue through early May for Colorado teams.

Two in-state NCAA Division I programs — the University of Denver and University of Northern Colorado women — won conference titles last year and will be looking to extend their success. In fact, the University of Denver women, now led by new head coach Lindsay Hulwick (pictured), are taking aim at a rather remarkable feat: winning 10 straight conference championships. The Pioneers won the Sun Belt Conference title the last nine seasons, and now are focused on claiming the Western Athletic Conference championship early next week in Mesa, Ariz.

“We’re in a new conference, and our goal for sure is to win and keep our streak going,” DU junior Tonje Daffinrud said recently. Denver is ranked among the top 35 Division I women’s teams in the nation.

This will be the only season in the WAC for both the DU women and men as they will move to the Summit League this summer.

Meanwhile, two Colorado Division I golf teams — the University of Colorado and Air Force Academy men — have each won two team titles so far in the 2012-13 college season.

After the conference tournaments, local teams will hope to land spots in NCAA regional events. Division I regionals are scheduled for May 9-11 (women) and May 16-18 (men). The top performers at regionals then will advance to the NCAA championship finals, set for May 21-24 (women) and May 28-June 2 (men).

Here’s the schedule of all the Division I conference tournaments featuring Colorado teams, plus the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men’s and women’s meets. The events are listed in chronological order:

Big Sky Conference Women, April 21-23 in Chandler, Ariz. — Colorado team competing: Northern Colorado. … After claiming its first Big Sky championship last year, the Bears and senior Carleigh Silvers will both be defending conference titles. … Northern Colorado recently won the Monterey Bay Invitational, with Silvers claiming the individual title. … UNC is ranked 174th in the nation by Golfstat.

Pac-12 Conference Women, April 22-24 in Valencia, Calif. — Colorado team competing: Colorado. … Last spring, CU hosted an NCAA regional tournament at Colorado National Golf Club and for the first time in program history earned a spot in the NCAA Championship finals, where the Buffs finished 18th. … Earlier in the spring of 2012, CU placed sixth in the Pac-12 Conference tournament. … After losing three top players in 2012, the Buffs haven’t posted a top-five team finish yet this season. … CU junior Jennifer Coleman won one individual title — the Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque in mid-September — during the 2012-13 campaign. She’s ranked 113th in the country individually by Golfweek. … CU is ranked 74th in the nation by Golfweek.

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men, April 22-23 in Goodyear, Ariz. — Colorado teams competing: Adams State, Colorado Christian, Colorado Mesa, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State-Pueblo, Fort Lewis, Regis, Colorado-Colorado Springs. … Last year, the Colorado School of Mines men won the RMAC spring title, with Colorado Mesa placing second. It was Mines’ first conference championship since 1968. … The Orediggers went on to finish 11th in the NCAA Division II Championship Finals. … Going into this week, CSM has won four team titles this season. … Three programs in the RMAC field are ranked among the top 50 teams in the nation in NCAA Division II: Mines (21st), CSU-Pueblo (40th), and CU-Colorado Springs (44th). … CSM’s Michael Lee is ranked 74th in the nation by Golfstat, which combines all classes in its individual rankings. Colorado Mesa’s Brandon Bingaman is 80th nationally, according to Golfstat.

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Women, April 22-23 in Goodyear, Ariz. — Colorado teams competing: Adams State, Colorado Christian, Colorado Mesa, Colorado State-Pueblo, Regis. … Last spring, CSU-Pueblo earned the RMAC title… Later, Colorado Mesa finished 11th in its first trip to the NCAA Division II Championship Finals. … Currently, CSU-Pueblo is the highest-ranked local Division II women’s team, sitting at 36th, according to Golfstat.

Western Athletic Conference Women, April 22-24 in Mesa, Ariz. — Colorado team competing: Denver. … After winning the last nine Sun Belt Conference championships they competed in, the Pioneers will be going for their 10th straight league crown. … DU recorded a 17-stroke victory last year in the SBC championship. Denver’s Rachael Watton won the individual conference title, with teammate Tonje Daffinrud fourth and Kelly Drack seventh. … This season, Daffinrud has recorded five top-10 finishes and is ranked 38th in the nation individually by Golfweek and Golfstat. … Watton is ranked 163rd in the country individually by Golfweek, while Elyse Smidinger is 196th. … DU is 32nd in the Golfstat women’s national team rankings.

Mountain West Conference Women, April 25-27 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. — Colorado team competing: Colorado State. … CSU finished fifth in this tournament last year. … The Rams are playing in the Fresno State Lexus Classic Monday and Tuesday (April 15-16) before gearing up for the conference tourney. … CSU sits 129th in the Golfweek team rankings.

Pac-12 Conference Men, April 29-May 1 in Los Angeles — Colorado team competing: Colorado. … CU finished eighth in the Pac-12 tourney last year. … This season, the Buffs own two team victories and three seconds. … CU’s Jason Burstyn won one individual title in the fall and finished third in the Bandon Dunes Championship in March. Burstyn is ranked 128th in the nation individually by Golfstat. … CU sits 67th in the national Golfstat team rankings.

Western Athletic Conference Men, April 29-May 1 in Henderson, Nev. — Colorado team competing: Denver. … DU placed seventh in its Sun Belt title defense last year, with Chun-Ji Kim finishing fourth individually. … DU recently took second place at its own Desert Shootout. … The Pioneers are ranked 101st in the nation by Golfstat and Golfweek.

American Sky Conference Men, April 29-May 1 in San Antonio — Colorado team competing: Northern Colorado. … UNC was fifth in the conference last year as Steven Kupcho finished sixth individually. Kupcho subsequently had a 2012 summer season that earned him CGA Player of the Year honors. … UNC stands 150th in the Golfstat national rankings.

Mountain West Conference Men, May 3-5 in Tucson, Ariz. — Colorado teams competing: Colorado State and Air Force Academy. … CSU made it to the NCAA regionals last year after advancing to the championship finals in 2011. … In the 2012 MWC Championship, CSU finished fifth and Air Force seventh. … CSU’s Kirby Pettitt placed fifth individually last year in the conference tournament. … Pettitt and teammate Jordan Wetsch won individual titles in the fall of 2012. … CSU’s Parker Edens took third recently in DU’s Desert Shootout. … Air Force won its second team title of the season at the Jackrabbit Invitational in March, with Kyle Westmoreland claiming the individual crown. … Both CSU and Air Force still have one significant tournament remaining before the MWC championship, the Ping Cougar Classic April 26-27 in Provo, Utah. … CSU is ranked 69th nationally by Golfstat, while Air Force is 119th.
 

After a three-month hiatus, the college season is set to resume in February for all the Colorado-based NCAA Division I programs, with the University of Colorado men teeing it up first, next week in Hawaii.

And leading up to the beginning of the spring season, a couple of the local teams have had the good fortune of picking the brains of some of the game’s major champions.

The CU men recently spent several hours with two of the most famous players in program history, three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin and 1986 U.S. Senior Open winner Dale Douglass. Between them, they’ve won 23 PGA Tour events and 56 Champions Tour tournaments.

And David Duval of Cherry Hills Village, winner of 13 PGA Tour events including the 2001 British Open, noted recently on Twitter that he spent a day with the University of Denver team.

All in all, it’s not a bad way to gear up for the spring season.

With the spring schedule culminating in conference championships and potential NCAA regional and national tourneys, the coming months build toward the most crucial point of the season.

With that in mind, here are some notable tidbits about the local Division I college teams — and a few other selected individuals — heading into the spring.

Men’s National Division I Team Rankings:
Colorado State: 59th (Golfstat) and 60th (Golfweek).
Colorado: 66th (Golfstat and Golfweek).
Denver: 98th (Golfweek) and 101st (Golfstat).
Northern Colorado: 131st (Golfstat) and 139th (Golfweek).
Air Force Academy: 152nd (Golfweek) and 159th (Golfstat).

Women’s National Division I Team Rankings:
Denver: 27th (Golfstat), 32nd (Golfweek) and 36th (Coaches).
Colorado: 84th (Golfweek) and 85th (Golfstat).
Colorado State: 120th (Golfstat) and 122nd (Golfweek).
Northern Colorado: 178th (Golfstat) and 188th (Golfweek).

Top National Men’s Individual Rankings:
Michael Lee, Colorado School of Mines: 38th (Golfstat).
Brandon Bingaman, Colorado Mesa: 62nd (Golfstat).
Jason Burstyn, Colorado: 84th (Golfstat) and 145th (Golfweek).
Parker Edens, Colorado State: 162nd (Golfstat) and 258th (Golfweek).
ChunJi Kim, Denver: 178th (Golfstat).
Charlie Laudermilk, Fort Lewis: 185th (Golfstat).

Top National Women’s Individual Rankings:
Tonje Daffinrud, Denver (pictured): 23rd (Golfweek) and 29th (Golfstat).
Jennifer Coleman, Colorado: 82nd (Golfweek) and 86th (Golfstat).
Lindsay McGetrick, North Carolina State and Valor Christian HS: 121st (Golfstat) and 163rd (Golfweek).
Rachael Watton, Denver: 161st (Golfweek) and 216th (Golfstat).

Men’s Spring Season Openers:
Colorado: Feb. 6-8, Hawaii-Hilo Amer Ari Invitational, Hilo, Hawaii.
Denver: Feb. 11-12, Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invitational, St. George, Utah.
Northern Colorado: Feb. 11-12, Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invitational, St. George, Utah.
Colorado State: Feb. 20-22, John Burns Intercollegiate, Oahu, Hawaii.
Air Force Academy: Feb. 25-26, Snowman Getaway, Goodyear, Ariz.

Women’s Spring Season Openers:
Colorado: Feb. 11-13, Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.
Northern Colorado: Feb. 11-13, The Lumberjack, Chandler, Ariz.
Denver: Feb. 18-19, Central District Invitational, Parish, Fla.
Colorado State: Feb. 24-25, Westbrook Spring Invitational, Peoria, Ariz.

Chip Shots: Two of the Colorado-based NCAA Division I programs won multi-team tournaments during the fall: Colorado men (Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational) and the Air Force Academy men (Service Academy Championship). … Individual tournament victories were posted by CU’s Jason Burstyn and Jennifer Coleman, and Colorado State’s Jordan Wetsch and Kirby Pettitt. … The University of Denver men and women will play in their one and only Western Athletic Conference Championship in the spring. The Pioneers moved last year from the Sun Belt Conference. The DU women won a record nine straight SBC titles before leaving. The Pioneers will join the Summit League in the 2013-14 school year. … In her last three tournaments of the fall schedule, DU junior Tonje Daffinrud posted three top-10 finishes and was named the WAC’s women’s player of the month for October. … Both the Colorado State men’s and women’s teams are competing this season with new head coaches. Christian Newton took over the men’s squad five months ago, while Susan Jennings is leading the CSU women on an interim basis.
 

It was almost a storybook finish to Christian Newton’s whirlwind first month as Colorado State University’s men’s golf coach.

Almost.

It could have been an ideal scenario. The Rams were hosting a brand-new tournament, they were rallying in the final round, and they could have given Newton the first team title of his young college head-coaching career.

Alas, CSU and Newton were dealt an agonizingly close second-place finish. In a tournament where the winning team total was 859 strokes, the Rams ended up a mere one shot behind champion Wichita State Tuesday in the inaugural Ram Masters Invitational at Fort Collins Country Club.

“I’m a competitor so anytime we play, regardless of who we play against, we want to win,” said Newton, who was the national assistant coach of the year in 2011 while with Georgia Tech. “It was really tough, but our guys learned a valuable lesson today — that obviously every single shot counts. We’ll take that with us the rest of the year.”

To make it even more agonizing, a CSU player competing only as an individual — not as part of the five-man team — won the individual title on Tuesday. Had redshirt freshman Jordan Wetsch been one of the five players Newton designated for team scoring purposes, the Rams would have claimed the team title.

While it’s certainly unusual for a player competing only as an individual to win a college tournament, it’s not unprecedented.

“I have to live with the decisions I made a week ago about how to put the best five guys out on the course, and I can’t second-guess that,” said Newton (pictured above with some of his CSU players).

“The dynamic is a little different (for players not competing for the team score). The pressure is off a little. But that’s not to take anything away from Jordan; his golf was fantastic as the score shows. That’s not necessarily the norm (for an individual-only player to win a college event), but I saw Harris English (a former University of George player now on the PGA Tour) do it, and he was off and running. Hopefully that’s what it will be like for Jordan.”

CSU shot an 8-over-par 288 in Tuesday’s final round to finish with an 860 total. Only the 859 by Wichita State, which is coached by three-time PGA Tour winner Grier Jones — was better.

The University of Denver (867) placed fourth in the 15-team field, while Northern Colorado (878) was seventh and the Air Force Academy (905) 14th.

Individually, Wetsch carded a 3-under-par 67 Tuesday to post an even-par 210 total. That was two strokes better than DU’s ChunJi Kim (73-71-68–212) and three better than CSU teammate Kirby Pettitt (73-71-69–213). Parker Edens (214, fourth place) and Kory Harrell (215, ninth) also finished in the top 10 for CSU.

Wetsch (pictured at left), who transferred from Wisconsin to CSU in the middle of the 2011-12 school year, won in just his second college tournament ever.

“I didn’t qualify for the team obviously, but I wanted to come out here to win,” Wetsch said. “That’s the goal. (To actually do it), it was a nice surprise.”

For Newton, it’s been a very busy last month, starting with him formally signing on with CSU on Aug. 17. That was about six weeks after longtime Ram coach Jamie Bermel resigned to take the coaching position at the University of Kansas.

“I signed the paperwork on Aug. 17, and they said, ‘Can you be here the 20th?'” Newton said. “I flew back to Atlanta, kissed my 6-month-old and my wife on the cheek and headed right back. I started the first day of school and it’s been a whirlwind ever since. But this is a dream come true for me. Someone said, ‘Aren’t you so busy?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, and I’m loving every minute of it.'”

Coming on board just three weeks before the season started was challenging enough, but with the Rams hosting a new tournament, that made things even more hectic.

“There are so many things to do,” Newton admitted. “So what I’ve done is prioritize. For me the most important things are taking care of this team and getting players for next year’s team. Fortunately, the support staff has been fantastic. Without my assistant coach, Bret Guetz, and a couple of administrators on campus, I’d be drowning. They’ve done a fantastic job of acclimating me to this role.”

Though this is his first college head coaching job and he’s still in his early 30s, Newton has no doubt he’s ready for his new position.

“There is probably a slight learning curve navigating Colorado State and its policies and some of the logistical things, but it’s still a white ball and a little 3 1/2-inch hole,” he said. “That part there’s no learning curve. I’ve been ready for this for a long time. I was just waiting for the right (opportunity).”

Bermel was highly respected for his work at CSU as the Rams went to the NCAA regionals 12 times and to the NCAA finals in 2011. But Newton is determined to make his own mark.

“Obviously Jamie was extremely successful here, but I have to coach with my 10 years of experience and my personality,” Newton said. “I can’t do things the way Jamie did it. The guys will have to be patient with me. There is some change here — probably some good, probably some bad. But there is change.”

The players, for their part, appear ready to grow along with Newton.

“I’m enjoying coach Newton a lot,” said Pettitt, a senior for the Rams. “He doesn’t quite talk as much as Jamie but when he has something to say it’s meaningful. There’s a little bit different philosophy. He believes in hard work, too, but I think he’s a little more laid back and not quite so intense directly. But at the same time, you’ve got to put in the hard work and concentrate and focus.

“I think he’s well respected by our players from top to bottom. I think we’re all excited for the next eight months to see what we can do.

“But I think both (Newton and Bermel) are going to have success.”

Ram Masters Invitational
Sept. 17-18, 2012 at Par-70 Fort Collins CC

2. Colorado State 287-285-288–860
3. Kirby Pettitt 73-71-69–213; 4. Parker Edens 71-72-71–214; 9. Kory Harrell 67-72-76–215; 28. Cameron Harrell 76-70-75–221; 57. Brett Wilson 76-78-73–227. Competing only as individuals: 1. Jordan Wetsch 70-73-67–210; 52. Dominic Kieffer 74-74-78–226; 57. K.C. Chang 76-76-75–227.

4. Denver 287-292-288–867
2. ChunJi Kim 73-71-68–212; 11. Jordan Burgess 69-75-72–216; 16. Oskar Arvidsson 69-75-73–217; 47. Ole Ramsnes 76-74-75–225; 52. Arti Edelman 78-72-76–226. Competing only as individual: 71. Victor Doka 80-76-75–231.

7. Northern Colorado 298-293-287–878
16. Steve Connell 75-69-73–217; 24. Charlie Mroz 72-73-75–220; 31. Ben Krueger 75-78-69–222; 41. Steven Kupcho 80-74-70–224; 67. Conner Barr 76-77-77–230. Competing only as individual: 81. Nick Umholtz 81-79-81–241.

14. Air Force Academy 300-299-306–905
11. Kyle Westmoreland 72-70-74–216; 52. Andrew Hoops 76-76-74–226; 61. Philip Colwell 77-72-79–228; 79. Jack Howard 75-84-80–239; 79. Ryan Kramer 79-81-79–239. Competing only as individuals: 57. Todd Berglund 83-71-73–227; 66. Blake Jones 78-77-74–229.