Thursday, March 28, 2024
Farmer's Union Insurance
605 Sports
605 Sports
Gregory's Coy Determan caps off challenging two years with state golf titles
Gregory senior and co-Class B medalist Coy Determan golfing at the Region 4B meet on May 24.
Ryan Deal - 605 Sports
Jun 11, 2022
 

By Rich Winter

605 Sports

Several weeks before the Class B state golf tournament the Gregory golf team spent a day at the Elks Golf Course, site of this year’s Class B boys state tournament. At the completion of that practice round, Eli Fogel, Kade Stukel, Trey Murray and Coy Determan promised each other that if they won the team title everyone was going to jump in the lake at the golf course.


True to their word, when the Gorillas were officially named champions the foursome took off their shirts, headed to the lake to celebrate the moment.  


“It was pretty surreal to win the team title,” Determan, co-Class B medalist and Gregory senior, said. “We’ve been talking about this since last year and we felt like we had a good chance to win it and we took care of business.”


For Determan, the medals, the state championship trophy and the memories cemented with three of his closest friends capped off two years of injuries, emotional lows and disappointments those three friends knew about all too well. 


Determan burst onto the prep football scene as a freshman quarterback for the Gorillas in 2018. Forced into action in the fourth game of his ninth grade year, Determan helped lead Gregory to the semifinals of the Class 9AA football playoffs. In 2019, Determan quarterbacked the Gorillas to a 9-2 season and as a junior in 2020, was part of a 5-4 team that lost to Castlewood in playoffs. 


Terrific at football, Determan was better and more passionate about basketball. As a freshman the 6-foot-1 guard averaged 18 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. As a sophomore the scoring average dipped to 15.5 points per game. Playing alongside older brother, Tommy, the Gorillas finished 14-7. 


In the seventh game of his junior basketball season, early in January 2021, Determan’s path took an unexpected turn. 


“I was coming down the court and tried to make a jump stop and my knee gave out,” he said. 

Gregory's Coy Determan watches a tee shot on Monday at the Class B golf tournament in Rapid City. (South Dakota Public Broadcasting Photo)

Following knee surgery and an extensive spring and summer rehabilitation schedule Determan was cleared to start running, eventually getting permission from his doctors to start playing basketball in September of that same year. 


Invited to a ‘Showcase Camp’ in Sioux Falls, Determan’s world unraveled for a second time when he injured the same knee. 


“I went up to steal a pass and I knew right away it was the same as the first injury,” he said. 


As you can imagine a second knee injury wasn’t easy for a competitor, an athlete and a high school student. 


“You get pretty low,” he said. “Right away I started thinking about not playing my senior year. I had some college offers before the second injury so you start wondering if that is still even a possibility.”


Amanda Determan said the entire family had to adjust their goals after the injuries changed their son’s path. One thing Coy’s mom gave him was a bible with Isaiah 41:10 highlighted.


‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.’


Determan had that passage tattooed on his chest. 


“Coy has a very strong faith and without it this would have been much more difficult,” Amanda Determan said. “Another thing was he picked up the piano and became a pretty good player.” 

Gregory's Coy Determan, Eli Fogel, Kade Stukel and Trey Murray pose with the Class B state championship trophy on Tuesday. (South Dakota Public Broadcasting Photo)

Dealing with a second, extended rehabilitation, Determan found the perfect support system in his three golfing and lifting buddies, Fogel, Stukel and Murray. 


“The day after he hurt his knee the second time, he told his friends,” Amanda Determan said. “They were at the house moments later and they’ve kinda been there the whole time since.” 


While the Gregory senior accepted his circumstances he wasn’t quite done with the health problems, as a new nemesis surfaced just about the time basketball season started. 


“I had some blood clot issues for a few days,” he said. “It was related to surgery and traveled into my lungs and I had some pain.” 


Unable to play his favorite sport Determan still went to basketball practice every day, traveled to every game and tried not to think about what might have been. A young Gregory squad finished the year 14-8, losing in the Region 6B semifinals to Burke. 


“At the beginning it is hard not to think about what could have been,” he said. “I know what we could have done, and then seeing how close we got. I tried not to think much about it because it just felt like a negative space.” 


Following the completion of the winter sports seasons, Determan wasn’t fully sure he would be able to play golf this spring. As a sophomore, COVID-19 wiped out his golf season, as a junior the first knee injury kept him off the course. 


Several weeks before the pre-region meet this year Determan was given clearance to start golfing. He didn’t have a lot of time in an already short season to get into any kind of rhythm. 


“For the first month of the season I was only allowed to putt and chip because I couldn’t rotate on the knee,” he said. “When I first came back I was hesitant but slowly built up confidence.” 


At the Region 4B golf tournament on May 24, Determan shot in the 90s and did not qualify as an individual. His three friends shot well enough for Gregory to finish second and qualify as a team, sending Determan to his first state golf tournament. 


After the region performance the Determan family had zero expectations their son would shoot (76) and tie for medalist honors. One day before the tournament Coy told his mom that he was hoping to shoot in the 80s and contribute to the success of the team on at least one of the two days. 


Deep down, Determan had a feeling the tournament was going to go well.


“I started to figure out my swing about a week before state,” he said. “I felt like I was playing really good golf and that things were clicking.”  


Gregory junior Eli Fogel shared some thoughts on his friend earning co-medalist honors after missing out on the last two years of competitive sports.


“With the two injuries the only thing he could really do was golf,” Fogel said. “I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to win it and no one deserves it more than he does.” 


Determan is spending the summer umpiring baseball games, lifting weights and getting ready for the next phase of his life, studying and playing basketball at Northwestern Iowa.