(Editor's note: Montana Tech media release)
BUTTE -- Montana Tech head coach Sean Ryan announced the signing of Missoula Sentinel senior Joe Opitz as the first commit of the Oredigger men's golf program's Class of 2022.
"I am ecstatic that Joe wants to be an Oredigger," Ryan said in a media release. "Joe is a very accomplished junior golfer and has such a bright future ahead of him both athletically and academically."
Opitz, a three-time all-state golfer for Missoula Sentinel, helped the Spartans win the school's first state championship since 1999 this past fall. The Spartans finished runner-up at the state tournaments as a team in 2018 and 2019. Opitz won the season-opening Missoula Invitational his junior year, firing a 69 (-3) at Canyon River Golf Club.
"We're working to build a culture of success and a championship caliber program here at Montana Tech and adding a guy like Joe who has that championship pedigree is a critical piece to that process. It isn't an easy accomplishment to be a three-time all-state golfer in Class AA and I have no doubt Joe will be competing for an individual title and another team championship this fall for the Spartans," Ryan said.
Opitz placed fifth as a junior, 10th as a sophomore, and 14th as a freshman at the Class AA state tournaments and is a three-time academic all-state honoree.
Opitz finished third in the 16-18 age group at the Montana State Junior Championships in 2020 firing rounds of 78-67 at Polson Bay Golf Course to qualify for the Boys Junior America's Cup and the Montana-Alberta Ryder Cup which were canceled due to COVID-19.
He finished T-13th in The Dropping Junior Championship against some of the Pacific Northwest's best junior players held at Banbury Golf Course. Opitz's Sentinel team competed in the High School Golf National Invitational at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina this June.
Joe, the son of David and Trish Opitz, plans to major in data science.
