MONTROSE – If Landry Frost was going down, she was always going to go down swinging. That was the mentality that the Air Academy girls golf team brought into the 4A girls golf state tournament.

Frost was on a mission to become the first Colorado Springs-area player to win back-to-back titles, and the Kadets took aim at the first team championship in program history.

Neither goal was accomplished at The Bridges, but those ambitions are far from dead. Frost fell in a playoff and the Kadets finished third to team champion Ponderosa and runner-up Riverdale Ridge.

“We’re not learning anything if it’s easy,” coach Jason Catron said. “We’re going to learn the most through adverse situations and plenty of us, all of us were in adverse situations today.”

Frost took a one-shot lead into Tuesday’s final round and held a lead all the way until she sank her par putt on the 18th green. She shot an 8-over-par 79 and fell into a playoff with Ponderosa sophomore Kaylee Meyering.

Frost was even on her round as she teed off on No. 12, but a pair of double-bogeys and a triple bogey over the final seven holes left work to be done.

After making their way back to the 18th tee for the playoff, Frost pushed her tee shot to the hill on the right. The grass and dirt grabbed her clubhead on her second shot, sending the ball into the pond that occupies the left side of the hole. Meyering’s approach went long and right, but she chipped it right up the edge of the green to set up a cozy two-putt for par.

A state champion a year ago, this is the first state tournament loss for Frost. With two years left to compete, Frost and the entire Kadet lineup figure to be only scratching the surface of what they can accomplish.

“With our third-place finish here, we see that we’re close,” Frost said. “We can do it. We’ve gotten a lot better since last year. We were sixth last year, third this year. Here comes first.”

Lila Hickey shot 83 on Tuesday for the Kadets, while Katelyn Markley went for 91 and Hadley Fox shot 98. They finished with a total team score of 521. Ponderosa won with a cumulative two-day team score of 498.

While the drive back from the Western Slope will be a painful trek, the Kadets already know in their mind that they have championship opportunities directly ahead of them to seize.

“Our potential is really good for next year,” Hickey said. “We’ll keep practicing in the summer and going into next season and I think we’ll have a shot at it next year.”

The Bridges played a little tougher for Falcon’s Brooklyn Kinder, who shot a second-round 93. She finished 17th, the second-highest area finisher at the tournament.

Rampart’s Rowan Huls matched her 94 from Monday and secured a top-25 finish at 46-over. Scarlett Ford was a shot better, shooting 97 in Round 2.

Cheyenne Mountain placed ninth as Evangeline McFarland and Leah Glad finished at a tie for 33rd at 50-over. All four Red-Tailed Hawks finished in the top 50.

Sand Creek’s Liberty Wilson shot 106 on Monday as she battled through cold and windy conditions. She was three shots better in round two and finished 58th overall.