LAKEWOOD – Early offense set the scene at All-Star Park , but Evan Magill settled in for Mountain Vista and went six innings on the mound to lift the Golden Eagles over Valor Christian, 3-2, in the 5A baseball state championship on Friday afternoon.
“We all had to lock in after the first inning, we were nervous, everyone was nervous out here today,” Magill said. “There were times with runners on and we only had one out, but I knew we had to get the strikeout. I was thinking curveballs, they were swinging right over them, putting them on the ground. I even shook off some fastballs because I did not want them to make contact.”
Blake Wilson continued his hot hitting for Valor Christian, ripping a double to the gap to open the scoring, but savvy base running from Mountain Vista’s Travis Sprinkle and Trey Dunn gave the Golden Eagles all they needed. After the two early runs allowed, Magill, who won a state title his freshman year, settled in to retire 15 of the last 17 batters he faced, many of them with a wipeout curveball. He registered nine punch-outs in six innings.
Mountain Vista head coach Ron Quintana turned it over to his bullpen in the ninth, bringing on Griffin Huiatt, the other freshman on that 2018 championship team, and he slammed the door on the Eagles.
“Evan did a great job coming in before me and getting us to that point,” Huiatt said. “For me, my job was to throw strikes and let our defense work. There was a lot of adrenaline out there, but it all worked out in the end.”
Quintana and his group rolled through the playoffs as the last undefeated team, which allowed them to save a lot of pitching for Friday. The closeness of his team, he said, is what makes this year’s group stand out from others.
“When we say family, we mean it,” Quintana said. “This is such a close group and a lot of people counted these guys out and didn’t think we could be here right now. I always tell our guys, if we play Vista baseball instead of the other team, we are unstoppable. They bought in this year and here we are.”
Mountain Vista earned its second state championship in program history, with the last coming in 2018. It also marks the 27th crown in school history and the second this week with the boys lacrosse team winning on Tuesday.
It’s an exciting time for boys volleyball in Colorado and it’s only going to get more interesting on Saturday.
At Rock Canyon on Friday, the inaugural boys volleyball state tournament began with quarterfinals. By the end of an exciting day of postseason boys volleyball play that was years in the making, eight teams had become four and the field of semifinals competitors was set.
In Saturday’s Final 4, No. 1 Douglas County will face No. 4 Eaglecrest and No. 2 Legend will face No. 4 Valor Christian. The winners will then square off for the first-ever boys volleyball state championship in CHSAA history.
(Brian Livergood)
“It’s an exciting time right now,” Eaglecrest head coach Chad Bond said. “The volleyball that’s happening in the state is fantastic. We had a high-quality volleyball match and to be a part of that was fantastic. For us to win in that style is pretty special. Having this as a sanctioned sport has brought kids out who never would have played before. Every time you have a bunch of firsts, there’s always going to be a ton of excitement and it’s going to be special.”
In order to reach the penultimate round, Bond’s Raptors emerged from the most exciting quarterfinal. The only match to go more than three sets, Eaglecrest (13-3) won 26-28, 25-16, 17-25, 25-23, 15-13 against a James Irwin (14-2) team that went undefeated in Pikes Peak League play during the regular season.
“It feels really good,” Eaglecrest junior Alfred Maiava said. “I’m really proud that we are now a part of CHSAA, it’s an awesome moment, one of the best we will have in our life. We are out here standing together as a team, we are all brothers at the end of the day no matter what happened.”
(Brian Livergood)
On Saturday, Eaglecrest will face unbeaten No. 1 Douglas County (16-0) at 9 a.m. The top-seeded Huskies beat No. 8 Regis Jesuit (9-7), 25-20, 25-15, 25-15 in the quarterfinals.
Over on the other side of the bracket, the Legend Titans (14-2) won 25-15, 25-18, 25-11 against Cherokee Trail (8-8) and the Valor Christian Eagles (14-2) won 25-21, 25-16, 25-20 against Cherry Creek (10-6). Legend and Valor Christian will place at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
The state championship game will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Not too long after that, Colorado’s first boys volleyball champion will be crowned.
“With the boys’ association we ran the last 25 years, it was a good atmosphere, but this is a little bit different,” James Irwin coach Mike Prusinowski said. “It means a little bit more to the guys being in an official state championship, so that part of it I’m pretty proud of how it got going. I’m hoping we see some more schools next year, but I think for the first year, you see the quality of volleyball here today and tomorrow is pretty good for Colorado. ”
LAKEWOOD – When he’s ready to start his run toward the high jump bar, Longmont’s Eddie Kurjak stands, raises his arms and begins a slow clap, urging the crowd to join him.
On Friday, the fans at Jefferson County Stadium followed his lead with the slow clap and then Kurjak cleared the bar with a Class 4A state-meet record leap of 7 feet to win the state title in the high jump.
“It feels amazing, man,” Kurjak said. “I love this environment. I’ve been psyching myself up all week for it just trying to prepare every night the best I can. A good season’s work finally paid off. I’m really proud of myself.”
Kurjak, headed to Colorado Mesa to play basketball and compete in track and field, said getting the slow clap going helps him.
“Me personally, it helps me flush out over-thinking to get the whole crowd involved,” he said. “Obviously it’s not going to make me jump higher, but it helps me not be so in my head about things. It just enables me to run and jump.”
It completed a long quest for a state title. He was second in the high jump in 2019 and likely would have been the favorite in 2020, but the season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kurjak said clearing 7 feet – the previous 4A record was 6-11 by Cheyenne Mountain’s Colt Sessions in 2013 – added a lot to his title, but that winning was sweet.
“They were both big personal goals for me, but I think winning state means a little more because I came up short sophomore year and last year I didn’t have a season,” he said. “Both years I’ve wanted to win. To finally get it this year just feels really, really amazing.”
It was an amazing feeling for the Class 4A girls high jump champion, as well.
Pueblo West’s Shayla Padilla won the title with a season-best leap of 5-6. She followed in the footsteps of her brother, Cisco, who beat Kurjak for the 4A boys title in 2019.
“It’s so exciting,” she said. “I’m literally just filling in my brother’s shoes because my brother won two years ago. It feels so good to come out here and compete with all these girls and it felt great.”
Padilla said her brother has given her some grief for not having a title, but he gave her some works of encouragement before Friday’s final.
“I think me and my brother are really competitive and he always used to make fun of me and be like, ‘Don’t talk to me because you don’t have a ring yet,’” she said. “It just made me want to win so bad, so here I am and I got a ring.”
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Class 5A
(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)
Cherry Creek’s Riley Stewart knew she would be busy this weekend, but the junior has made it worth it.
On Friday, she won state titles in the 800 (2:09.60) and 3,200 meters (10:31.45), adding to the 3,200-meter relay championship she helped the Bruins on Thursday.
“I’m a little tired,” she said with a laugh. “I knew it was going to be a struggle coming in, but I need to do what’s best for my team and this would be best for the points.”
Stewart, favored to win the 1,600 on Saturday, picked up 20 valuable points for the Bruins with her two victories Friday.
(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)
“It’s so exciting,” said Stewart, who was top-five in all three individual events in 2019. “It’s like momentum building into the 1,600. I’m just so happy to come back from freshman year (in 2019) and to have these opportunities again. It’s just a great feeling to come out with two state titles.
“It’s been a great meet so far. It honestly just keeps getting better and better.”
Stewart’s teammate, Parker Wolfe, cruised to the boys 3,200-meter championship in 9:07.87, but scratched in the 800 so he could focus on Saturday’s 1,600.
In the boys 800, Mountain Vista’s Harrison Witt set a 5A meet record with a time of 1:48.75. He cruised to the title by more than three seconds over the rest of the field. It’s the first individual state title for Witt, who helped the Golden Eagles win the 3,200 relay in 2019.
Grandview, meanwhile, dominated the relays on Friday – winning all three finals that were contested.
The Grandview girls won the 800 medley relay and 800-meter relay. Saniya Craft, Molly Skurcenski and Amber Davis were a part of both relays, while Ava Robinson ran on the 800 relay and McKenzie Droughns on the medley.
For the boys, Charlie Dick, Kahden Rullo, Evan Johnson and David Maldonado teamed up to win the 800-meter relay for the Wolves.
In the only field events contested Friday in 5A, Brandon Hills of Vista Ridge won the boys long jump with a leap of 23 feet, 2 inches, while Fabiola Belibi of Regis Jesuit won the girls long jump with a leap of 18 feet.
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Class 4A
(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)
Erie has been chasing Air Academy all season in the boys 800-meter relay and on Friday, the Tigers finally caught the Kadets.
The team of Sean Thomas-Francisco, Mason Veve, Blake Donaldson and Quintin Hartel crossed the finish line in a school-record time of 1:29.52, edging rival Mead by just .56 of a second. Air Academy, the top seed coming in, was disqualified for a zone violation.
“It’s amazing,” Hartel said. “We’ve always known we had a good team since two great football players (Thomas-Francisco and Veve) came into the program. We’ve been working all year. We’re always ranked No.2 behind Air Academy. We use that as encouragement to run as hard as we could. It worked out and it’s amazing to come away with a school record and a state championship.”
Friday was another big day for Niwot, as well.
The favorite to repeat as girls champion, the Cougars took home three titles Friday, including a Class 4A meet record in the 800-meter relay. The Cougars finished in 1:39.49, just ahead of the previous record of 1:39.80, by Valor Christian in 2016.
Niwot also won the girls 800 medley relay and swept the individual 800 meters, with Madison Shults winning the girls race and Zane Bergen the boys race.
In the girls shot put, Northfield junior Giavonna Meeks was the overwhelming favorite, but injured her ankle during warm-ups and was taken to the hospital. Meeks, who won the discus on Thursday, was unable to compete. In her absence, Skyview senior Bahati Nabindu won the state title, with a season-best throw of 36 feet, 5.5 inches.
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Class 3A
(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)
Two down, one to go for Joshua Medina of Alamosa.
On Friday, the senior won the 800-meter run and 3,200-meter run for the first state titles of his career.
“It still hasn’t really sunk in,” he said. “It’s kind of unreal.”
(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)
Runner-up at the state cross country meet earlier this year, Medina had an exceptional time of 9:28.27 in the 3,200 meters, beating Gunnison’s Alex Baca – who beat Medina in cross country – by nearly eight seconds.
In the 800, he hung on to post a time of 1:54.78 and get the win.
“All week I’ve been telling myself I’m going to triple crown, so it wasn’t unexpected,” said Medina, who will aim for the 1,600-meter title on Saturday. “I would say I expected to win, but it was certainly a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. With around 300 left (in the 800), I didn’t think I was going to win. I was just able to dig deep and pull through.”
Medina closed the 3,200 meters with a 63-second split, by far his fastest of the eight laps.
“I think they were both just kind of surreal,” he said. “I feel like the 800 afterwards was a lot more exciting because I didn’t think I was going to come back on him and I did. The 3,200, pulling away like I did felt really good.”
(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)
While Medina is closing his career strong, Classical Academy’s Anna Willis is starting her career on a high note.
The freshman won the girls pole vault, becoming the fourth Willis sister to win the event at state for TCA. Andrea Willis won state titles from 2014-16, Erika Willis in 2017 and 2018 and Kristina Willis in 2019.
Anna posted a winning vault of 12 feet, 6 inches. She came up just short of the 3A state meet record set by Erika in 2018 (12-9). Andrea has the Colorado prep record, at 13-9 in 2016.
On the girls side, other champions included Peak to Peak’s Allison Beasley with a 22-second personal-best in the 3,200 meters (11:02.51); Jefferson Academy’s Aaliyah Robinson in the long jump (17-8.5); Lamar’s Alexandria Tice in the shot put (40-5.25); Coal Ridge’s Mikayla Cheney in the 800 (2:15.22); Eaton in the 800 medley relay (1:51.10); and Moffat County in the 800-meter relay (1:45.46).
On the boys side, other champions included Lutheran’s Noah Kelly in the pole vault (14 feet); Classical Academy’s Mitchell Anderson in the discus (150-2); Sterling’s Tucker Myers in the triple jump (45-2.75); and University in the 800-meter relay (1:29.79).
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Class 2A
(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)
Aiming for a team title, the Cedaredge girls took a big step forward on Friday with a pair of wins in relays. The Bruins took home state titles in the 800 medley relay and 800-meter relay and lead the team race, 34-23 over Hayden.
Seniors Baylee Harris and Kimmy Milholland teamed with junior Bailey Nelson and sophomore Kylee Terry to post a time of 1:52.55 in the medley, beating second-place Hayden by more than two seconds.
(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)
In the 800 relay, Harris, Nelson and Terry teamed with senior Kammie Henderson to post a time of 1:49.62, just edging Hoehne by .25 of a second.
In other girls finals, Holyoke’s Lauren Herman won the discus with a throw of 126 feet, 1 inch; Isabel Case of Colorado Springs Christian won the 800 meters (2:23.41); and Hannah Grover of Platte Canyon won the pole vault (9-5) in a jump-off.
On the boys side, Wiggins junior Mohamed Ibrahim had a big day in the shot put. Although he came up short of his personal best, Ibrahim had a throw of 56 feet, 4 inches to win the title by nearly six feet over Wray’s Bryant Schoenthal (50-8). On Thursday, Ibrahim was second to Schoenthal in the discus.
Also on Friday, Connor Williams of Crested Butte pulled an upset in the 800 meters. Seeded fifth coming in, he ran a blistering time of 1:54.21 – more than 10 seconds better than his season-best – to win the title. Custer County’s Micah Zeller, the favorite coming in, also had a season-best time (1:57.61) to finish second.
Centauri took home a state title in the boys 800 relay, posting a time of 1:31.60.
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Class 1A
(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)
Just a sophomore, Maggie Haase of Eads had never been to state before this week, but she has looked comfortable at Jeffco Stadium.
On Friday, Haase won the girls high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 3 inches, and then finished third in the triple jump.
(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)
“It was very exciting,” she said. I’ve never been to a state tournament before and I was just really looking forward to it. I’m so glad we could still have it with everything going on.”
Haase was favored to win both events and set a personal best in the high jump. In the triple jump, she came up short of her best, but still posted a solid leap of 33 feet, 9.5 inches.
Lone Star’s Alivia Weathers had a season-best jump of 34-8 to win the title, while Merino’s Taysa Conger had her best leap of the season (34-6) to finish second.
“I’m not disappointed getting third,” Haase said. “I’m just happy to be here. I’m happy for the other two jumpers. They deserve it.”
Heritage Christian dominated in the 3,200-meter relays, sweeping the titles. The boys team posted a time of 9:08.64 to win by 21 seconds, while the girls finished their race in 10:46.85 to win by nearly 11 seconds.
In other girls finals, Brakelle Westphal of Springfield won the 800 meters (2:28.93) and helped her team win the 800-meter relay (1:52.92).
In other boys events, Elbert’s Nick Dahm won the triple jump (41-10.25); DeBeque’s Trevor Lewis won the 800 (2:01.84); Prairie’s Erik Lebsock won the discus (138-4); and Cheyenne Wells had a strong final kick to win the 800 relay (1:36.30).
With an impressive 314-point team performance, Silver Creek was crowned the Class 4A boys swim and dive state champions on Friday at Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton.
Cheyenne Mountain earned the state runner-up at 307 points and Greeley West placed third.
Silver Creek coach Debbie Stewart said the first place finish was a well-received surprise.
“My comment to the boys earlier in the week was we just wanted to bring home some metal,” Stewart said. “I was hoping for second. First, you can’t top it anymore.”
The Raptors, who finished 5-0 in the 4A Northern Conference, needed a strong effort in the day’s final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. The boys from south Longmont delivered with a fifth-place finish. Seniors Connor Hassert, Pierce Bigelow, Ian Curd and junior Jake Gutru swam a 3:15.58 relay to secure the state title.
Bigelow was a major part of the Raptors’ success on Friday. He finished fourth in both the 500 freestyle and 200 freestyle on top of with joining the clutch final relay squad.
“The competition this year was just a great setup of some underclassmen so I knew I was going to have to bring my A Game,” Bigelow said.
A state title was perhaps due for Silver Creek after finishing seventh in 2018 and third in 2019. Bigelow said the Raptors didn’t dwell on the cancelled 2020 season but instead chose to use that as motivation.
“I remember thinking at the very beginning of the season about what could have been last year,” Bigelow said. “The whole team just chose to move past that and we had a great undefeated season this year.”
The Raptors’ day began inauspiciously with a sixth-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Hassert soon followed with a ninth-place time in the 200 free before Curd finished seventh in the 50 free and fifth in the 100 fly. Silver Creek didn’t finish inside the top three once, but its consistency delivered the victory.
History was also made earlier in the day when Denver North senior Jack Ryan scored a state record 671.65 points in the one-meter dive. Ryan, who set the now-previous 4A record in 2019 at 581.55, scored over 200 points more than second place finisher Joe Smack of Thompson Valley. Silver Creek placed seventh in the event courtesy of junior Jacob Dowlin.
The only multi-event winner came from George Washington junior Xavier Hill, who won the 50 and 100-yard free.
With this final five, Denver North’s Jack Ryan set a new CHSAA state diving record with a score of 671.65 at the Class 4A state championships today. #coprepspic.twitter.com/lvM1eMQC8K
Because of unplayable field conditions caused by Friday night’s weather, the Classes 4A and 2A baseball championships are being moved to Rawlings Field at CSU-Pueblo.
Games will begin an hour later than originally scheduled.
The 2A championship game between Limon and Peyton will begin at 10:30 a.m. The 4A championship game between Ponderosa and Holy Family will begin at 1:30 p.m.
COLORADO SPRINGS – The highest scoring state championship game in CHSAA girls soccer history went in favor of the Dawson Mustangs, as they took down Telluride, 15-4, on Saturday at Weidner Field to win their second Class 2A title.
Senior Degen Miller, who was a member of Dawson’s 2018 title team, scored four goals in her final high school hoorah. Miller didn’t have to do it all by herself, as Lauren Muniz, Elise Freedman and Helen Leon each netted a hat trick as well.
Head coach David Criswell, who will soon move to Chicago, could tell early on that his final team at Dawson was different.
“Since the first practice we had and the first game we had, I could tell this was a special group,” Criswell said. “Forget their technical skills, I think those stand for themselves, they’re just such a cohesive team.”
The second-seeded Mustangs capped off a 12-1 season with their only loss coming against 4A Northridge. Telluride, meanwhile, came in as the No. 1 seed but fell to 12-1.
The big stage wasn’t an unfamiliar one for Dawson, which has played in every title game since 2A soccer’s conception in 2015. Following a canceled 2020 season, this year’s title game was hosted by the newly-minted Weidner Field in Colorado Springs.
Despite producing the largest goal differential in a Colorado state title game, the Mustangs fell behind early when Telluride freshman Brooke Duncan scored the game’s opening goal. The relinquished goal made for just the second time all year the Mustangs fell behind. Criswell said his team didn’t lose confidence and quickly answered with five straight goals.
Dawson held an 8-3 lead at the half and didn’t let off the gas pedal much in the final 40 minutes. Freedman and senior Maddy Timms each scored to open the second half and induce a running game clock. Madison Shaw also scored in the game.
With just over 10 minutes remaining, Miller scored her fourth goal to put Dawson up 12-4. Her Season D playoff run totaled 14 goals including six against Front Range Christian in Round 1. Miller credited her midfield for fueling the offense.
“Our midfield played great today. I think they had great balls,” Miller said. “They were able to find spaces between Telluride’s defense and slip some balls in.”
For both Miller and Criswell, their final game together was bittersweet.
“It (was) our coach’s last game with this team, which means a lot to all of us,” Miller said. “We really wanted to win it for him and we’re all just so happy that we were able to do that.”
PUEBLO — Winning championships in Limon has become a regular occurrence. But for the last baseball game of the year, the last true team event for the Badgers, it was more a family affair at Rawlings Field on the campus of CSU-Pueblo.
Early miscues were made, but in true baseball spirit Limon simply looked to the next play. Then the next. By the time it was over, the Badgers got an 11-7 win over Peyton and are baseball state champions for the first time since 2010.
Perhaps the most fulfilling part of the day for coach Rocky Rockwell was watching two of his sons play a crucial role in helping the Badgers bring the Class 2A title home. Although he didn’t start the game, Brady Rockwell came took the mound in relief and worked efficiently after Peyton had briefly taken a 6-3 lead in the fifth inning.
He worked 2.2 innings of relief and gave up just two earned runs. Behind the plate was little brother Jordan. The two worked well together defensive and it was Jordan who gave the Badgers (20-0 overall) a spark when they needed it the most. He started the second inning off with a triple and scored on a ground ball to third by Camden Smithburg. He added a single and a double later in the game and scored three runs on top of driving in two.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“He was just trying to take base hit swings,” Rocky said. “It seemed like the ball was jumping off Peyton’s bats too. You play on these bigger fields and no one’s trying to lift the ball in the air. As a coach you love it, because then they just hit line drives and the ball carries. And Jordy got a couple in the gap and they carried. He’s just a gamer.”
Limon looked to have a bit of nerves heading into the game as the they started the top of the first with three big defensive miscues.
But they settled down to take a 3-0 lead after two innings.
The Panthers (17-2) finally got their bats in a groove in the top of the 5th inning. They got five consecutive runners on base highlighted by Brennen Meyers’ huge RBI triple. Rockwell got starting pitcher Trey Hines out and brought in Brady to try and get the Badgers back on track.
“It’s definitely a little nerve-racking,” Brady said. “But we’ve been doing this all year. We’ve been down a few times and I knew that we were going to put the ball in play and good things would happen.”
He was right.
The Badgers came out hot in their side of the fifth and the first four hitters of the inning reached base and scored. That included an RBI single from Jordan Rockwell that tied the game.
“I came in confident and came through for my team,” Jordan said.
He was one of two Badgers to drive in a pair of runs as he and Smithburg did it from the seven and eight spots in the lineup, respectively.
This is the third baseball title for Limon and the first since 2010. But overall, this is a group of kids that have been great across the board – playing in the both the football and boys basketball championship games this year – and expect to be at that championship level.
“We’re a big football town,” Rocky said. “We have 20 football titles and this is our third baseball title. This is the first time I’ve been a head coach and been a part of a team like this. They do expect to be the best.”
And if this year has shown anything for this group of Badgers, it’s that they can make the reality live up to the expectation.”
