CHSAANow

Category: History

  • 5A girls golf: Lehigh claims individual title in leading Loveland to team championship

    (Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)

    Katelyn Lehigh accomplished several personal goals in spectacular fashion while winning the Class 5A girls golf individual state championship on Tuesday.

    The junior golfer opened the final day at City Park Golf Course in a tie for the lead with teammate Taylor Bandemer and turned in a 4-under 66 that tied the 18-hole course record during her closing round and clinched her first state title. It was a championship effort over two years in the making. Lehigh’s two-day score of 138 added a third individual title to her family name – her older sister Lauren Lehigh won state titles in 2019 and 2018 (4A).

    While she accomplished each of those things, Katelyn Lehigh’s focus remained elsewhere.

    From the start, Lehigh was invested in helping Loveland win its first team title since moving up to 5A and second overall in the program’s history, which the Loveland girls accomplished collectively on Tuesday with a team score of 450.

    “The team title always comes first and we did it together,” Lehigh said. “It has always been the goal to win it as a team and win it individually. But playing for the team title is the most important thing and it took all of us. If Reece (Bandemer) and Taylor (Bandemer) and Maryn (Harlow) didn’t play well, it wouldn’t have really mattered what I did.”

    Taylor Bandemer tied for eighth with a 154. Reece Bandemer shot a 77 on Day 2 and finished in 14th place. Harlow tied for 50th with a score of 181.

    After overcoming her fear of a blow-up opening round on Monday to position herself as the frontrunner for Day 2, Lehigh said her nerves disappeared when it came time to seal the deal on Tuesday. She split six birdies equally between the front and back nines for a 66.

    “I was super nervous about everything yesterday,” Lehigh said. “Today, being paired with Olivia (Steen), it felt like pretty much every other high school tournament because we pretty much played together pretty much every single high school tournament. So, I was surprisingly calm today.”

    Chasing Lehigh for most of the tournament, Prairie View junior Lily Nelson finished runner-up. She shot a 1-under 69 on the second day. It was the first tournament round under par of her prep career, and it came at a good time.

    “It went really well,” Nelson said. “My putting was really good today and I was able to get some up-and-downs. My driver was also pretty good. I’m more confident because I’ve gotten better over the season and I’m looking forward to doing it again next season.”

    Fossil Ridge’s Olivia Steen placed third, going 2-over on Tuesday for an overall 146. Eaglecrest’s Emma Bryant, who won the 5A individual title as a freshman in 2018, carded a 147. Valor Christian’s Grace young placed fifth at 149.

    Rock Canyon was second in the team scoring. The Jaguars were 25 strokes behind Loveland and Cherry Creek was third with a score of 492.

  • 3A girls tennis: D’Evelyn claims second state title in school history

    (Luke Zahlmann/Pueblo Chieftain)

    COLORADO SPRINGS – A state championship final day is intense by nature.

     
    D’Evelyn and Colorado Academy sought to make it even more nerve wracking on Day 2 of the Class 3A girls tennis state championships as the two met in four of the day’s seven finals after being tied at 21 apiece following the tournament’s first day. 
     
    The Jaguars made their mark for the second time in school history, taking advantage of the chance to separate four of the five bouts. Their team score of 59 edged out Colorado Academy’s 44. 
     
    “We had a long talk (as a team) after quarantine was over,” D’Evelyn coach Woody Oliver said. “We said that we can either be bummed and be disappointed about the fact that COVID-19 ruined our 2020 season or we could just get right back at it. 
     
    “I think the girls took that to heart and made them that much more hungry.” 
     
    Last year, when COVID-19 “won state,” the leaders of the team expected it to be their year. This year, the team’s lone senior — Kyrianna Kryzstek — was in just her first year on varsity.
     
    The pressure of having to win was placed on the shoulders of the team’s only player who won’t return next year. She and her partner, junior Anna Day, came through with the No. 1 doubles title.
     
    “We came in today knowing we were going to play our heart out, no matter what happened,” Kryzstek said. “We were all really confident going into today. Of course there were nerves, but they weren’t bad.” 
     
    Part of the confidence came from the team’s head-to-head, regular season win against the Mustangs last month. 
     
    The other part came from the team’s ability to relax. Even after the matches concluded and the title was theirs, every member of the Jaguars threw on a pair of swim goggles. 
     
    The tradition stems from the team’s joke about being a “real team” in water polo. They’ve even made an Instagram for the non-existent program. 
     
    All of the nuances D’Evelyn took with them to state kept them calm and collected. What’s more, the team will return everyone except Kryzstek next year — a positive sign for their chances of a repeat. 
     
    “We learned a lot from the past two years,” Oliver said. “The hope moving forward is to get right back after it this summer. The fact that we bring back pretty much the whole team is a big advantage.” 
     
    On the day, Aspen’s co-op squad was also named the tournament’s sportsmanship award winner. 

  • 5A girls tennis: Cherry Creek continues dominance of Class 5A with 37th title

    (Brad Cochi/CHSAANow.com)

    DENVER – The Cherry Creek girls tennis team isn’t used to waiting long between state championships.

    The Bruins won three straight Class 5A team titles from 2017-19. But when an unexpected newcomer in COVID-19 blocked them from a title in 2020, the Bruins were forced to sit idle and wait for another shot at extending their streak. On Saturday at Gates Tennis Center, an unusually hungry Cherry Creek girls amassed 66 team points to run away from Fairview – the 2016 champion – to leave the 5A state tournament with the trophy once again.

    Even for decorated Bruins like senior Halley Mackiernan, who has never lost a match at state and has now been part of three team titles amidst the Bruins’ seemingly endless run of winning 22 out of the last 23 championships, this most recent victory was exceptional.

    “We’ve all been waiting for this for so long, especially not being able to play the season last year,” Mackiernan said. “It’s finally here and it’s a great feeling unlike any other state championship. I’m so sad to leave the team, but I’m so happy we were able to come back out here and win this one after wanting it for so long.”

    (Brad Cochi/CHSAANow.com)

    The individual gold went to Boulder’s Lily Chitambar, but not without a fight from Smoky Hill’s Valerie Negin. After defeating 2019 No. 2 singles champion Alexis Bernthal in the semifinals, Negin pushed Chitambar to the brink during a three-set match that included a first-set comeback from being down 5-0 to win a tiebreaker before the Boulder junior eventually prevailed, 6-7, 6-0, 6-4.

    “I just tried to stay as mentally tough as I could,” said Chitambar, who placed fourth as a freshman in 2019. “It was super hot and after she came back from 0-5, I was a little shaken up. I just tried to go one point at a time and stay tough. It felt really good and it was definitely more exciting to win the championship because she’s such a good player and it was such a good match.”

    The rest of Saturday’s finals resembled a head-to-head dual match between the Bruins and the Fairview Knights, who trailed the eventual champions by just two points to start Day 2. Cherry Creek advanced to the finals at six of the seven total ladder spots and played Fairview head-to-head in five of those matches.

    At No. 2 singles, Cherry Creek’s Lorena Cedeno beat Fairview’s Natalie Stone, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0. At No. 3 singles, Cherry Creek’s Anika Sharma edged Fairview freshman Alexis Bernthal, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

    (Brad Cochi/CHSAANow.com)

    Cherry Creek twins Eliza Hill and Nicole Hill, who played together for the first time this season, won 6-3, 6-1 over Fairview’s Virginia Gomulka and Elizabeth Roth at No. 1 doubles. In the No. 2 doubles finals, Mackiernan and Anna Fusaris won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 against Fairview’s Jane Roth and Maya Brakhage. The No. 3 doubles title match went in favor of Cherry Creek’s Victoria Moldovan and Jisele Boker, who beat Fairview’s Mia Grayson, 6-2, 6-2. At No. 4 doubles, Cherry Creek’s Ella Barclay and Vivienne Bersin won 6-2, 6-0 over Fossil Ridge’s Katie Sollenberger and Avery MacKenzie.

    The Bruins have now won 37 championships in total.

    “The girls just persisted and they were intent on spending time together this season,” Cherry Creek head coach Chris Jacob said. “They bonded in a great way in a short amount of time and I think that made a huge difference. Our senior leadership was tremendous and when I see matches like two singles and three singles where the girls are cheering each other on and our girls are nervous but that helps them fight through it, I know a lot of that has to do with that connection they’ve made with one another.

    “To do that in six weeks is pretty impressive.”

    Fairview finished runner-up with 39 team points.

    Heritage won the sportsmanship award.

    (Brad Cochi/CHSAANow.com)

  • 4A girls tennis: Mullen captures No. 1 singles title and first team title since 2006

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    PUEBLO — Lauren Manwiller faced a bit of a trouble in the second set of the Class 4A girls tennis No. 1 Singles championship.

    She had dropped the first game of both sets to Loveland’s Beilynn Geiss and Manwiller was down 15-break in the 10th game of the second set. She held a 5-4 lead and with the temperature rising at Pueblo City Park, playing a third set was something she wasn’t interested in doing.

    So she rallied and to get the 6-2, 6-4 to give the Mustangs a No. 1 Singles title. That win also pushed them out of reach of Cheyenne Mountain to claim the team championship. Manwiller knew that while she was playing for herself in her position, she also had team implications riding on the result.

    “That’s what I love about high school tennis,” she said. “I love it more than tournaments. I’m on a team where they support me and I support them.”

    She needed the support through the duration of her match. Geiss got on the board early, taking the first game in each set trying to establish momentum early. But Manwiller was prepared for the battle ahead of her.

    She didn’t shy away from the challenge of falling into an early hole, but rather she embraced it and used as fuel to battle back.

    “I knew she would hold her serve so I just stayed focused,” Manwiller said. “I just played my game and held my serve for most of the time. I knew if I could hold my serve then I would likely win.”

    Prior to the championship she faced her toughest challenge in Niwot’s Alys Pop. The Cougars sophomore put up quite a fight in the semis but after Manwiller got the first set 7-5, she rolled to a 6-1 win to close out the match.

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    Although the No. 1 Singles match was all that was needed for the Mustangs to win the team title, the overall team went on a gold medal hunt on Saturday. Tierney Scanlan and Izzy Desjardins won the No. 2 Doubles title while Madeline Crites and Aubryanne Meugers rolled to a No. 3 Doubles crown.

    They weren’t reliant on just one position, the Mustangs wanted to put together an all-around great team performance to finish with 45 points.

    “It was a whole team effort,” Mullen coach Jera Sturgell said. “It was obviously a tough season with the restrictions and everything. We came in blind and coming into state we had to play our best because the best is here.”

    The team championship is the first for the Mustangs since 2006.

    The biggest drama of the day came in the race for team runner-up as Niwot had a chance to overtake Cheyenne Mountain, but Palmer Ridge’s Tessa Rothwell beat Niwot’s Anna Sallee in No. 2 Singles to dash the Cougars’ hopes of a runner-up finish.

    Cheyenne Mountain held on to win second as a team despite not winning a single state championship at the tournament.

    Kent Denver left Southern Colorado with hardware of their own as the Sun Devils were given the Vicky Matarazzo Sportsmanship Award.

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

  • Jeffco Athletics inducts HOF classes of 2020 and 2021

    WHEAT RIDGE — Eight new members of Jeffco Public Schools’ Athletic Hall of Fame were inducted on Wednesday at The Vista at Applewood.

    Due to COVID, the Class of 2020 and 2021 were both honored since a ceremony wasn’t held last year. The exclusive group of now 116 members began with the charter group back in 1986.

    Here are this newest members of the Jeffco Athletics Hall of Fame.

    Class of 2020

    Jeffco Athletics inducted its Hall of Fame Class of 2020 on Wednesday at The Vista at Applewood. From left to right … Griff Wirth, Lisa LaGuardia, Dave Rulli and Scott Smith were inducted. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools)

    Dave Rulli

    Rulli worked for Jeffco Public Schools for 33 years. His final 15 years he worked in the athletic department primary at Jeffco Stadium. He finished his career as the Manager of Stadium Operations overseeing the four central athletic stadiums. Rulli was instrumental in bring all-classifications of track and field of the now 3-day state meet held at Jeffco Stadium.

    Scott Smith

    Smith is a Golden High School graduate who went on to play basketball at Western State University in the mid-1970s. He returned to Jeffco where he was a boys basketball coach at Alameda International High School from 1979-2007. Smith was the head boys basketball coach for the Pirates from 1991-2006. He still remains the head boys and girls tennis coach for Alameda.

    Lisa LaGuardia

    LaGuardia was one of the top girls basketball players in Jeffco in the early 1980s. She was First-Team All-State Colorado for three seasons while playing at Wheat Ridge High School where she scored over 1,000 points for the Farmers. She went on to play college hoops at the University of Nebraska. She returned to Jeffco in the early 1990s where she taught and coached basketball at Alameda and Golden high schools. LaGuardia is currently a teacher at Campbellsport High School in Wisconsin.

    Griff Wirth

    Wirth is a Wheat Ridge High School graduate who was a football, basketball and baseball standout for the Farmers in the early 1980s. He was the Gold Helmet award winner as Colorado’s most outstanding student-football player his senior year. Wirth was a teacher and coach in Jeffco before turning to Wheat Ridge High School as its principal in 2007. The Farmers had great athletic success during Wirth’s 10-year run at Wheat Ridge. The Farmers won 10 state titles and 24 league titles. He was honored as the CHSAA School Administrator of the Year in 2016 before his retirement.

    Class of 2021

    From left to right … Blayne Van Dyke, Coni Sanders (daughter of Dave Sanders), Kami Keiter and Steve Greivel stand together as the Jeffco Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2021 on Wednesday at The Vista at Applewood. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    Steve Greivel

    Greivel was a fixture at Bear Creek High School for more than 50 years. He began his teaching and coaching at Bear Creek in 1967. He would retire from teaching in 1998, but would continue coaching until 2020. Greivel was the Jeffco boys track and field Coach of the Year in 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996 and 1999. While track was his main coaching focus, he also was an assistant coach for wrestling, cross country and football, along with the head golf coach for a time at Bear Creek.

    Kami Keiter

    Keiter was one of the best softball players ever to come out of Jeffco. The hard-throwing lefty pitched Arvada West High School to back-to-back Class 5A state titles in 1999 and 2000. She also played basketball and was on the track team during her time at Arvada West. Keiter went on to play softball at the University of Oklahoma from 2002 to 2005. She helped the Sooners to three consecutive trips to the College World Series and finished her career as one of the top pitchers in OU history.

    Dave Sanders

    Sanders taught and coached basketball and softball at Columbine High School for nearly 25 years. He died during the tragic shooting at Columbine on April 20, 1999 while saving students’ lives. The memory and spirit of Dave Sanders lives on more than 20 years after his death in the classrooms and athletic fields in Jeffco every day.

    Blayne Van Dyke

    Van Dyke has become a fixture during Friday Night Lights at Jeffco Stadium for more than 40 years. He has been a member of the chain crew primarily at Jeffco Stadium since the 1980s. Van Dyke was inducted into the Colorado Football Officials Association Hall of Fame in 2013 to recognize his longtime service to high school athletics.

  • 5A football: Anderson does it all as Far Northeast beats Boulder for state title

    (Brad Cochi)

    PUEBLO — Tony Lindsay Sr. can’t help but smile when he talks about community and family. To him, those make up the foundation of a solid football program. And he wanted to display that in his first championship game as the coach at Far Northeast.

    His family was there. His sons followed from Denver South, wanting to partake in the task of rebuilding the school formerly known as Montbello.

    “I told my sons that they could stay there,” Lindsay said. “One of them could get the head coaching job there.”

    But they wanted to follow dad and do something special.

    On May 15, 2021 they got to do just that. The Far Northeast Warriors claimed their program’s first football title with a 34-0 win over Boulder to claim the Season C Class 5A title. What was more special was how Lindsay got to watch more family contribute to that special moment.

    Emmit Anderson got himself a rushing touchdown in the first half, but Gregory did it all. He ran for a touchdown, caught one, threw for one and even had an interception on defense.

    A jack of all trades and the game’s Most Outstanding Player as a result.

    “It’s a team sport, it’s not just me,” Gregory said. “The linemen block, the quarterback makes the passes, the running backs make great runs. It’s not just me, I was just contributing.”

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    He as just contributing at a high level that will go down in legend when people recount how the Warriors earned the trophy that will sit in a display case for all to see.

    Gregory got the Warriors (5-2 overall) on the board with a 24-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Emmit made it a 13-0 game with a touchdown run in the second and then Gregory created his own opportunity. He picked off a Tristan Langenegger pass and was rewarded when Andy Martinez found him on a deep route to make it a 20-0 game.

    “To end off my senior year like this, not a lot of people get that opportunity,” Gregory said. “I’m blessed to do it with these guys, my brothers. I love them.”

    The Warriors’ first touchdown of the second half came on an Anderson throw as he took the handoff and found Jaylen Byrd streaking down the sideline. The throw was perfect and the lead increased to 27-0, giving the Warriors a feeling that a championship was well within their grasp.

    All that was needed was one last defensive stand, which the Warriors got by applying consistent pressure to Langenegger. With the ball back in their hands, Martinez went to the air one more time, finding Leonardo Ramos-Valles for a touchdown.

    The offense played well, Gregory Anderson was spectacular and the defense as a whole was stellar.

    “That’s the heart; that is our heartbeat,” Lindsay said. “Those five guys down there (on the defensive line), you watch any game it’s all them. Defense wins championships.”

    Perhaps the biggest source of pride for Lindsay through it all was that he felt the joy coming from the kids that reside in the community. These were Far Northeast kids doing something special at Far Northeast.

    He was aware of the challenge that he was facing when he took the job. But it was a challenge he was excited to face.

    “That’s why I went there,” he said.

    The first step to building a program back is easy in his mind. A team has to start winning. He stood on the field of the Neta and Eddie DeRose Thunderbowl in Pueblo and soaked in what his guys accomplished. They won.

    Now the real work begins.

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

  • 4A football: Thomas Jefferson comes back to beat Gateway for title

    PUEBLO — A second half comeback and an all-or-nothing 2-point conversion is one way to make a football game dramatic. That’s the route that Thomas Jefferson took in its quest for its first football title since 1989.

    The Spartans started fast, fell behind by two scores then rallied to to get a 28-27 win over Gateway to win the Season C Class 4A state title.

    After taking an early lead, Spartans coach Mike Griebel noted that his team played like it thought it would coast to its first state title since 1989. But he knew better. Gateway had proven through two playoff games that it was a legit title contender and Griebel had to rally his team in the second half after the Spartans (8-0 overall) surrendered three straight touchdowns.

    “We thought we had them ready to believe us that this team beat two undefeated teams to get here,” Griebel said. “They’re not afraid of that. I told our kids that we lost the first half so we had to go out and win the second half.”

    TJ’s defense set the tone early, trying to make as uncomfortable as possible for Gateway quarterback Erick Covington. It succeeded in the first when pressure forced him to fling the ball away. Only It landed in the hands of Jaden Hill. He dashed into the end zone to put the Spartans up 7-0.

    Then Covington found his rhythm. He connected on a long touchdown pass to Sh’marre Johnson to tie the game and then found Gabe Broussard to put the Olympians up 14-7.

    Johnson broke off a long touchdown run to keep the momentum with Gateway and push the lead to 20-7.

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    The Spartans adjusted at halftime and got a quick touchdown run from Hill and then tied the game on a touchdown run from quarterback Austin Lindegren.

    “We just wanted it so much,” Hill said. “All the work we put in, everything that we wanted. We put it all in and we wanted to come out, score and do our jobs.”

    But the Olympians (5-4) weren’t just going to go away. With Covington at the controls, they continued to force their way down the field. He was running for first downs and flipping passes ahead to receivers that had sort of a Patrick Mahomes vibe.

    Facing a 4th and 3 deep in TJ territory, kicking a field goal was not an option. He took the snap and navigated outside the tackle, running 17 yards for the go-ahead score.

    But Thomas Jefferson still felt as if it had all the momentum. Lindegren went right back to work with offense and got the Spartans into the red zone with time ticking away. Hill broke through the offensive line and got into the end zone.

    Then it was decision time.

    Griebel had a certain plan in his head on whether to go for one or to go for the win. If they scored with around four minutes left, he wouldn’t have hesitated to kick the extra point. With two, he was leaning toward the 2-point conversion, giving his team the chance to win the game right then and there.

    “It was all on the clock,” Griebel said. “If it got down to where it was, I said let’s end it now, put the pressure on them and let’s see what they got.”

    This time it was a keeper to Lindegren who found the end zone to give TJ its first lead since it was 7-0 in the first quarter. He then had to watch as the game sat in the hands of the defense for the final two minutes of the game.

    “Our defense wasn’t too the first part of the game and that’s not the TJ team I knew,” Lindegren said. “We came out in the second half with a new mentality and that was the TJ team that I had been practicing with.”

    The defense held up and forced a fumble to get the ball right back in the offense’s hands. One kneel down and Denver City Schools officially has its first football championship in 32 years.

    (Brad Cochi)

  • 3A football: Rifle erases the clock to beat TCA for state title

    PUEBLO — With the way Cade Palmer was running all over the field, Rifle needed a new defensive game plan. What the Bears settled on was that the best defense is a good offense.

    The Bears possessed the ball for all 12 minutes of the third quarter and used that ability to run the ball and convert big plays – and hope the defense can create a timely turnover – to get a 35-34 win over The Classical Academy to claim the Season C Class 3A football championship.

    It was no surprise that for a Todd Casebier-led team, the Bears (7-2 overall) were going to be reliant on the running game. They are designed to sustain long drives while TCA has been much more of a quick-strike offense this season. That was obvious when Palmer a pair of long touchdown runs in the first half, the first of which gave the Titans (6-1) a quick lead.

    “Cade is an amazing runner, there is no doubt about it,” Bears running back Embrey Marantino said. “He’s so good. He deserved this game. We just needed to wrap him up and tackle him and I don’t think we did that to the best of our ability.”

    The Bears got on the board with some craft play calling as Gavin Peterson took a pitch from Trey Caldwell and hit Kade Bishop for a 36-yard touchdown pass.

    Marantino added a rushing touchdown but Ethan Aragundi had scored as had Palmer, to send the game to halftime with TCA holding a 20-13 lead.

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    And that’s when the Bears were unintentionally methodical and slow on offense. They chewed up nearly 10 minutes of clock before Toto Fletchall scored and Caldwell found Peterson on the 2-point conversion to give the Bears a one-point lead.

    “We took care of the ball and we finished drives,” Casebier said. “That’s what you have to do if you’re going to be a state champ.”

    But that wasn’t good enough. The Bears saw an opening on the kickoff and went for the onside. Kicker Javier Diaz fell on it, giving the ball back to Rifle. The drive ended with a short touchdown run from Fletchall, his second of the game, giving the Bears a 28-20 lead.

    On their first possession of the second half, the Titans continued to show they can move the ball and score. A big run from Palmer setup a touchdown pass from Sam Guilez to Jake Jennings. The Titans couldn’t convert the 2-point conversion and still trailed by a couple of points.

    Then Marantino broke free. He broke for a 70-yard touchdown run on 4th and 1 to push the lead to 35-26 with 6:15 left in the game.

    Palmer got his third rushing touchdown of the day and the Titans again went for two, this time converting it to make it a one-point game. But slowing down the running game was the key.

    The TCA onside kick was unsuccessful, but on 1st down the Bears opted for a deep pass rather than leaning on the running game that had been so successful.

    “They were loading up so much that I thought we’d run right by them,” Casebier said.

    The next play was disastrous. Caldwell fumbled and suddenly the quick-strike TCA offense had the ball down one with about two minutes left.

    As they moved downfield, it became evident that a big play was needed for a championship to be won. That’s when Josh Avila just decided he wanted the ball. Avila ripped it away from Palmer, giving the Bears the ball and the state title.

    “No emotion was going through me,” Avila said. “I just had to grab the ball.”

    He grabbed the ball for himself, but also ripped the title out of the Titans hands and back to the Bears.

    (Brad Cochi)

  • 1A girls volleyball: Merino roars back to claim first title since 2001

    (Brad Cochi)

    COLORADO SPRINGS — Through the late 1980’s and much of the 90’s, Merino was the dominant girls volleyball team in Colorado.

    After a thrilling 15-25, 16-25, 25-11, 25-18, 15-9 come from behind win over Fleming, the Rams have once again navigated to the top of the mountain. They are the Class 1A girls volleyball state champions for the first time since 2001 and the very second the ball hit the ground for the final point, the weight of a championship drought seemed to lift from the shoulders of every fan, coach and player.

    “I think last year, it was the reason that we didn’t make it to the final match,” Madison Sutter said. “This year we just kind of took that weight off our shoulder and it turned out amazing.”

    It was more amazing considering the road taken. After dominating their first two matches of the state tournament, the Rams (17-2 overall) found themselves in a quick hole. The first set was a see-saw battle early, but the Wildcats (15-3) pulled ahead and claimed the 10-point win. They came out strong in the second set, taking a 10-5 lead early and hung on giving the crowd at the Broadmoor World Arena every indication that they were going to defend their title.

    “I didn’t feel any pressure,” Sutter said with a laugh.

    It was an easy to claim to make after claiming a state championship.

    But reality was starting to sink in. Fleming had been responsible for taking Merino out of the state tournament the last two seasons. Getting back into the match was a tough task and it became one as easy as taking it one point at a time.

    “It was a big mental block, I think,” coach Christin Sutter said. “They dug deep. I thought we’d do it from the start, but we didn’t. I’m glad they found it before it was too late.”

    They just had to start. Down 2-0 is never an ideal place to be in a volleyball match but with every point scored they built more confidence. When the tied the match at two sets apiece, the confidence was there and they knew the championship was theirs for the taking.

    “We work our butts off,” Faith Trenkle said. “The determination we have is amazing it was great to see it pay off.”

    The sweetest part of the whole thing is that they got to do against the team that has caused them so much angst in recent years.

    “Fleming is definitely the best team we’ve played in my four years here,” Trenkle said. “We’ve come so close in all four years.”

    And this year, they finally got the postseason win they so desperately craved.

    “It was awesome,” she added.

    There was a time that winning championships had become routine for the Merino volleyball program. In a span of 16 years, the Rams claimed 10 titles. That includes a span of five straight championships from 1987 to 1991.

    This is the 11th overall state title for the Rams, third most in state history.

    (Brad Cochi)

  • 2A girls volleyball: Wiggins claims first championship in program history

    (Brad Cochi)

    COLORADO SPRINGS – They picked one heck of a year to have an historic season for their program, but the Wiggins volleyball players finished of a challenging Season C by accomplishing something special.

    Just the way they wanted it.

    At The Broadmoor World Arena on Thursday night, the top-seeded Tigers won in three sets – 25-17, 25-17, 25-21 – against No. 3 Sedgwick County, another team seeking its first title, in the Class 2A state championship match. In their fourth straight year at the state tournament and coming off back-to-back finishes in the Final Four, Tigers like senior Bre Gilliland can finally call themselves champion.

    “We’ve worked so hard for this all four years we’ve been to state,” Bre Gilliland said. “I’m so honored to finally be champions. We’ve been so close and every year, we kept putting in more and more work to get to where we wanted to be, which is here.”

    While neither had won before, both Wiggins (17-2) and Sedgwick County (16-2) knocked off former championship teams to reach the finals. Wiggins swept No. 4 Fowler, a program with 10 titles to its credit. Sedgwick County came from behind to win 3-1 over defending champion No. 2 Denver Christian despite dropping the first set.

    In the first game, Wiggins led by a dozen before going on to win by eight. Wiggins prevailed by the same score in the second set and had to hold off a late charge from Sedgwick County to prevent the match from extending into a potentially life-giving fourth set. But considering how close the Tigers have come in recent years to capturing that elusive first title, they weren’t taking any chances.

    “We’ve been here for the last few years and Wiggins has never won a state championship,” Wiggins head coach Michelle Baker said. “We fill out goal cards at the beginning of the year and they all said, ‘Let’s go back to state.’ I said, ‘You know what, forget that. Cross that out. I don’t want to go back to state, I want to win state.’ That’s been our goal all year long and my girls have done a heck of a job. I’m super proud of them.”