Brad Cochi

The Season C all-state gymnastics teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.

These teams were created based upon results at the state meet. The following criteria was used:

• Athletes who placed in the top four of an event were named to the first team.
• Athletes who placed fifth-eighth of an event were named to the second team.
• The athletes who won all-around championships in their classification were named gymnast of the year.
• Coaches who led their teams teams to championships were named coaches of the year.

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Class 5A

Gymnast of the year: Mattea Dolan, Overland

Coach of the year: Lisa Sparrow, Overland

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Class 4A

Gymnast of the year: Mia Curry, Niwot

Coach of the year: Stacey Folmar, Elizabeth

Season C was a campaign unlike any other and the unusual championship season was as memorable as ever. Champions were crowned in field hockey, football, gymnastics, boys soccer, unified bowling and girls volleyball. Here’s a recap of how all the Season C championships went.

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Field Hockey

(Brad Cochi)

• • Regis Jesuit tops Cherry Creek in 2OT to claim title
  • Photos from the state championship game
  • State tournament bracket
  • Complete playoff coverage at the field hockey page

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Football

(Brad Cochi)

• 5A: Anderson does it all as Far Northeast beats Boulder for state title | Bracket | Photos
• 4A: Thomas Jefferson comes back to beat Gateway for title | Bracket | Photos
• 3A: Rifle erases the clock to beat TCA for state title | Bracket | Photos
• 2A: With torn ACL, Caleb Allen leads Manitou Springs over Flatirons Academy | Bracket | Photos
• 8-man: Hoehne builds big lead, tops John Mall for title | Bracket
• Complete playoff coverage at the football page

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Gymnastics

(Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)

• Overland claims first 5A title since 2014 | Photos
• Elizabeth claims third 4A team title in four years | Photos
• Overland’s Dolan shines to claim 5A all-around title
• Niwot’s Curry repeats as 4A all-around champion | Photos
• Complete results from the state championships
• Complete playoff coverage on the volleyball page

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Boys Soccer

(Brad Cochi)

• 5A: Mazur’s deep strike gives Fairview first state title | Photos
• 4A: Windsor caps undefeated season with state championship | Photos
• 3A: Colorado Academy tops Frontier Academy to win fifth title | Photos
• 2A: Late goal gives Crested Butte second title in three seasons | Photos
• Complete playoff coverage on the boys soccer page

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Unified Bowling

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

• History made as Pueblo East crowned CHSAA’s first Unified Bowling champion
• Team results from the state championships

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Girls Volleyball

(Brad Cochi)

• 5A: Rampart completes standout season with first-ever championship | Bracket | Photos
• 4A: Palmer Ridge tops Mead for program’s first title | Bracket | Photos
• 3A: Eaton claims seventh title in the past decade | Bracket | Photos
• 2A: Wiggins claims first championship in program history | Bracket | Photos
• 1A: Merino roars back to claim first title since 2001 | Bracket | Photos
• Complete playoff coverage at the girls volleyball page

Jeffco Preps With Pleuss is a monthly roundup of Jeffco prep highlights hosted by Dennis Pleuss, Jeffco Public Schools’ sports information director. The Season C sports were in full swing during the month of April. Standley Lake and Lakewood boys’ soccer teams combined to end a 57-year drought between the two programs when it came to winning a league title. Ralston Valley and Evergreen girls’ volleyball programs also celebrated winning conference championships. The gymnastics season came to an end with some stellar individual performances by Jeffco gymnasts.

THORNTON — The final day of the state gymnastics meet saw competitors take individual titles in Class 5A and 4A.

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Class 5A

• Link to gallery

(Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)

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Class 4A

• Link to gallery

(Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)

THORNTON — Complete results from the 2021 state gymnastics meet.

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The state gymnastics meet continued at Thornton high school where Elizabeth was crowned the Class 4A team champion.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

THORNTON — Elizabeth just knew that there was so little margin for error this year. That was evident as The Cardinals found themselves in an extremely close battle with both Palmer Ridge and Niwot for the Class 4A state gymnastics championship.

But the team put together a clean competition and at nights end, won its third state championship in the last four years. The Cardinals finished with 177.550 points to stay just ahead of Palmer Ridge who finished with 173.175

“We knew after the first event that we were behind,” Bethany Breikss said. “We had to pull it back together.”

The girls got refocused and put together a championship worthy effort. Breikss came away with the top performance in the vault, scoring a 9.5 with her teammate Sydney Kissinger right behind her at 9.1.

Each of them grabbed another top-three finish as Breikss scored a 9.1 on the balance beam and Kissinger score 9.575 on the floor.

Overall, the Cardinals have five competitors coming back for Saturday’s individual finals as Megan and Madison Montoya and Samantha Davison also placed in the top 12 of preliminary events.

It was a true team performance that resulted in a team championship.

“We went through it all as a family,” Kissinger said. “It brought us closer together and it brought home the victory.”

It was a victory that was initially tough to judge. The dynamic of the meet changed because of COVID-19 protocols, but the girls were both grateful for the chance to compete and willing to do what was needed to claim a third title in four years, even battling through several other teams that were every bit as hungry.

“I think everybody put in a ton of work,” Elizabeth coach Stacey Folmar said. “Nobody outworked anyone else, but I just can’t even talk about (my team’s) work ethic, their consistency, their commitment to the sport and their commitment to each other.”

At one point in the meet, it was actually Niwot holding a slim lead, sitting five-one hundredths of a point ahead of the Cardinals in the standings. And that’s when Elizabeth took on the vault.

Both Breikss and Kissinger had solid first attempts which set the tone for the team. And the results worked themselves out.

This is the sixth overall team title for Elizabeth and the school is now tied with Niwot and Loveland for the fourth most in state history. It’s a great accolade to boast about, but they didn’t care about it being the sixth title, they just wanted the next one.

And even after claiming state last year and performing well in their minds, they were still somewhat stunned to the hear the announcement that they were champions once again.

“I was kind of speechless, quite honestly,” Kissinger said. “I couldn’t believe it happened, but I knew we could do it.”

(Brad Cochi)

THORNTON — Her initial performance at the Class 5A gymnastic individual events helped Overland win a state title. After that, Mattea Dolan was putting on a show more than worthy of individual accolades.

Dolan claimed the 5A All-Around championship and the sophomore put forth a solid effort to try and claim individual titles at Saturday’s finals. And even if she get individual gold medals, the finals were still very much a show for Overland as Bailey Rodriguez claimed medalist honors on the balance beam, Mabry Robinson took first in the vault and Autumn Ivester won gold in the floor competition.

Dolan was in the mix in both events, taking second in the vault and forth in the balance beam. Even without those gold medals, she was proud of the effort that she and her teammates put forth, especially coming of the emotional high of winning a team championship.

“I want (my teammates) to get all that they deserve,” Dolan said. “They deserve the world and it’s so great to see them get that and they worked so hard. I got to be with them through all of that and they did amazing.”

The Trailblazers finished a remarkable state meet that included three individual gold medals, the all-around championship and the team state title, the sixth in program history.

“That’s definitely the best that we’ve ever done,” coach Lisa Sparrow said.

What she was most proud about was the way her team bounced back from a draining Thursday session and still competed a high level in going for the individual crowns.

In acquiring four straight team runner-up titles, Sparrow has seen firsthand how her team puts its energy into the team competition. That was no different this year so for them to come back on Saturday and win three individual gold medals was an accomplishment that will not go unnoticed.

“These ladies are so fatigued,” Sparrow said. “They got up and went to school yesterday after getting out late from the Thursday competition and they put everything they have into that team competition. They’re extremely gassed today. It is so much more special that they were able to fight through that and continue to do the great things they did.”

Mabry Robinson claimed the team’s only gold medal last year when she won the floor so the 2021 results represent a total team growth.

The lone event the Trailblazers didn’t win was the uneven bars competition. First place went to Thornton’s Haley Like who won the balance beam and the vault last year.

With two more years to go, Dolan will certainly have a chance to create many more state gymnastics memories, but for now she can’t discount just how memorable this season was.

“Honestly, I’ll always think about the memories I made with my team,” she said. “It was such a great experience to share with them.

(Brad Cochi)

THORNTON – Mia Curry’s high school gymnastics career continues to unfold ahead of schedule.

The Niwot junior won the Class 4A all-around state championship as a sophomore in 2019, surpassing her personal expectation of competing for the top spot as an upperclassman. On Saturday, it was revealed that Curry’s performance while leading the Cougars to a third-place team finish on Friday was good enough for a second all-around gold.

Curry’s repeat bid at Thornton High School wasn’t an easy one, as 4A team champion Elizabeth’s Bethany Breikss (36.675) and Standley Lake’s Tessa Grudle (36.6) gave her a run for her money. But Niwot’s star gymnast posted a 36.9 all-around score to edge her talented competitors and hold on at the pinnacle of her classification.

“This one, I think I was actually more surprised than the last one,” Curry said. “It’s a different kind of surprised because last time, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m a sophomore, it’s improbable because I haven’t had as much experience as other people. But this one, there was such a great amount of competition between all the girls that were in the top eight. It was crazy, so it was really surprising that I got to compete against all these girls that are just as good, if not better, than me and I was able to overcome and fight to get that first place.”

In Saturday’s individual events, Curry won the balance beam and uneven bars with scores of 9.45 and 9.05, respectively, and was top five in the other two events. She won individual floor championship last season and now has three individual golds in her prep career.

Helping her finish runner-up in the all-around, Breikss won the 4A vault individual title with a score of 9.35. It was her first individual title.

“I’m just so amazed that I could be here in the first place, so I wasn’t even worried about what everybody else was doing and just focused on doing what I needed to do,” Breikss said. “With COVID, we weren’t sure if we’d even get a season at all. But we got to be here through everything. And I got the championship in vault. After getting third last year, I really brought it so I could get first.”

Grudle won the floor routine individual championship with a score of 9.625. She was second in both beam and bars.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

THORNTON — Six and a half years can be a long wait, but it was worth it in the end. For the first time since the fall of 2014, Overland hoisted the Class 5A gymnastics state championship trophy.

For four consecutive years, the Trailblazers have come up just short and watched Pomona go home with the gold. But following championship-level performances across the roster, they weren’t going to be denied a championship a sixth time.

“I have a really big collection of silver trophies,” coach Lisa Sparrow said. “It’s been a long time in the making and these girls have worked incredibly hard. Despite everything with COVID, they have been at the gym and they have been working since they were able to get back into the gym.”

Mattea Dolan and Mabry Robinson finished as the top two overall individuals which helped them fend off Broomfield. Overland finished the night with 185.325 points while the Eagles finished second with 184.85.

The feel of the meet was slightly different as the teams went through the rotations together rather than getting mixed up with competitors from other schools. It gave the meet a unique feel and certainly some added benefits in having teammates around to provide that emotional lift.

And as the meet went on and the Trailblazers continued performing well, that lift just added to the momentum they felt early.

“With everything going on, we as a team, are very good about being cohesive,” Robinson said. “We’re very good at being together and working together so regardless of the meet situation, we know that we can come together as a team and be at our very best and dominate because we’ve done it before.”

Dolan put together a great comprehensive meet and finished second in the vault with a score of 9.625. Robinson finished with the best score of the event with 9.65 points meaning both will be back at Thornton High School on Saturday to compete for championships in the individual events.

But Thursday was all about the team. The girls knew that the individual finalists would take care of themselves and the focus on competing well was to ensure a team championship was coming home. Overall, the Trailblazers had four competitors finish in the top 10. Austin Ivester finished the night with the top score on the beam at 9.575 with teammate Bailey Rodriguez right behind her at 9.525.

“That team dynamic is really important, especially tonight,” Dolan said. “It’s more that we don’t want to do well for ourself, but we want to do well for the team so that we can fell that we did this as a team.”

This is the sixth team gymnastics title for Overland, putting the school in a tie for fourth all-time with Loveland and Niwot. Of their six titles, five have been at the 5A level and all five of those have been won since 2009.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)