A roundup of Jeffco prep highlights, interviews and schedules with Dennis Pleuss, Jeffco Public Schools’ Communication Specialist. This month’s edition features baseball action between Columbine and Pomona, along with an extra inning battle on the diamond between Arvada West and Dakota Ridge. Also, Columbine girls soccer defeats Ralston Valley to take a step closer to a fourth straight 5A Jeffco League title, Pomona student-athletes sign their National Letter of Intent, lacrosse returns to the North Area Athletic Complex and footage from Jeffco’s Adapted Athletics Softball Day from the Gold Crown Field House.

Trailblazer Stadium in Jeffco will host more than 100 lacrosse games this spring. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

LAKEWOOD — For more than 20 years, Trailblazer Stadium has morphed with the changing demands of prep sports in Jefferson County.

The most evident change came in the summer of 2008. The stadium located just south of Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood had synthetic turf installed due to the increasing demand of one of the quickest growing sports — lacrosse — in Colorado.

It’s the only all synthetic turf at Jeffco’s four stadium complexes — North Area Athletic Complex, Lakewood Memorial Field, Jeffco Stadium and Trailblazer Stadium.

“The growth of lacrosse was the driving force to make Trailblazer a synthetic surface,” said Ezra Paddock, Manager of Stadium Operations for Jeffco Public Schools. “The popularity of the sport lead to more and more schools adding lacrosse programs, which meant we would host more games.”

Ten years ago, Trailblazer hosted 35 boys lacrosse games on its then natural grass surface. This spring, the stadium that opened in 1996 will host more than 100 boys and girls lacrosse games during just more than a 60-day stretch.

Trailblazer Stadium set up for Jeffco’s Adapted Athletics Soccer Day in the fall of 2016. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

“Couple that with the time of year lacrosse is played (March & April), synthetic surface was definitely the right choice for our schedule,” Paddock said. “Our synthetic surface has also been a great tool for our athletic department. We have been able to host additional rentals and juggle our schedule around when necessary.”

While Trailblazer has been the workhorse when it comes to the spring lacrosse, the stadium is also busy during the fall hosting nearly 30 football games. The facility was originally planned to replace the old Reed Street Stadium in Wheat Ridge that was demolished in the mid-1990s to make way for the Stevens Elementary/Wheat Ridge Middle School campus.

Trailblazer also had numerous rentals throughout the year which includes Colorado Christian University men’s and women’s soccer programs. However, the first priority for the facility is to serve the students who attend Jeffco Public Schools.

The Adapted Athletics program run by Bryan Wickoren, Adapted Physical Education Coordinator for Jeffco Public School, had utilized Trailblazer with the growth of its district-wide program.

Jeffco’s Adapted Athletics Football Day at Trailblazer Stadium. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

“The student-athletes with special needs that participate in the Jeffco Adapted Athletics benefit greatly in the availability of having an outstanding facility such as Trailblazer Stadium,” Wickoren said.

Trailblazer is the site of Jeffco’s Adapted Athletics’ Soccer Day and Football Day.

“The facility allows for multiple games to be played at once which allows students with physical ability to participate alongside their peers,” Wickoren said. “The artificial turf allows students in manual wheelchairs, power wheelchairs and walkers to participate with success. Trailblazer Stadium is a facility that was constructed in mind to allow maximum participate with minimal barriers for students with disabilities. It’s a first class facility.”

Green Mountain High School graduate Tyler Dirschl has been the stadium manager at Trailblazer since July 2015.

“It’s kind of my dream job,” said Dirschl, who graduated from Green Mountain in 2012.

Dirschl started working for the school district as a hurdle boy for track meets at Jeffco Stadium when he was 15. He stayed within the athletic department at Jeffco after graduating from Green Mountain.

So what does the future hold for Trailblazer Stadium?

Jim Thyfault, Executive Director of Athletics, hopes that seating expansion will be possible. Paddock and Dirschl agree that there could be some upgrades for the versatile athletic complex. Adding more bleachers, building a new press box and restructuring the team building to include locker rooms, restrooms and concessions all in one building are some of the future modernizations hopefully in store for Trailblazer down the road.

NOTE: This is the third part of a four-part series this school year on Jeffco Public Schools’ stadium venues — North Area Athletic Complex, Lakewood Memorial Field, Trailblazer Stadium and Jeffco Stadium.

It’s been almost nine years since Trailblazer Stadium’s synthetic surface was put in. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

A roundup of Jeffco prep highlights, interviews and schedules with Dennis Pleuss, Jeffco Public Schools’ Communication Specialist. This month’s edition features Pomona wrestling, Class 5A and 4A boys and girls basketball highlights, Chatfield’s Dalton Keene heading to Virginia Tech University to play football, along with Jeffco’s Adapted Athletics Basketball Day at Gold Crown Field House.

Jeffco’s Bryan Wickoren, far right, organized the first Colorado High School Adapted Basketball Tournament on Thursday at Gold Crown Field House in Lakewood. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

LAKEWOOD — Jeffco Public Schools’ Adapted Athletics program made to quantum leap Thursday hosting the inaugural Colorado High School Adapted Basketball Tournament.

A total of 21 schools — 31 teams — took part in the tournament. Teams from school districts in Aurora, Boulder, Brighton, Denver, Colorado Springs, Frederick, Greeley, Littleton, Longmont and Jeffco gathered at Gold Crown Field House in Lakewood first state-wide basketball tournament of its kind in Colorado for students with special needs.

“We had a great response,” said event organizer Bryan Wickoren, Adapted Physical Education Coordinator for Jeffco Public Schools. “It’s a great representation of schools from the eastern side of the state. It’s a start.”

The event got such a great response that 10 schools were on a waiting list for the tournament. Wickoren, who is a part of the Department of Education adapted team advisory counsel, presented his idea last fall of having a state basketball tournament that Jeffco would host.

Wickoren said there is already talk about adding a state-wide soccer tournament in the fall, along with state-wide track and field meet next spring to serve students with special needs.

Sand Creek senior D’Shawn Schwartz, left, served as a coach for the Adapted Basketball tournament. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

“I’m extremely proud,” Wickoren said of the growth of Adapted Athletics. “Eight years ago we had five schools doing a couple of athletic events. Now we are doing something every month in Jeffco. We are just building and growing. We have a solid foundation and base. We’ll keep going.”

Bringing in schools from outside Jeffco has been a goal for Wickoren.

“We want to offer this to more than just Jeffco schools,” said Wickoren, who added he hopes in the future Adapted Athletics will be sanctioned by the Colorado High School Activities Association like it is in Minnesota.

Bonnie Mendenhall, Adapted PE teacher for middle and high schools in Falcon School District 49 in Colorado Springs, jumped at the chance to get her students involved in Thursday’s basketball tournament. Sand Creek brought two teams to compete.

“We’ve always wanted to get involved in unified sport, but we just didn’t have anything going on in the Springs,” Mendenhall said. “Talking to Bryan (Wickoren) he told me all about it. We decided to come up. This is our first time and our two teams we have are really excited.”

Schools from across the state took part in the Adapted Basketball Tournament. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

Sand Creek also brought up a familiar face to Colorado prep basketball fans. Senior D’Shawn Schwartz, one of the top basketball recruits in the state that has committed to play at the University of Colorado next school year, was on hand as a coach for the Scorpions.

“This is my first time,” Schwartz said about helping with Adapted Athletics. “We had one practice and then came out here. It’s pretty fun. It’s cool.”

A couple of teachers at Sand Creek told Schwartz about the tournament and he decided to be apart of it. Schwartz has helped lead the Scorpions to a 13-1 record this season averaging more than 26 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game.

“It’s different, but it feels good to get away from competition,” Schwartz said about being a coach on the basketball court instead of facing a box-and-one defense. “I can just come out here and be loose.”

Arvada and Standley Lake high schools had members of its basketball teams on hand too as referees and scorers for games. Jeffco will hold its Adapted Athletics Basketball Day for Jeffco schools Friday, Jan. 20.

“We want to keep more kids involved in sports. It’s a win-win for everybody,” Mendenhall said. “They see the other kids in sports and it gives them the opportunity to be in sports. It gives them great self-esteem. They can be a part of a team.”

At the end of the day Thursday, Gateway lifted the first-place trophy.

Gateway was crowned the first-place champions in the first Colorado High School Adapted Basketball Tournament. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

The start of the high school boys race during Jeffco Public Schools’ Adapted Athletics cross country meet Aug. 30 at Gold Crown Field House. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

LAKEWOOD — Jeffco Public Schools kicked off its 2016-17 school year of Adapted Athletics events Tuesday.

Nearly 250 high school and middle school students from 15 different Jeffco schools descended on at All Star Park in Lakewood for a cross country meet for special need students. Cross country, along with track and field, was added last year to the growing schedule of events for the nearly decade-long program.

Bryan Wickoren, Adapted Physical Education Coordinator for Jeffco Public Schools, started the program in 2007. He modeled Jeffco’s program after Minnesota’s success Adapted Athletes program that has been established since the 1970s.

“We just kept expanding,” said Wickoren who began the program with basketball games at Fletcher Miller School with students from Miller, Alameda International, Arvada West and Conifer high school participating. “We’ve just slowly evolved.”

Nearly ten years later, the Adapted Athletics program in Jeffco has at least one scheduled event every month through the school year. The sports include cross country, soccer, flag football, bowling, volleyball, basketball, hockey, softball, along with track and field.

More than 200 students took part in Jeffco’s Adapted Athletics cross country meet. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

“We always want to focus on their ability, not their disability,” Wickoren said as student-athletes started to arrive at All Star Park. “We want to empower them to enjoy physical activity.”

Wickoren said there has been an alarming increase in obesity for students with disabilities. The hope is to give students an experience in athletics that they can do with family and friends now and in the future.

Basketball is still the most popular sport in the Adapted Athletics program. Arvada West High School will host the north-area tournament and the Gold Crown Field House will host the south-area tournament. There will also be the addition of the I-25 Basketball Tournament in January at Gold Crown where schools from Fort Collins to Pueblo will be invited to participate.

“I think we are leading,” Wickoren said of Jeffco in the forefront of providing these opportunities for special need students. “Everyone is looking at us. That is one of the reasons we are doing the I-25 Adapted Basketball Tournament.”

Aurora, Brighton, Greeley and Grand Junction are some other Colorado school districts that have come to one of Jeffco’s Adapted Athletics events to get ideas of how to run their own.

Jeffco’s Adapted Athletics has a scheduled competition every month during the school year. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

“The unique thing about Jeffco is we have a big population of schools to be able to do it,” Wickoren said. “It’s nice to be a leader.”

Down the road Wickoren’s dream is to have state competitions in basketball, soccer, softball along with track and field. He would also like some of the Jeffco high schools to host some of the events like Arvada West does with basketball.

“There is still growth to be had,” Wickoren said. “The positive feedback from staffs is wonderful. They look forward to having these every month. They have gotten the tie-in with PE teachers to work on upcoming events so they can have success at these events. A day like today is like their test day.”

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Jeffco Public Schools’ Adapted Athletics

The Gold Crown Field House will be the site of the I-25 Adapted Basketball Tournament in January. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

• Monday, Sept. 26, at Creighton MS & Trailblazer Stadium — Soccer
  
• Wednesday, Oct 19, at Creighton MS & Trailblazer Stadium — Flag Football
• Friday, Nov. 18, at TBA — Bowling
• Thursday, Dec. 1, at Gold Crown Field House — Volleyball
• Thursday, Jan. 19, at Gold Crown Field House — Basketball (1-25 Adapted Tourney)
• Friday, Jan. 20, at Gold Crown Field House — Basketball
• Thursday, Feb. 16, at Gold Crown Field House — Hockey
• Wednesday, March 22, at Arvada West High School — Basketball (north schools)
• Thursday, March 23, at Gold Crown Field House — Basketball (south schools)
• Tuesday, April 18, at Gold Crown Field House — Softball (middle schools)
• Wednesday, April 19, at Gold Crown Field House — Softball (high schools)
• Friday, May 5, at Jeffco Stadium — Track and field
• Wednesday, May 10, at Gold Crown Field House — Tournament of Champions