(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Is 2014 the most athletically-gifted class to graduate from this state in recent years? Or ever?

Well, maybe.

It’s tough to find real perspective when it comes to recruiting, seeing as how real data has only been kept since about 2002 at the earliest. Even then, not many commitments and signings were reported at that time, and even fewer were reporting from sports like lacrosse, volleyball and even baseball.

So while the data from the 2014 class absolutely blows away anything that we’ve been able to dig up, we can’t say how it stacks up to, say, the class of 1995. Still, it’s astounding where this year’s crop of seniors will head.

Consider the following, according to our 2014 recruiting database:

(Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)

• A total of 905 athletes have signed to play their sport(s) in college.
• Of those, 343 will head to Division I programs.
• Baseball features an astounding 45 Division I players in this class. I was able to find data as far back as 2006. The next-highest output of D-I guys from Colorado came in 2008, when the state had 28. This year’s 45 Division I seniors, by the way, came from more than 20 different schools.
• Boys basketball has 12 Division I guys this go-round. That, too, is the most since data was kept, going back to 2002.
• Likewise, girls basketball has 18 Division I players. Again, it is a high-water mark, though I only found reliable data back to 2010.
• Football will send 31 players to D-I FBS schools, which is the most since 2008 (33). Another 16 will head to D-I FCS programs.
• Other sports, like boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse and volleyball were right at or above their average Division I outputs over recent years.

In every instance, these sports are reporting the most college signings across all levels. Now, that is undoubtedly because we’re getting more kids to report their college commitments and signings than ever before. (Additionally, our lists only include athletes who are arriving on campus as scholarship athletes. There are dozens of other walkons headed to colleges.)

Even so, the data backs up that the 2014 class will be one to remember.

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Short stuff

• Already, the 2015 class is reporting 65 college commitments. Of those, 59 are Division I pledges.
• Valor Christian offensive lineman Isaiah Holland, a senior, had committed to Army to play football, but was recently denied admission “due to a medical issue,” according to 9News. Instead, he has signed with Colorado. “I love this state and I love that I get to be one of the cool Colorado kids that gets to go,” Holland told 9News.
• Another late college switch: Chaparral baseball’s Keenan Eaton tweeted that he will head to Wichita State instead of Vanderbilt. This season, the Shockers featured five Colorado products.
• Arapahoe selected assistant Brad Jansen as its next boys basketball coach. He takes over for Dan Snyder, who was massively successful for the Warriors before stepping away from coaching this offseason. Snyder briefly accepted the job at Grandview before changing his mind. Grandview has since hired Michael Rogers, formerly of George Washington.
• Grand Junction hired Isaac Madison as its boys basketball coach, the school announced on Tuesday. Madison was an assistant for the Tigers for the past 11 years. “We look forward to the leadership that he will bring to our men’s basketball program, and the contributions that he will make to the Tiger coaching staff,” athletic director Ned Pollert wrote in an email.
• Arapahoe’s Tate Schroeder, who won the 5A girls tennis No. 1 singles title, appeared in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd on May 26.
• How epic was last week’s 2A baseball semifinal battle between Rye and Sedgwick County? The two pitchers accounted for a combined 32 strikeouts. Rye’s Trenton Hughes had 17, Sedgwick County’s Chase Dunker finished with 15. Sedwick County won 4-1 in eight innings, but then lost to Resurrection Christian in the title game.
• Reagan Todd’s two-out, walkoff grand slam to beat Mountain Vista in the 5A baseball tournament last weekend is one of the craziest finishes to a game I’ve seen at any level.
• The MLB Draft, set for June 5-7, should be interesting for locals. Thomas Jefferson graduate Kyle Freeland, now pitching at Evansville, is expected to be a top-10 pick, and others like Regis Jesuit’s David Peterson and ThunderRidge’s Brody Westmoreland figure to be selected early. Peterson drew a crowd of scouts while pitching last weekend.
• Dr. James Andrews — who has performed countless Tommy John surgeries — and a colleague are releasing an app which seeks to lower the risk of arm injury to youth baseball players. It will be called Throw Like a Pro, and will suggest guidelines on how to manage pitching — such as number of rest days and maximum number of pitches — based on a player’s age.
• Former Chaparral offensive lineman Shane Callahan will transfer from Auburn to one of the in-state schools, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. The paper cited a desire to play closer to home. Callahan will be a redshirt sophomore.
• Cherry Creek is building a swimming pool. Here’s a pic from AD Jason Wilkins on Twitter.

Each season and sport brings its own set of challenges — for spring and summer athletics,  outside temperatures require careful thought about body temperature regulation and adequate fluids, in addition to the consideration of nutrition for peak athletic performance.

It’s not uncommon to lose up to four cups of fluid (or two pounds of body weight) per hour of exercise in hot, humid conditions. The resulting decrease in strength and endurance can be surprisingly dramatic. In fact, dehydration can be the biggest hindrance to optimizing both training and recovery — with the effects taking hours or even days to recuperate from. Not only performance can suffer, potentially life-threatening symptoms of heat illness can appear if thirst is ignored or fluids are limited.

Signs and symptoms of dehydration include:

• Increased thirst
• Headache
• Muscle cramps
• Lack of concentration
• High perceived exertion during activity
• Trouble tolerating the heat
• Delayed recovery
• Dark urine and decreased frequency of urination

Take a peek at your urine. What color is it? If it’s dark and there’s not much of it, you need to drink more. If it’s pale yellow (think lemonade), you’re probably close to proper hydration.

So how much should you drink?

To stay hydrated and perform at your best, follow these simple rules:

• Drink 1-2 cups of fluid with meals — water, milk and 100 percent juice all count. Carry a water bottle with you throughout the day and sip on it regularly.
• Take a break every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise and drink two to three big gulps of fluid.

What should you drink before, during and after exercise?

Individual preference, including taste and energy needs, affect what you choose to drink.

For exercise lasting less than 60 minutes, water is adequate. For activities longer than 60 minutes in duration, or for training camps or long competitions, choose a beverage with carbohydrate and electrolytes.

Many sports drinks are designed to replace fluid and provide needed energy in the form of carbohydrates; most also contain electrolytes such as sodium and potassium, which are lost in sweat. For more on sports drinks see Sports drinks, gels and bars – oh my! Milk, both white and chocolate, also provide a natural source of carbohydrate and electrolytes.

Refueling with fluid after exercise is important. Take advantage of the recovery benefits of milk by enjoying a glass of ice cold white or chocolate milk within 30 to 60 minutes of completing your activity. Both deliver sufficient carbohydrates to refuel muscle energy stores in addition to providing protein necessary to rebuild and repair muscles after activity.

One word of caution: While uncommon, it is possible to drink too much fluid, which can lead to a condition called hyponatremia — when excess fluid intake causes sodium levels in the body to become diluted.

Sodium is an electrolyte that regulates the amount of fluid in your body cells; too little sodium can cause cells to swell. Symptoms of hyponatremia may be similar to those which are seen with dehydration, so it’s important to monitor weight changes, with a resulting weight gain signaling problems with excess fluid intake.

Athletes can train harder and perform better with proper nutrition. Visit WesternDairyAssociation.org to read more about milk as an exercise recovery beverage and learn how to eat for peak athletic performance. 

(Tracy Renck)

PUEBLO — Jake Lohr didn’t leave anything to chance in the Class 2A state championship baseball game Saturday.

The senior struck out nine, powering Resurrection Christian to a 5-1 win over Sedgwick County at Hobbs Field at the Runyon Field Sports Complex.

“I just wanted to leave it all out there,” the 6-foot-2, 190-pound right-handed Lohr said. “We wanted to win this state championship so bad and that’s what we came here to do. I had nerves the whole game, but I had complete confidence in the guys behind me.  It just feels great to achieve this goal.”

Resurrection Christian finished its memorable season with a 22-3 record. The Cougars advanced to the finals by cruising past defending 2A state champion Denver Christian 13-3 earlier Saturday. Resurrection also won state in 2012.

Sedgwick County ended its campaign at 22-2. Sedgwick had a dramatic 4-1 win over Rye in eight innings in the semifinals. Chase Dunker fanned 15 batters in the win. Dunker, a senior southpaw, finished his season with a 9-0 record and 144 strikeouts.

“This is a special group of boys,” second-year Resurrection coach Grant MacAlmon said. “They understood what the big picture was and I’m so proud of them.”

In the bottom of the second, Resurrection Christian’s Jake Tomcheck came up with bases loaded and he dropped a safety squeeze bunt to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.

Resurrection kept its offense momentum going in the third frame as Luke Mondt had a lead-off double and then came home on an RBI single by Josh Miller.

Sedgwick County cut the deficit to 2-1 in the top of the fifth on Trey Walter’s sacrifice fly. With two outs, Chase Dunker came to the plate with a runner on third, but Lohr struck out Dunker on some high heat.

In the bottom of the sixth, Del Chance Richardson reached on an error and then the left-handed swinging Mondt smashed a run-scoring triple to right field.  Mondt scored moments later on another Sedgwick County error and then Nate Wiggins doubled to put runners on second and third.

Leading 4-1, Cory Wiggins placed a bunt just past the pitcher Tyler Woodhams to score Richardson, giving the Cougars a 5-1 lead.

“We all wanted to win state and we just kept pushing through every game,” Mondt, a junior, said. “I was relaxed up there at the plate, but I give Jake a lot of credit for his solid effort. Plus, our offense came through with some big hits when we needed them.”

Justin Peters, Sedgwick County’s coach, wasn’t making any excuses for his team’s tough defeat.

“There’s not much to be said about it,” Peters said. “Two ball clubs came together and played really hard and the outcome is what it came out to be.”

LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain beat Longmont 9-1 in the morning, then Niwot 10-2 in the afternoon to win the Class 4A baseball championship Saturday.

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Green Mountain 9, Longmont 1

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Green Mountain 10, Niwot 2

More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain catcher Justin Akiyama spent early Friday morning dressed in his graduation gown, celebrating the end of his journey as a high school student. Hours later he lifted a bloop-single into shallow left field, driving home two runs and extending his career as a high school baseball player for another day.

Trailing the Durango Demons 6-5 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Rams remained patient at the plate, loading the bases with three-straight walks. That’s when Akiyama worked the count full before bringing in the two runners to give Green Mountain a 7-6 win and an opportunity to play for the Class 4A state championship.

“I was thinking I just had to believe in myself,” Akiyama said. “I’ve come up big with some clutch hits throughout the season, but haven’t hit well overall and was able to come up with that hit when we needed it.”

What started out as a pitchers’ duel for the first few innings turned into an offensive outburst. In the top of the third inning, the Demons were able to break a scoreless tie with a five-run rally that was triggered with a two-RBI double by Blake Dunlap.

More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

Dunlap and two other Demons would cross the plate before the end of the inning to give them a 5-0 lead. The Rams began their effort to claw back by scoring one off Demons pitcher Lawrence Mayberry. It was in the bottom of the fourth that Mayberry was replaced by junior Casey Dunlap who struggled right out of the gate. He walked three batters while hitting two others, allowing the Rams to fight back and tie the game at 5.

“That’s been this team all playoffs, we’ve been down to our last out three or four times in an elimination game,” Rams coach Brad Madden said. “But they kept believing and I think we let them off the hook a couple of times where I thought we could really blow it open.”

The Rams botched an attempt to turn an inning-ending double play in the sixth, giving Durango a one-run lead late in the game. As the younger Dunlap settled in on the mound, the Demons coaching staff showed enough faith to let him finish the game. After recording two quick outs in the seventh inning, Dunlap walked the bases loaded prior to giving up the game-winning hit by Akiyama.

The win for the Rams cleared up part of the picture for Saturday’s action. With Niwot standing as the only unbeaten team in the state bracket entering the day, a win over Longmont would have pit them against Green Mountain for the title, with the Rams having to win twice to take a state championship. But the easy path was not in store for Niwot, which fell to the Cougars 11-4 in the second half of Friday’s double header.

The Cougars opted to send sophomore Ford Ladd to the mound against their league rival. Ladd had thrown a shutout against Durango and seemed to be up to the task of eliminating the Trojans.

Longmont had other ideas as it wase able to get to Ladd early and chip away to a 4-0 lead. With two outs in the third inning, he was pulled in favor of Cameron Kopplinger who was able to contain the Longmont bats through the third, fourth and fifth innings.

After two hits and walk to load the bases in the sixth, Andrew Baldt slammed the door on the game by crushing a hanging curveball for a grand slam.

More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

“I knew I hit it square, but had a second thought because I knew it was pretty damn deep (in left-center field),” Baldt said. “I started running a bit but it got over.”

With a six-run lead, the Trojans were able to coast the rest of the way. They exorcised the demons of getting beat by Niwot twice in the regular season and are heading into Saturday loaded with confidence.

“The difference today was that (Niwot) didn’t hit it like they normally do,” coach Tom Fobes said. “Will (Amen) just did a great job (on the mound) and when you can hold them to four runs it’s pretty good and we finally got guys on base and came up with those big hits.”

Longmont’s win over Niwot sets up a true semifinal game between the Trojans and Green Mountain at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. The winner of that game will face Niwot at 12:30 p.m. for the 4A state championship.

More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

DENVER — Rocky Mountain is sitting pretty as the Class 5A state baseball championship series enters its final day.

The Lobos ran their winning streak to 17 games with a come-from-behind 8-6 victory Friday against Cherry Creek in the first of two 5A games at All-City Field. Rocky Mountain (20-5 record) eliminated the Bruins (19-6) from the tournament. More importantly for the Lobos they stayed undefeated in the double-elimination tournament.

Rocky Mountain continues its quest for its first state baseball title since its four-peat from 2007 to 2010 at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 24, back at All-City Field. The Lobos will face Regis Jesuit (21-4). The Raiders would have to defeat Rocky Mountain twice Saturday for Regis to capture its first state baseball title since winning in 2011.

Rocky Mountain junior Garrett Hammer (18) watches his two-run home run clear the fence at All-City Field on Friday in the first inning. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)

If Regis defeats Rocky Mountain in the 10 a.m. game the second game Saturday would start shortly after the conclusion of the morning game.

“You don’t want to say ‘relaxed,’” Rocky Mountain senior Trevor Thomas said of the Lobos’ mentality being in the driver’s seat. “We are still going to play a really good team. We’ll go out there and play as hard as we can.”

Thomas got Rocky Mountain’s offense going early against Cherry Creek. The Lobos’ designated hitter had a two-out, two-run single in the first inning to get Rocky Mountain on the board. Junior Garrett Hammer proceeded to follow with a two-run home run, giving the Lobos a 4-0 lead.

Cherry Creek chipped away and took a 5-4 lead in the top of the fourth inning on a successful squeeze bunt by senior Sean Robinson.

Bruins junior Cody Wood pitched well after a rough first inning.

“After that first inning I thought we could just repeat and repeat, but you have to hand it to their pitcher (Wood),” Thomas said. “He settled in. We knew it was going to be a tough game.”

Rocky Mountain senior Carl Stajduhar got the Lobos’ rally going in the bottom of the fifth inning with a long solo home run to tie the game at 5. Back-to-back singles by senior Tyler Stevens and Thomas put Rocky Mountain in the position to capitalize on a critical throwing error.

With two outs Nathan Elsheimer ground back to the Cherry Creek pitcher Justin Jeronimus. The senior pitcher ran halfway to first base, but then threw the ball over the Bruins’ first baseman. Rocky Mountain scored two runs on the throwing error to take a 7-5 lead.

“We got a break right there, but we also had some good at-bats to get into position to take advantage of that break,” Rocky Mountain coach Scott Bullock said.

Cherry Creek shortstop Jack Hallmark, right, waits for a throw to second base as Rocky Mountain senior Trevor Thomas slides into the base Friday at All-City Field. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)

Cherry Creek scored a run in the top of the sixth inning, but Rocky Mountain closer Cory Richer recorded the final three outs in the seventh inning to get the save. Junior Chase Ottofy picked up the victory on the mound. Ottofy, who hadn’t pitched in more than a month, took the mound in the fifth inning for starter Marc Bachman.

“We have a ton of confidence in our pitching depth,” Bullock said. “This is the time of the year when it shines.”

The Lobos will have Stevens and Stajduhar both ready to pitch Saturday. The two have combined for 11 wins on the mound and both have ERAs under 3.00 this season.

Stevens gave Rocky Mountain an insurance run Friday going to the seventh inning against Cherry Creek with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth.

“We are just going to try and continue to play good baseball,” Bullock said going into Saturday’s action. “We understand that the only thing we have to do is play team baseball and compete.”

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Regis Jesuit 5, Mountain Vista 1

It took just one swing of the bat for Regis Jesuit to earn a date with Rocky Mountain on Saturday.

With Mountain Vista and Regis tied 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Regis senior Reagan Todd crushed a first-pitch fastball off Mountain Vista ace Nick Leonard in the bottom of the seventh inning with the bases loaded. The lefty’s shot sailed over the right field fence for a walk-off grand slam home run.

“The at-bat before Leonard gave me a first-pitch fastball that I missed,” Todd said after the dramatic 5-1 victory for Regis. “I knew I wouldn’t let it happen again.”

Todd raced around the bases and was greeted by some overjoyed teammates knowing their hopes for a state championship were still alive.

More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

Brooks Urich started the seventh-inning rally with two out. Urich tripled to put the winning run on third base. Mountain Vista then intentionally walked Max George and Justin Thaxton to load the bases before the walk-off slam.

Regis senior lefty David Peterson, who missed six weeks this season with a broken leg, was able to outduel Leonard to keep the Raiders in the tournament. Peterson pitched a complete-game with 10 strikeouts for the win.

Peterson admitted the plan was he wouldn’t take the mound in the top of the eighth inning if it went extra innings. Leonard had seven strikeouts while giving up just five hits.

(Bethany Brookens/CHSAANow.com)

GREELEY — It will be a rematch of their showdown last weekend when Holy Family and Eaton face off Saturday morning for the Colorado Class 3A state baseball title.

The two teams met May 17 in the double-elimination bracket with Holy Family taking an 8-5 victory.

Holy Family remained the tournament’s only unbeaten team by eliminating Lamar on Friday 9-7.

Just when it looked like the Tigers were going to enter Saturday’s championship playing a winner-take-all match for the state title, they gave themselves a buffer. Holy Family scored four runs in the top of the  inning to overcome a two-run deficit.

The Savages (19-6) took the lead on a three-run fourth inning highlighted by Brent Crampton’s three-run double.

Savages starting pitcher Darin Cook went into the seventh inning but gave up a double to open the frame. He gave way to Braden Forney, who gave up back-to-back singles before leadoff hitter Conor Stanley, who deposited a 1-0 pitch over the leftfield fence for the final margin.

“I hadn’t done enough all game,” Stanley said. “I was just looking to get that run home.”

Eaton, meanwhile, set the tone from the outset in its game with Faith Christian, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning.

“If you’re going to be the visitor, you’d better come out and attack them,” Reds coach Jim Danley said.

The key blow was a two-run single by Ryan Koehler, who would add a two-run double in the second to give the Reds a 6-2 advantage.

The rest was up to Eaton starting pitcher Jake Nelson, who held the Eagles scoreless after the first inning.

“He had a very solid outing,” Danley said of Nelson giving up two runs on seven hits, four strikeouts and just two walks.

Koehler finished with four hits and five RBI.

“You can’t really mess around with a team like that,” he said of his fast start against Faith Christian.

Holy Family coach Erik Nakagana said his team wanted to enter Saturday unbeaten, meaning they would need to lose twice to not win a title.

“You want to play with that momentum,” he said.

Danley has a lot of respect for Holy Family, which has only one loss on the season.

“I’ve seen college teams that can’t hit like that,” he said of the Tigers’ potent lineup.

By getting Nelson to pitch into the seventh inning, “The rest of our (pitching) staff is clear,” Danley said.

Eaton is confident it came win two games against the Tigers.

“It’ll be a fun game,” Koehler said.

DENVER — The 5A and 4A state baseball tournaments narrowed their fields during action on Friday.

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Rocky Mountain 8, Cherry Creek 6

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Regis Jesuit 5, Mountain Vista 1

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Green Mountain 7, Durango 6

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Longmont 11, Niwot 4

A replay of live coverage from the state baseball tournaments as championships were up for grabs in Class 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A on Saturday.

More:

• Brackets: 5A | 4A | 3A | 2A
• Watch live: NFHS Network

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More photos. (Pam Wagner)

GREELEY — In the end, that potent Holy Family machine was just too powerful.

The Tigers won their last Class 3A state title Saturday with an 8-2 victory over Eaton.

Holy Family will move up to the 4A classification next season. The title was the Tigers’ second consecutive and third in five years.

Despite the final score, Eaton didn’t make it easy on Holy Family.

The Tigers (24-1) handed Eaton its only loss of the season a week before in the playoffs and entered the game as the tournament’s only unbeaten, meaning Eaton had to defeat them twice to win the title.

Holy Family scored twice in the top of the third inning. Eaton answered with a run of its own, then tied the game on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth.

More photos. (Pam Wagner)

That’s when Holy Family, with a potent battling lineup from top to bottom, went to work.

“We told them to ride the wave,” Tigers coach Erik Nakayama said of surviving the shifts in momentum.

“We just said, ‘One pitch at a time, one hit at a time,’” Tigers No. 3 hitter Devlin Granberg said.

With one out, Matt Erb singled up the middle. A throwing error on a ground ball to try and force Erb went awry. Austin Brown then walked to load the bases.

That set the table for Granberg, who singled home two runs. Zach Trombley, Zach Dedin and Jake Tinnon followed with RBI hits and Holy Family had quickly scored six runs in the inning.

That left it in the hands of Brown, the Tigers’ junior starting pitcher.

Brown, who threw a complete game, gave up just three hits, although he walked six, including two in the bottom of the seventh.

“I was trying to be a bit too careful,” he said.

Brown said he wanted the ball in his hands to start the title game.

“I think all of us are competitive,” he said of the team mentality of wanting that pressure in a title game.

Granberg expected a tough battle from the Reds.

“I thought it would be a grind,” he said. “We showed how much heart we have.”

As for moving up a classification next year, on top of losing 11 seniors to graduation, Holy Family is ready for the challenge.

“We’re all excited about the opportunity to go against 4A competition,” Brown said.

Nakayama said because of the high amount of seniors on the team, several underclassmen who would have normally played at the varsity level were forced to play JV this season.

“We challenged them,” he said.

That challenge will again be issued next February at the start of spring practice. Then again, the players know what is expected of them.

“The legacy’s been set,” Nakayama said.

More photos. (Pam Wagner)