HENDERSON — No. 5 Monarch topped Legacy 45-36 in Class 5A girls basketball at the Prairie View Tournament on Wednesday.
Raegen Rohn had 14 points for the Coyotes, while Kelly O’Flannigan had a big game with 11 points, nine rebounds and five steals.
Courtney Smith led Legacy with 22 points.
HENDERSON — Emily Whittington scored 15 points to lead Prairie View girls basketball to a 41-38 win over Eaglecrest at the Prairie View Tournament on Wednesday.
HENDERSON — Four players scored in double figures as Mead girls basketball beat Arvada West 62-37 at the Prairie View Tournament on Wednesday.
Kari Lozinski and Rylee Ward led the way for the Mavericks with 19 points apiece, while Katie Maher had 11 and Cami Kamigaki had 10.
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ince T.J. Shelton was 8 years old, wrestling has been an integral part of his life. Competing in the sport has paid dividends for the Meeker High School student as he won back-to-back Class 2A state championships at 160 and 170 pounds.
“I had a lot of experience nationally wrestling all over the country and that mat time really boosted me when I got to high school,” the 5-foot-10 Shelton said. “It was very emotional and exciting for me to win state twice. All my hard work paid off each of those years, and that was the greatest feeling in the world.”
Now, a junior Shelton has his eyes on another gold medal.
“I need to keep my nose down and keep working hard,” Shelton, 16, said. “I’m going to do what I can. Some people have a target on my back, but I respect all my opponents and I’m just going to go out there and wrestle.”
This season, Shelton has an 8-1 record and he’s ranked No. 1 by On the Mat at 182 pounds in Class 2A.
Shelton’s next big test will come Friday and Saturday at the ultra-competitive Warrior Classic in Grand Junction at 170 pounds.
“I haven’t quite decided if I will wrestle at 182 or 170 pounds this season,” Shelton said. “A lot of the tournaments I will be at 170s, but I’m just going to play things by ear. My goals this season is to do win the Warrior and win a state title.”
J.C. Watt, Meeker’s coach, praised Shelton.
“He’s a hard worker, and he has a lot of wrestling experience,” said Watt, a former two-time state wrestling champ at Meeker. “T.J. won the middle school state wrestling tournament and he just never stops working. He’s always lifting and he’s always keeping his body in good shape. I was surprised a little bit that he won state as a freshman at a heavier weight (160 pounds), but he’s just a really good competitor. He seems to always rise to the occasion, and he’s a great teammate.”
As good as Shelton is in wrestling, he’s far from one-dimensional. As a freshman, Shelton won the 100-meter dash in state track and was second in the 200. Last year, Shelton was a state runner-up in the 100 and 200 events.
Oh by the way, Shelton also is a standout running back and middle linebacker on the Cowboys football team.
“I enjoy track because it works different muscles and I also really like playing football,” said Shelton, who also spends his spare time hunting. “I’m not sure what my favorite sport is between wrestling and football. I do love living in a small town. This is a great community.”
Shelton’s work ethic also shines through in the classroom as he is a 4.0 student.
“I have received just one B so far in high school and I’m a math and science guy,” Shelton said. “I really like all types of statistics.”
AURORA — The overwhelming majority of athletic directors who responded to a CHSAA survey indicated they were in favor of adding additional classifications for girls golf, girls tennis and girls swimming and diving.
It may signal that each of those sports are ready to add a third classification as soon as 2016.
“It would give us a chance to provide more opportunities for our young ladies around the state,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bethany Brookens, who oversaw the survey. “And this potential move could help schools add teams if they don’t already have one.”
The CHSAA office sent a survey to all athletic directors around the state on Dec. 11. As of Thursday, 151 had responded. When asked if they were “in favor of adding additional classifications” in girls golf, tennis and swimming, 74.2 percent responded yes, 9.3 percent said no, and 16.6 percent responded that they were unsure.
The question was asked in large part because of the new CLOC philosophy, which is seeking to evenly divide teams among classifications. That CLOC report is up for approval at January’s Legislative Council meeting.
“Part of the impetus of that (new CLOC philosophy) was there are sports that lend themselves to more classes than we currently have,” said CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico. “Using the current method (of dividing classifications), we could never get there because there aren’t enough smaller schools.”
Currently, girls swimming and diving, girls golf and girls tennis each have two classifications. Should the CLOC report pass in January, it would leave the following splits for those sports:
It was those numbers which raised the possibility of adding additional classes. In fact, girls golf and girls tennis have the highest number of teams in each classification of any sport. The average number of teams per classification in other sports is 54.
Should each sport add a third classification, the breakdown would be as follows:
Girls swimming used to divide its teams evenly back in the mid 1990s — “and I felt there was more competitive balance then than we have now,” Angelico said.
This move all hinges on the CLOC report passing in January, though. The three sports cannot seek to add a third classification unless that happens. Should the report pass, a league would need to then bring a proposal to add the classifications at the April Legislative Council meeting.
If that doesn’t happen, the three sports couldn’t add a class until the 2018-20 cycle because CLOC needs to set alignment for 2016-18 at its November 2015 meeting.
However, assuming the CLOC report passes in January, the three sports each adding a third class seems likely to happen beginning with the 2016-17 season.
“It should encourage those programs to grow because there will be more competitive balance,” Angelico said.
The last sport to add a classification was girls soccer, which added 2A. That begins this coming spring.
WESTMINSTER — Mountain Range wrestling beat Fort Collins in a dual meet on Wednesday, 44-31.
ERIE — Erie sophomore center Cameron McCurry skied toward the rim with four seconds to go in the game and sunk the shot to give his team the lead.
Erie boys basketball stunned Fort Morgan, 68-67, thanks to McCurry’s late heroics and Kyle Leahy’s huge fourth quarter.
Leahy scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to help Erie overcome a 12-point deficit. He finished with 28 points and blocked the final shot attempt from Fort Morgan’s Tate Kembel to seal the win.
McCurry finished with 15 points. Fort Morgan’s TJ Bauer started the game on fire, scoring 13 points in the first quarter, but cooled off and only scored three more points the rest of the game.
GOLDEN — Dealing with finals week and an impending Wednesday flight to Florida for a holiday tournament was surely on the mind of Golden’s boys basketball team Tuesday night.
The Demons, ranked No. 2 in this week’s Class 4A CHSAANow.com poll, was able to keep their focus on the court in the fourth quarter for a come-from-behind victory against 5A’s Fort Collins.
“It was a grinder for sure,” admitted Golden junior Ryan Blodgett who scored a game-high 12 points in the Demons’ 46-36 home victory to keep Golden (5-0 overall) undefeated on the season.
The Lambkins held a 26-24 lead through three quarters during the defensive struggle. Golden finally got its offense on track in the final 8 minutes. A key 9-0 run by the Demons during a three-minute stretch late in the game allowed Golden to pull away.
Senior Jason Johnson hit a key 3-pointer for the Demons. Senior Ryan Thistlewood pulled off his second 3-point play with a layup and foul.
“I wasn’t really trying to get the and-one. Honestly, I didn’t think I got fouled,” Thistlewood said. “It worked out and making the free throws always helps.”
Blodgett capped off the run with six straight points.
“We can score a lot of different ways, but we are only going to be good if our big guys (Blodgett, Cole Greff and Nick Capaul) score,” Golden coach John Anderson said. “I think Fort Collins did a good job of rushing our guys early. The key was the guards being able to penetrate and break them down to give our bigs some good scoring opportunities.”
Greff and Capaul each finished with eight points. Thistlewood finished with nine points.
Blodgett was held scoreless in the second and third quarters, along with picking up his third foul with 4:18 left in the third quarter.
“I was frustrated, but you have to keep your poise,” said Blodgett about his four points and three fouls heading to the fourth quarter. “You’ve got to slow down. You have to play smart and know what you can and can’t do.”
Blodgett dominated the fourth quarter with eight points, which included going 4-for-5 from the free-throw line.
“I think we had a lot more movement on offense,” Blodgett said of the Demons’ 22-point fourth quarter. “It took us that long to adjust to the tempo.”
Fort Collins (3-3) was led in scoring by seniors Brydon Campanella (nine points) and Andrew Pfaffinger (eight points). The Lambkins’ biggest lead was five points. An 11-0 run in the second quarter gave Fort Collins a 20-15 advantage.
“The tempo of the game favored Fort Collins,” Anderson said. “I talked about it during pregame that we have to be able to win ugly style games, high scoring games and games where we score in the 40s. Defense always gives us a chance to win.”
Golden heads to a much warmer climate Wednesday. The Demons will play in the 2014 Kreul Classic in Florida from Dec. 19-22. After the winter break Golden jumps into 4A Jeffco League play hosting Conifer on Jan. 7.
“It’s going to be a big test. It’s a business trip,” Anderson said. “We’ve got good momentum going and we want to keep it.”
Fort Collins stays on the road for a 2:30 p.m. non-league contest at Ponderosa in Parker on Saturday before winter break.
AURORA — The state spirit championships will run all finals for all classifications on the Saturday of the event beginning next season.
CHSAA assistant commissioner Jenn Roberts-Uhlig brought the idea of a “Finals Showcase” to the sport’s committee on Tuesday in order to better showcase all athletes from across the state at one time. The committee and audience members were unanimously in favor of the change.
In the past, the preliminary rounds and finals have been scattered throughout Friday and Saturday. It made for a somewhat staggered event, with championship trophy ceremonies breaking up competition.
“We want to continue to develop on the overall experience for our students, and a way to showcase our athletes from all over the state at one time — just as we do for other sports,” said Roberts-Uhlig, who administers spirit.
It brings spirit in line with wrestling, or volleyball, which both schedule finals for all classifications concurrently.
With the change, Friday will be strictly for preliminary competition. Some of the prelims will need to finish Saturday morning, and then the arena will be cleared to make preparations for finals. In the evening, teams and fans will reenter and the “Finals Showcase” will take place.
“It should make for an awesome experience for all schools and communities,” Roberts-Uhlig said.
At the end of the night, all championship trophies will handed out.
The state spirit competition will remain at the Denver Coliseum for the foreseeable future. Next year’s championships will be the 25th anniversary of the event.
Spirit awards 12 trophies in cheer, pom, co-ed cheer, hip-hop and jazz across four classifications.
On Jan. 29, the Legislative Council will meet in Aurora. Below is information about the meeting, including links to the agenda and proposals that will be considered.
Where: Radisson Denver Southeast (3155 S. Vaughn Way, Aurora)
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Note: Constitutional Proposals require 2/3 vote for approval; Administrative and Sport Proposals requires majority vote for approval, unless otherwise noted.
| Proposals | ||
|---|---|---|
| Constitutional | ||
| CON 1 | Definition of a School Eligible for Membership | (Board of Directors) |
| CON 2 | Board of Directors | (Board of Directors) |
| Administrative | ||
| ADM-1 | Classification of Schools | (Western Slope) |
| ADM-2 | Coaches Required to Attend Rules Meetings | (Board of Directors) |
| ADM-3 | General Eligibility Requirements | (CS Metro 4A) |
| ADM-4 | General Eligibility Requirements | (CS Metro 4A) |
| ADM-5 | Transfer | (Denver Public Schools) |
| ADM-6 | Transfer | (Board of Directors) |
| ADM-7 | Transfer | (Board of Directors) |
| ADM-8 | Sunday Contact | (Board of Directors) |
| ADM-9 | Registered Officials List | (Board of Directors) |
| ADM-10 | Officials’ Conduct | (Board of Directors) |
| Sport | ||
| S-1 | Maximum Quarters Individual | (Pikes Peak Athletic Conference) |
| Activity | ||
| None | ||
| Policy | ||
| None | ||
Note: Require majority vote for approval, unless
otherwise noted. Some committee will report at the April meeting. Those are noted.
| Committee Reports | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative | |||
| ADM-1 | Budget/Property Administration (first reading) | (Jeff Durbin) | |
| ADM-2 | Classification and League Organizing Committee | (Randy Holmen) | |
| ADM-3 | Coaching Education Registration Advisory (CERAC) | (Derek Chaney) | |
| ADM-4 | Equity (April) | ||
| ADM-5 | Officials’ fees | (Glenda Bates) | |
| ADM-6 | Sportsmanship (April) | ||
| ADM-7 | Tournament and Playoff Finance (April) | ||
| Activity | |||
| ACT-1 | Music (April) | ||
| ACT-2 | Speech (April) | ||
| ACT-3 | Student Leadership | (Rashaan Davis) | |
| Sport | |||
| S-1 | Baseball | (Robert Framel) | |
| S-2 | Basketball (April) | ||
| S-3 | Cross Country | (Rick Macias) | |
| S-4 | Field Hockey | (Richard Judd) | |
| S-5 | Football | (Michael Krueger) | |
| S-6 | Golf | (Mike Hughes) | |
| S-7 | Gymnastics | (Stacey Folmar) | |
| S-8 | Ice Hockey (April) | ||
| S-9 | Lacrosse (April) | ||
| S-10 | Skiing (April) | ||
| S-11 | Soccer | (Justin Saylor) | |
| S-12 | Softball | (Kelley Eichman) | |
| S-13 | Spirit (April) | ||
| S-14 | Swimming (April) | ||
| S-15 | Tennis | (Diane Wolverton) | |
| S-16 | Track and Field (April) | ||
| S-17 | Volleyball | (Tracie Cormaney) | |
| S-18 | Wrestling (April) | ||