Lee Peters, the principal at Legacy High School, has been named the new district athletic and activities director of Adams 12 Five Star Schools.
“It’s always been an area of interest for me; I was a longtime high school athletic director,” Peters said on Thursday. “I was attracted to the opportunity to serve in a district position to oversee some of those activities that are going on.”
Lee Peters. (Courtesy of Legacy HS)
It marks a return to athletics for Peters, a 1989 graduate of Northglenn. Prior to becoming principal, he was the athletic director at Legacy for ten years, and was also the boys basketball coach at Legacy for two seasons.
“I’ve certainly been involved in athletics as a young person, and then have continued to be as a professional,” Peters said.
Peters became the principal at Legacy in August 2011.
“I think the thing I probably most enjoy about Legacy High School is the strong emphasis on both academic and activities being valued at our school,” he said. “We’re very academically focused, but at the same time, we have lots and lots of student who are participating in co-curricular activities — music, drama, athletics, and other activities. It turns out well-rounded students.”
Asked about his goals for the district, Peters said, “We have to find new and better ways to fund our co-curricular programs. I think continuing to operate on a shoestring budget is just really difficult for programs to find ongoing success. I would like to hopefully find some ways some of the budget constraints we’re facing.
“Secondly,” Peters added, “it will be a priority for me to find new and better ways to hire and retain high-quality coaches. The success of any program is dependent upon the person leading that program, and we need to work in ways we haven’t maybe done in the past to ensure we have the best folks leading those programs.”
Peters will begin his new job on August 1.
Adams 12 consists of eight high schools, five of which are CHSAA members: Horizon, Legacy, Mountain Range, Northglenn and Thornton.
The district has two stadiums: Five Star Stadium, a 7,500-seat venue in Thornton, and 1stBank Field in Westminster, which seats 2,500.
AURORA — Changes look to be in the cards for the 2016-18 Class 5A football playoffs.
On Wednesday, an ad-hoc committee made up of one representative from each current 5A conference recommended multiple changes to the postseason format. This committee was put together as a continuation of the extensive efforts of the football committee to garner input from schools and conferences around the state as they plan for the future of football.
Included in Wednesday’s recommendation:
The use of an RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) system to set the playoff field.
The move from a 32-team to a 16-team playoff field.
Balancing out the conference alignment structure via a waterfall system.
Champions of those conferences automatically qualify for the playoffs.
The committee voted 5-2 in favor of the recommendation. It marks a major shift in philosophy for the sport.
For one, 5A has had a 32-team playoff field since 2006, and that 32-team field had a number of vocal supporters. But the waterfall system, which would place teams into conferences based upon their RPI performance over the previous two years, would completely change conference structure.
“Making these adjustments will be a big paradigm shift,” said Mike Krueger, the chair of the football committee, who didn’t vote on Wednesday.
The representatives on the committee provided a substantial amount of insight from discussions that have taken place over many months with coaches, athletic directors and schools. They also recognized the importance of balancing the conferences if a 16-team postseason format is ultimately where the sport heads.
“Our main goal is to make sure we do what is right for all football teams in the 5A classification,” Krueger said. “Schools and programs will need time as well as information to adjust to this new concept.”
That said, this is only a recommendation. It will be forwarded to the football committee to vote on at its next meeting in December.
The meeting was called for a number of reasons, but the biggest spark was the recent change made by the Classification and League Organizing Committee in April. That change sought to evenly divide the number of teams in each classification, and, as a result, it shifted the enrollment cutoff numbers.
“We started to look at what we were doing, and why we were doing it,” Krueger said. “We knew last fall that there was some good probability of the numbers changing.”
The result, as it pertains to 5A football, will be 42 teams in the 2016-18 two-year cycle — down from 49 this cycle. The conference structure was going to have to change anyway.
And so the football committee has been hard at work in preparation. In addition to its annual meeting last December, they met in February, and then again in April. Along with this ad-hoc meeting on Wednesday, the other classifications will have similar breakout gatherings.
Krueger called the amount of work the group was doing ahead of the 2016-18 cycle “unprecedented.”
And one big reason why is because so much remains unanswered.
At the top of the list: How to qualify for the playoffs?
The Wild Card system which is currently used to set the playoff field has drawn justified criticism of late.
“It was the best option at the time,” Krueger said. “But we’ve realized we can do better. We have a better system available to us now.”
This is where the RPI comes into play. It’s used by a number of organizations, most notably the NCAA and NAIA, for its postseason fields. The formula takes into account a team’s winning percentage, their opponents’ winning percentages, and the winning percentages of their opponents’ opponents.
CHSAA would use a modified version of the RPI, including a multiplier to account for the differences in classification. Other factors may be introduced, as well.
The Association tested data in 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A over the past three seasons. It consistently showed that the top-rated teams according to the RPI were performing well in the postseason.
Mile High, site of the 5A football championship game. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Next on the list: How many teams should make the playoffs?
Heading into Wednesday’s meeting, a number of conferences voiced support for sticking with the 32-team format, but they were operating under the assumption that the current conference alignment would remain the same.
When it became clear that the alignment would change — “If we go with 32 (teams in the playoffs), we’re going to have to recreate conferences anyway,” Krueger told the group — the conversation shifted to a 16-team format. And the waterfall concept soon became intertwined with that.
“To me,” said Eric Gustafson, the athletic director at Horizon who was representing the Front Range League, “if you go to 16, you’ve got to balance the conferences.”
Added Doherty athletic director Chris Noll, who was there representing the Continental South: “There’s no choice in that.”
First proposed by the Centennial League at the football committee meeting in November 2013, the waterfall alignment places the 42 teams into seven six-team conferences. Teams would be rated based upon their average rating in the RPI system over the previous two seasons. So, for the 2016-18 cycle, the conferences would be based on performance in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
The top seven teams based on that ranking would be place into separate conferences. Then, other teams would follow on a snaked order. So, No. 8 would be placed with No. 7, No. 9 with No. 6, No. 10 with No. 5, and so on.
Coupled with the waterfall alignment, the 16-team playoff field was soon the favorite in the room.
“If we’re going to go to 16, balance makes all the sense in the world — especially if conference champs are going to be automatic qualifiers,” said Larry Bull, the district athletic director at Cherry Creek Schools, who made the proposal on behalf of the Centennial League that ultimately became the recommendation.
The move to a 16-team playoff field would also mean a return to a 10-game regular season. It would bring 5A more in line with what the other six classifications of football are doing.
In addition, a 10-game regular season allows for five non-conference games. This will allow for rivalry and traditional matchups to continue, as well as for scheduling against nearby opponents.
With the Grand Junction schools, and likely Fountain-Fort Carson, moving to 4A in 2016-18, 5A will have the closest geographic proximity of any classification.
“The only classification where this could work is 5A because you’re all in the I-25 corridor,” said Harry Waterman, the CHSAA assistant commissioner who oversees football.
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Key points of the 5A football playoff proposal
RPI system: A team’s winning percentage (WP) + their opponents’ winning percentage (OWP) + their opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage (OOWP). The formula will be RPI = (1/4 * WP) + (1/2 * OWP) + (1/4 * OOWP). In effect, this means strength of schedule is 3/4 of the formula. Those looking for more detail on RPI should visit its page on Wikipedia. CHSAA will have a classification modifier in the formula, which will be a 15 percent increase per class.
CHSAA has tested data for the RPI over the past three seasons in 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A. It consistently shows that the ranking of the RPI system closely matches playoff results.
The RPI system encourages teams to have a good strength-of-schedule. This should help the top-end teams who have struggled in the past to find opponents.
The move to a 16-team playoff field also means the return to a 10-game regular season.
This brings 5A more in line with 6-man through 4A, both in terms of playoff field and regular season length.
The 10-game regular season helps 4A teams as 5A Week 10 games would count toward their RPI.
Conference champions are honored. Conference games mean something.
The best 16 teams qualify for the postseason under this system.
This allows for five non-conference games. Traditional rivalries and games within close proximity can continue.
With 42 teams in 5A, it doesn’t make sense to have 32 make the postseason field.
The Grand Junction schools, and potentially Fountain-Fort Carson, will be 4A. This eliminates significant travel. The longest trip would be around two hours as all schools are along the I-25 corridor.
5A is the only class that’s able to consider this as an option due to its close geographic proximity.
Scott Henry was the head baseball coach at Smoky Hill for seven seasons, and was an assistant at Grandview last season. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Scott Henry, the former coach at Smoky Hill, has been tapped by Grandview to lead its baseball program.
The school announced the hire in a press release on Wednesday afternoon.
Henry was an assistant for the Wolves last season. He was at Smoky Hill for seven years before that, resigning just after the 2014 season. He was 63-74 with the Buffaloes.
Longtime Grandview coach Dean Adams announced that he was retiring during the 2015 season. He headed the Wolves for 11 years, and led them to the Class 5A Final 4 this season. Henry was on that staff, as well.
“Scott brings with him an extensive background of coaching having been both a head coach and assistant coach,” Grandview athletic director Jamee Ulitzky said in a statement. “We look forward to the future of our baseball program under his leadership.”
Grandview will return one of its top bats in Tyler Smith next season. Smith, who will be a senior, hit .304 with two home runs and a team-high 22 RBIs last season.
Also back is the pitching tandem of Grant Schroeder (3-4, 3.24 ERA in 54 innings) and Nick Morris (2-2, 1.62 ERA in 43 1/3 innings). Both will be seniors.
But the Wolves will be hit hard by graduation, losing 13 seniors, including Keifer Glau, an honorable mention all-state pick last week.
Devon Wills of Colorado Academy (2002) and Lucy Dikeou of Kent Denver (2012) both made the 36-player roster, which was formed out of a three-day, 108-player tryout at Johns Hopkins. They are the lone representatives to hail west of the Mississippi River.
The national team will prepare for the 2017 Lacrosse Women’s World Cup in England next July. Prior to that, the squad will be trimmed to 18 players.
Wills, a goalie, has played in two World Cups (2009 and 2013), and won two gold medals. She is considered one of the best goalies in the world, and is now an assistant coach at USC.
Wills, who went on to play and graduate from Dartmouth in 2006, was inducted into the Colorado Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2014.
At Colorado Academy, Wills helped the Mustangs win a state title in 2000. It was the Mustangs’ lone championship in the sport until this season, when they beat Cherry Creek.
Dikeou, meanwhile, was one of just nine current collegiate players to make the cut to the national team.
She’ll be a senior at Stanford in the fall. Last season, Dikeou led Stanford in goals (48), points (63), groundballs (34), draw controls (54), turnovers forced (24) and free-position goals (13). The Cardinal reached the NCAA tournament, but lost in the first round.
At Kent Denver, Dikeou was a standout in both field hockey and lacrosse. She helped the Sun Devils to two field hockey championships (2009 and 2011).
Grandview girls soccer finished as the No. 1 team nationally in the spring season. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
Grandview girls soccer has finished as the top team in MaxPreps’ national rankings for the spring 2015 season.
Though MaxPreps doesn’t officially recognize a national champion in the sport, it in effect means the Wolves were the best team nationally during the spring, as judged by the ranking system. (Some states play girls soccer in the fall, and others in the winter. The three rankings do not cross over. Noting that some states have multiple sanctioning entities, 22 states play spring soccer, seven play in the winter, and 31 in the fall.)
Grandview didn’t play out of state in 2015, but their high rating is based upon the fact that a number of Colorado teams were rated highly by the MaxPreps ranking. Three teams were ranked in the top six nationally, including No. 4 ThunderRidge and No. 6 Mountain Vista. Grandview beat both teams during the season.
Also among Grandview’s wins: No. 35 Colorado Academy, No. 38 Broomfield, No. 55 Cherry Creek and No. 70 Cherokee Trail.
The MaxPreps system takes winning percentage as well as a strength-of-schedule factor into account to determine a team’s rating. The final ranking was released on June 5.
Last season, Colorado’s top-ranked team was Cheyenne Mountain, the 4A champion, at No. 20. Columbine, the 2014 5A champ, was No. 68.
Summer is the perfect time to perfect your smoothie making skills.
The combination of yogurt, fruit and milk provide a refreshing and hydrating drink in the heat and a healthy source of energy after exercise in the sun.
Aim for at least three food groups in your smoothie — fruit and dairy groups are easy, including a third can be more difficult.
A handful of spinach or frozen cooked sweet potato can be a good place to start. Try blending in a small portion and slowly increase as you get accustomed to the taste. Or enjoy your smoothie with a handful of nuts or slices of deli meat or beef jerky on the side.
Remember that cow’s milk has the proportions of quality protein your body needs to refuel after exercise … plus a few extra splashes of milk in your blender will help make your smoothie easier to drink. Follow the tips above to create your own favorite flavor.
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.
The 2015 baseball players of the year. From left: Jordan Ernst, Dove Creek (1A); Trent Hughes, Rye (2A); Ryan Madden, Fairview (5A); Cole Shetterly, Green Mountain (4A); Lane Greiman, Eaton (3A). (Photos: Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com; Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com; Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com; Pam Wagner/CHSAANow.com)
The 2015 all-state baseball teams honor the best players in the sport as judged by the leagues and coaches. They are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues and coaches, and then a vote of coaches. Players had to be first-team all-league in order to be on the all-state ballot.
Players and coaches of the year were also selected by a vote of the coaches.
COLORADO SPRINGS — The St. Mary’s Pirates didn’t let their football coaching vacancy last for long.
Just over three weeks after the Colorado Springs Gazette reported that Nic Olney resigned from the job, St. Mary’s athletic director Dennis Vigil announced on Twitter that he hired Archie Malloy to take over the Class 2A program.
Vigil also independently verified the hire to CHSAANow.com.
“It was a case of perfect timing,” Vigil said. “I knew Archie from when I was an (assistant principal) at Mitchell and so I called him and asked if he was interested to put his name in the ring. The committee was impressed with him and so we offered him the job and he accepted this morning. Very excited to have him in the fold.”
Malloy comes to St. Mary’s after serving as the head coach at Mitchell, a 3A team, for 13 seasons. He resigned from Mitchell in December. Since 2004, his teams were 34-76.
Malloy takes over a St. Mary’s program that went 7-3 last season and lost to Montezuma-Cortez in the first round of the 2A playoffs.
The girls soccer players of the year. From left: Colorado Academy’s Marin McCoy (3A); Cheyenne Mountain’s Hannah Gerdin (4A); Mountain Vista’s Mallory Pugh (5A); Vail Mountain’s Tess Johnson (2A). (Photos: Ray Chen of ArrayPhoto.com & MaxPreps)
The 2015 all-state girls soccer teams honor the best players in the sport as judged by the leagues and coaches. They are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues and coaches, and then a vote of coaches.
Players and coaches of the year were also selected by a vote of the coaches.
