CHSAANow

Month: April 2016

  • No. 7 Fountain Valley girls soccer gets rare win over No. 10 St. Mary’s

    Fountain Valley St. Mary's girls soccer
    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    COLORADO SPRINGS — A Fountain Valley girls soccer victory over St. Mary’s is sort of like a Halley’s Comet sighting. Neither one comes around very often.

    In fact, after the Danes topped the Pirates 5-2 Thursday afternoon, both Carter Gwinn and coach Byron Dacy thought it was the first time in program history that Fountain Valley had come out on top.

    But longtime St. Mary’s coach Gregg Braha knew better.

    “Since I’ve been coaching, that’s not true,” Braha said. “They either beat us in 2004 or 2005.”

    Braha maintains that in whichever year it was that the CHSAANow.com No. 7-ranked Danes (6-1 overall, 2-0 Class 3A Region 1) last won, they went on to win the league title. And that pattern is appearing to repeat itself.

    Fountain Valley controlled most of the game, jumping out to an early 2-0 thanks to two shots from 35-yards out from Gwinn, who would go on to finish with a hat trick on the day.

    “I just let them rip,” Gwinn said. “I started playing forward just a few years ago and they’ve just taught me to be patient. But sometimes I just get a little too much energy and just rip it as hard as I can.”

    The Pirates (6-4, 2-1) were able to cut the lead in half thanks to a penalty kick from Faith Heery. But in the 31st minute, McKenna Monk was able to get that goal back and put the Danes back ahead by two.

    Early in the second half, Gwinn was able to get some great looks at a third goal, but wasn’t able to connect.

    The Pirates seemed to a better job of balancing out control of the ball and even got some better looks at the Fountain Valley net. It was the second game for St. Mary’s since their star forward Scooter Ross left the team and withdrew from school on Monday.

    Braha commended his girls for their ability to remain resilient on the pitch through the whole process.

    “I think it’s been hard for the girls, they were a bit surprised,” Braha said. “The coaching staff is sitting here thinking ‘What do we do?’ and the girls are moving on very quickly.”

    Trailing 4-1 in the second half Heery was able to score another goal to move the Pirates to within two. But a penalty in the box gave Gwinn another chance at a hat trick and she was able to connect on it.

    “She’s been brilliant all year,” Dacy said. “She’s really wanting to make the most of her senior year and she’s doing that. She’s stepping up and scoring goals when we absolutely need them.”

    With the win over the Pirates, the Danes are now in a position to come away with a league championship which would allow them to host when playoff time rolls around.

    Their next league game will be Tuesday when they host James Irwin.

    St. Mary’s will travel to Peak to Peak and Rye for a couple of non-league games before they jump back into league play when they travel to James Irwin on Arp. 28.

  • Photos: Moran leads Air Academy girls lacrosse over Rampart

    COLORADO SPRINGS — Whitney Moran scored four times, and also added an assist, to help Air Academy girls lacrosse beat Rampart 13-3 on Thursday.

    Kennedy Jamieson added a hat trick and an assist for the Kadets, while Avery Rodny had two goals and an assist.

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  • Photos: Arvada West baseball tops rival Ralston Valley

    ARVADA — Arvada West baseball got a 7-4 win over rival Ralston Valley on Thursday.

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  • Photos: Mullen baseball beats Cherry Creek

    DENVER — Rocco Porreco homered, Jake Barr went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and Mullen baseball beat Cherry Creek 9-7 on Thursday.

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  • Photos: Home runs power D’Evelyn baseball past Standley Lake

    DENVER — Mitch Menard and Dylan Nelson each hit home runs to help D’Evelyn baseball beat Standley Lake 8-7 on Thursday.

    Garrett Martin went 3-for-4 with three RBIs for Standley Lake.

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  • Photos: DSST-Stapleton tops Machebeuf in baseball

    DENVER — Denver Science & Tech-Stapleton beat Bishop Machebeuf in baseball, 5-2, on Thursday.

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  • Dakota Ridge exchange student looks to raise malaria awareness at Saturday’s track meet

    [dropcap]E[/dropcap]ach year, there are between 300-500 million clinical cases of malaria. Over a million of those cases result in death, according to the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute.

    Among the 1,500-plus students that wander the halls at Dakota Ridge High School, walks a malaria survivor.

    Emmaniel Mwimbong was struck with the disease when he was a kid. “Many, many years ago,” as he put it.

    He was able to get into a hospital and, through a drug regimen, successfully combated the disease. Even though this happened when he was much younger, it’s a feeling that he never forgot.

    What can start off feeling like nothing more than the flu can take a sudden turn. Mwimbong fouht off the turn, and today, is looking to complete his high school work at Dakota Ridge.

    And although he is no longer infected, his battle against malaria wages on. Saturday at the Dakota Ridge Invitational, he is working to spread malaria awareness and do his part to contain the spreading of the disease.

    (Photo courtesy of Dakota Ridge High School)
    Emmanuel Mwimbong (Photo courtesy of Dakota Ridge High School)

    In a letter that he wrote to Dakota Ridge athletic director Matt Heckel, he wanted to use to track meet to help raise funds that can provide mosquito nets for high-risk malaria areas. The theory is easy, mosquito nets can limit mosquito bites that can lead to malaria.

    When trying to figure out the best way and avenue to help raise this awareness, the faculty at the school helped him direct the project in the direction of something that he enjoys. They advised him to raise awareness through sports.

    And that’s where the Dakota Ridge Invite comes in.

    At the event, he is hoping that spectators can provide donations that will go toward providing the nets to those in need in them, specifically in Africa.

    “At night, the nets will prevent the mosquitoes from biting,” Mwimbong said. “They are very dense and there are pesticides on them so the mosquitoes can’t get you at night.”

    He understands that not everyone will be as lucky he was.

    “High temperatrues, fevers alongside the contraction of other disease due to the vulnerability of the immune system are but a few of what one experiences at the early stages, which escalates if not treated in a period of nine hours,” he wrote to Heckel. “As one of the few escaped victims of this ailment, I do not wish the same terrible moments on other people.”

    By surviving his battle with malaria, Mwimbong eventually got an opportunity to come to the United States as an exchange student and he has cherished every minute of it.

    “It’s been great,” he said. “I love the people here. It is well above my expectations.”

    The opportunity is an experience he would no doubt like to see others have. And if his work at this weekends track meet can eventually save the life of a kid who will one day come to the United States and enjoy the same experience he had, his work will have been a success.

  • Grand Junction hosting boys golf tournament at 2016 state course

    Next season, Bookcliff Country Club is set to host the Class 5A boys golf state tournament. As a way for teams to play the course prior to the state tournament, District 51 has set up a regular season tournament.

    That tournament is set for Aug. 15, 2016, with a 10:30 a.m. shotgun start. It will be hosted by Grand Junction, Fruita Monument and Grand Junction Central.

    The format will be an 18-hole stroke play event, and it is open to all 5A teams looking to take part. Teams can bring up to five players per team, with four out of the five scoring for the tournament. The cost is $100 per team, and that includes green fees and range balls.

    For more information, or to RSVP, teams can email thomas.lefebre@d51schools.org.

    The state tournament will be Sept. 26-27 at Bookcliff CC.

  • No. 3 Pueblo West baseball seizes control of South Central League with win over No. 5 Pueblo Centennial

    Pueblo West Pueblo Centennial baseball
    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    PUEBLO — It wasn’t pretty, but it will do.

    An error-filled game watered down a highly anticipated matchup between the No. 3 and No. 5 teams in the Class 4A CHSAANow.com baseball rankings. More than that, it was a battle for control of the South Central League.

    So even if the Pueblo West Cyclones’ 13-7 win over Pueblo Centennial wasn’t pretty, it still counts the same in the standings.

    “There’s a lot of us that hadn’t been on the field in a week so we thought defensively it was going to be sloppy,” Cyclones coach Dan Sanchez said. “I’m still disappointed in the way we played defense. We’re better than that.”

    From the get-go, it appeared that it would be the Cyclones’ (10-3 overall, 4-0 South Central) night. They started the game with a four-run first inning, that all got started with a fielding error by Bulldogs shortstop Trevor Valencia.

    That ignited a scoring run that was highlighted with a 2-RBI single from Josh Drury. Things only looked better as junior pitcher R.J. Dabovich took the hill for the first varsity start of his career.

    But with the way his numbers looked through the first two innings, no one would’ve guess it. He struck out five Pueblo Centennial (10-2, 3-1) hitters and gave up no hits.

    “He’s a kid that has a ton of potential,” Sanchez said. “He has a lot in the tank, but he’s been injured. We’re starting off slow, he’s on a pitch count.”

    It looked like he was going to be able to give the Cyclones some quality innings, but he got into trouble in the third. A fielding error from Lucas Quimby and a throwing error from Dabovich cut the West lead to 4-3.

    And that’s when things started getting messy.

    The Cyclones got those three runs back in the top of the fourth, two of which came on a 2-RBI triple from Dawson Tate. The hitting overall was huge for Pueblo West and it was Drury who led the squad, going 3-5 with four RBIs.

    “This is one we wanted,” Drury said. “It was big not only for me, but for our whole team to get the bats going.”

    In the bottom of the fourth, the Bulldogs again got those three runs back thanks in part to some fielding mishaps. Between the two teams, they combined for 10 errors on the game.

    Pueblo West answered by scoring five runs in the top of the fifth, pulling away from Centennial for good.

    “I was confident just by the way we were swinging the bat,” Sanchez said. “When we swing the bat and we hit the ball to right-center like we did tonight, that’s what we look for. I was real pleased with that. I knew we would find a way to score runs.”

    The sloppiness of the game can easily be attributed to the lack of playing time in the last week because of poor weather conditions. Centennial coach Jeff Kurtz knew that to beat a talented Cyclones team, his players had to play nearly flawless baseball.

    “We started off the game with an error,” Bulldogs coach Jeff Kurtz said. “That was kind of a negative. We couldn’t keep trading runs with them.”

    With control of the league no in-hand, the Cyclones will look to keep a firm grasp on the top spot as they face Pueblo East at the Runyon Field complex on Thursday. The game will be played on Tony Andenucio Field.

    The Bulldogs will face Pueblo County on the same field as three total games will be played at the contest. They’ll get one more shot at Pueblo West on May 7.

  • Photos: Ralston Valley girls soccer beats Pomona

    ARVADA — Ralston Valley got a 6-0 win over Pomona as Alyssa Kaiser had three goals and one assist.

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