AURORA — The Class 5A boys lacrosse quarterfinals were completed on Saturday. Ultimately, Regis Jesuit, Cherry Creek, Mountain Vista and Arapahoe advanced to next week’s semifinals.
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Month: May 2016
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Photos: Ralston Valley baseball hits walkoff grand slam to win its district
LAKEWOOD — Ralston Valley won its baseball district in dramatic fashion when Josh Robinson hit a walkoff grand slam to give his team a 13-9 victory over Legend on Saturday.
The Mustangs hit eight home runs in two games, including an 8-6 win over Legacy in the first game.
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Photos: Cherry Creek girls lacrosse advances to quarterfinals
GREENWOOD VILLAGE — Third-seeded Cherry Creek girls lacrosse beat No. 19 Air Academy 14-8 on Friday in the second round of the state tournament.
The Bruins now move to the quarterfinals, where they’ll face No. 11 Ralston Valley.
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Photos: Second day of competition at 5A girls tennis state tournament
DENVER — The second day of the Class 5A girls tennis state championships was Friday at Gates Tennis Center.
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Photos: Manitou Springs girls soccer beats The Pinnacle in 3A tourney
DENVER — Brooklyn Mack scored the winner as No. 17 Manitou Springs beat No. 16 The Pinnacle 1-0 in the first round of the Class 3A girls soccer tournament.
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Fairview girls tennis wins 5A championship, ending Cherry Creek’s streak
Fairview won the 5A girls tennis team championship. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com) DENVER — Susan Stensrud couldn’t quite fathom it. Not yet, at least.
“I’m not one hundred percent,” the Fairview girls tennis coach said after her team clinch an elusive Class 5A team crown on Saturday. “I don’t believe it one hundred percent. It hasn’t sunk in, but I’m so glad it’s this team of girls.”
To knock off a 19-time defending champion in girls tennis in Cherry Creek, winners of 20 of the past 21, Fairview’s memorable title bid hinged on a No. 3 singles match between two freshmen late on the final day of competition.
Fairview’s Sophie Pearson and Cherry Creek’s Sayuri Garud — with a number of Bruin and Knight supporters looking on — had a three-set marathon of a match. Pearson won the first set 6-4, while Garud took the next 6-3. In the deciding set for both individual and team pursuits, Pearson pulled away to a 6-3 victory to clinch the No. 3 singles title.
“I just knew that she was tired and I was, too,” Pearson said. “We were both struggling a little bit, but I just knew I had to push my hardest to win and I’m really glad I did for my team and for myself.”
As a result, the Knights became the first team other than Cherry Creek to win 5A since Grand Junction in 1996, ending an incredible championship streak that spanned nearly two decades for the Bruins. The final team scores came out to 69 points for Fairview and 66 for Cherry Creek. Mountain Vista was third with 41, while Poudre came in fourth with 29.
Stensrud knew it would take a special group to knock off Cherry Creek and the veteran coach had it in 2016. After finishing as the runner-up four-times — 2015, 2012, 2011 and 2010 — the Knights crowned Pearson and the No. 4 doubles group of Clare Lupo and Denali Pinto, who beat Mountain Vista’s Hunter Ernest and Hannah Smith 6-3, 6-2.
Fairview’s Seraphine Castelino won the No. 1 singles title. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com) Fairview also went back-to-back in having freshman win No. 1 singles after Amber Shen won over Cherry Creek’s Kalyssa Hall in 2015. Both players opted not to play this spring and Seraphin Castelino took advantage with an impressive 6-4, 6-1 ousting of Poudre sophomore Ky Ecton.
“I feel so rich to have another amazing kid be able to step in,” Stensrud said.
The freshman, the younger sister of former 5A boys No. 1 singles champion Ignatius Castelino, drew inspiration from her brother’s career.
“It was motivation for me, because he got second his first three years and I know how frustrating it was for him,” Castelino said. “It was a really fun season. She put up a great fight.”
For Fairview, the depth of the program led to points continuing to pour in during the playback rounds. as well. Stensrud has instilled a policy that helps define their group.
“I’m glad, because we’re a no-cut program and I want to prove that everybody can play and you can still be successful and have a top-ranked program,” she said.
Proving the value of her philosophy, Lupo was a state champion in her first season making the varsity as a senior, a sweet way to put the finishing touches on her career.
Cherry Creek, which only returned five varsity players this spring, had the No. 2 singles champion in sophomore Micha Handler, who defeated Poudre senior Alessa Fabiano 6-1, 6-1.
The Bruins also won No. 2 doubles as Allison Murphy and Emily Wilkens beat Chatfield’s Jenna Alvarez and Kendall Moore 6-1, 7-5. Creek, with several new ladies stepping into the lineup, had an excellent season nonetheless, just succumbing to Fairview by the slimmest of margins.
The Ponderosa tandem of Sydney Waite and Hunter Barker ousted Arapahoe’s Natalie Sloboth and Elizabeth Palmer at No. 1 doubles 6-4, 6-3. Erinn Hogan and Lindsey Noble of Fossil Ridge won No. 3 doubles over Denver East’s Kate and Kelly Wulf 6-4, 6-4.
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Kent Denver’s Josie Schaffer takes 4A girls tennis No. 1 singles title, Cheyenne Mountain claims team title
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) PUEBLO — For Cheyenne Mountain, it was just another annual walk in Pueblo City Park.
The Indians won every doubles championship Saturday en route to capturing their eighth-straight Class 4A girls tennis championship. Kent Denver won two singles titles, including freshman Josie Schaffer taking the No. 1 singles crown. The Sun Devils finished second with 62 points to Cheyenne Mountain’s 85.
Coming into the day, Kent Denver trailed by 13 points and could win 16. SO for the Indians, they knew it was important to get an early victory to wrap up the championship. The No. 1 doubles team of Casey Ahrendsen and Ally Arenson were able to take care of business, beating Kent Denver’s Maeve Kearney and Amanda Schlatter to solidify the title.
“We have a lot of people that go into the drawing area and see all the points and all the possibilities,” Ahrendsen said. “Then we kind of just get our energy off of that.”
That win was one of the first matches completed on the day, so with the team title now out of play, the Sun Devils could focus their attention on winning individual championships. The highlight of the day came with Schaffer beating Pueblo West’s Sara Schoenbeck 6-4 6-2 to claim the top individual title, doing so in her freshman campaign.
Josie Schaffer (right) won the No. 1 singles championship. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) “It’s kind of unexpected that freshmen get this far in a tournament,” Schaffer said.
She found herself matched up against another highly-touted freshman in Cheyenne Mountain’s Morgan Hall in Friday’s semifinals. She ended up winning the match 7-6 6-1 to advance to the finals, giving her a boost of confidence in the process.
“Morgan’s a really great player,” Schaffer said. “I love playing her because I love how much we construct the points and how well they turn out.”
It’s the first No. 1 singles title for Kent Denver since Sammie Watson won it in 2009. The pressure will now be on Schaffer to repeat the accomplishment in coming years. But right now, she’s more concerned at celebrating her accomplishment.
“I’m just going to try and enjoy this right now,” she said.
And that was the theme for the Indians too. Even though it’s the team’s eighth title in as many years, it’s a feeling that never gets old.
As each tournament plays out, just the difference in competition helps every championship feel unique.
“Last year, we had a really tough match against Valor in the semifinals,” Arenson said. “This year, our finals match was the toughest. Just the competition this year is (against) different teams.”
The Indians had to get through their final day without coach David Adams, who flew out of Denver on Friday to attend his daughter’s graduation.
But he was kept in the loop by his assistants and was still proud of the way his team handed itself going into the final day.
“It’s obviously a great feeling,” he said in a phone interview. “I’m really proud of these girls and how they’ve come along this season. I know it sounds cliche, but I feel like they’ve together very well.”
With Cherry Creek’s second place finish at the 5A championship, Cheyenne Mountain is now the longest active reigning girls tennis champion in the state.
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Photos: Action from the 4A girls state tennis championships
PUEBLO — The Class 4A girls state tennis tournament came to an end Saturday with Cheyenne Mountain claiming its eighth-straight team championship.
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Poudre’s Ky Ecton topples familiar foe at 5A girls tennis state tournament
Poudre’s Ky Ecton advanced to the semifinals at No. 1 singles on Thursday. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com) DENVER — Split sets, against her good friend. It was a familiar moment for Poudre’s Ky Ecton.
Ecton, a sophomore who plays No. 1 singles, was certainly accustomed with her opponent in the quarterfinals of the Class 5A girls tennis state tournament on Thursday: Mountain Range senior Kristen Kirby.
The two had played twice this season, including in the Front Range League tournament, and also met in the state tournament last season. Each match went three sets — and Kirby had won each time.
So when Thursday’s match went to a third set, Ecton sighed to herself, and thought, “Of course.”
“We’re actually really, really good friends, so I just love playing her every time,” Ecton said. “She’s just a great sport about everything.”
Mountain Range’s Kristen Kirby. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com) “I was kind of expecting it to go to a third set,” Ecton added. “To be honest, we’re very similar in how we play, so I felt like if it wasn’t going to go to a third set, someone was going to have an off day.”
Ultimately, Ecton pulled off a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win to advance to Friday’s semifinals.
“Going into it, I knew it was going to be a tough match,” Ecton said. “I figured win or lose, it was going to be a fun match, anyway — and it was. It was just a super fun match to play in.”
Ecton will face Cherry Creek’s Gloria Son on Friday. Son, a senior who won the No. 3 singles title last season, beat both of her opponents in straight sets to advance.
It will be another familiar opponent for Ecton, even if the two have never played.
“She’s my big sister’s old doubles partner, so she’s a friend, too,” Ecton said. “I haven’t played her because she’s a senior. … It’ll be really fun to see what happens.”
Ecton lost in the playback semifinals last season, and says she took a lot away from that experience.
“I learned that you’ve got to live in the moment, because you never know if you’re going to make it back all four years,” she said. “So you’ve just got to live in the moment and have fun, and be with your team while you can.”
The No. 1 singles bracket is pretty open, as both defending champion Amber Shen of Fairview, a sophomore, and Cherry Creek senior Kalyssa Hall, who finished runner-up, opted to not play this season.
In terms of the team race, Fairview jumped out after the first day with 19 overall points. The Knights qualified all seven positions for the tournament, and each one advanced to the quarterfinals. Of those, six remain alive in the semifinals.
Cherry Creek’s Gloria Son. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com) Cherry Creek, the 19-time defending champion and winner of 20 of the past 21 titles in 5A, sits in second place with 18 points. The Bruins have six positions in the semifinals, as well.
Mountain Vista is also in the title hunt with 14 points after the first day. The Golden Eagles have four positions in semifinals.
Fossil Ridge (nine points), Poudre (eight), and Heritage (seven) also scored highly as a team on the first day.
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Pueblo West has a roller coaster of a start at girls 4A state tennis tournament
Pueblo West’s Marirose Bernal returns a shot during the quarterfinals of the 2016 Class 4A girls state tennis tournament. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) PUEBLO — Marirose Bernal didn’t even have time to process her loss in the No. 1 doubles quarterfinals at the Class 4A girls state tennis tournament.
The second the final point went to Kent Denver, she darted out of the court and bolted toward the parking lot.
She had a test. But not just any test. She had to get back to Pueblo West High School to take her IB exam. There was a chance that she wasn’t even going to be able to play. After she and Annemarie Parker beat Niwot’s Emma Lerner and Amanda Duquette in the first round, she hit the books and started watching the clock.
“I would study, go on the court and have study words in my head,” she said. “I’d come off the court, try to study and all I would hear were tennis balls hitting.”
Bernal had to be back at the school at 4:30 p.m. When CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico was alerted of the situation, he told the Cyclones that they would have the first available court for No. 1 doubles so they would have the best chance to complete their match and she could return to the school in time.
The loss was a setback for Pueblo West, but they’re still looking strong going into Friday’s semifinals. They trail overall leader and defending champion Cheyenne Mountain by 12 points, but are determined to make the most of playing on what is essentially their home court.
“We knew coming in because of the competition that all 11 girls were going to have to play their best tennis for three days,” Cyclones coach Sam Pisciotta said. “You have to be on. It’s hard to lose a couple in the first round.”
But they got some of the biggest wins when it mattered the most. In No. 1 singles, Sara Schoenbeck came away with a marathon win over Niwot’s Julia Pentz. The two competed against each other at state last year and during the regular season this year. Each time, the match went to three sets and that streak remained alive Thursday.
For Schoenbeck, the match seemed to drag on for hours.
“It feels like it, oh my gosh it took forever,” she said. “It’s always a long match. I think we play a lot the same. We’re the exact same type of players.”
But in the end, edging Pentz was perhaps the biggest win of the day for the Cyclones. They’ll come into Friday’s session with two players in the semifinals and will have a chance to get more points in playback scenarios.
But it looks to be a tough track to climb back and catch up with Cheyenne Mountain and Kent Denver. The Sun Devils are currently in second place with 18 points. They qualified in six of the seven positions, missing out on No. 2 singles. The Indians remained perfect in play and look to continue that run in the semifinals.
The semifinals rounds will begin Friday at 9 a.m. Playback brackets will be determined based on the results of semifinals and will begin shortly after.