AURORA — Softball is looking to keep its postseason structure the same. At least for the 2017 season.
The sport’s committee met on Thursday, and opted to neither change the percentages used in the RPI formula (which helps determine postseason fields), nor the seeding criteria that was put in place prior to the 2016.
“The committee wanted the opportunity to have one more year of data to study before making any changes,” said Bud Ozzello, the CHSAA assistant commissioner in charge of softball.
The 2017 softball season will be the final year of the 2016-18 two-year cycle.
Their recommendation means softball’s RPI formula will likely stay at 25 percent for a team’s winning percentage, 50 percent for their opponents’ winning percentage, and the final 25 percent for the winning percentage of their opponents’ opponents.
The committee also kept the number of automatic qualifiers from each league the same.
“They thought that was important to ensure representation,” Ozzello said.
The softball committee report will need to be approved by the Legislative Council at its January meeting.
Friday night, two of the most prominent football programs in the state of Colorado square off in a do-or die-contest to keep their season alive.
One of the most historical rivalries in Colorado football adds another chapter to its book as Cherry Creek coach Dave Logan will make his first trip back to Mullen since joining the Bruins. The Mustangs will look to make it a sour comeback for Logan and his Bruins.
The Mustangs come in as one of the big time title contenders in the 5A field. Mullen comes into the game averaging 37 points per game while the Cherry Creek defense has allowed an average of 13 points.
Offensively, the Mustangs are lead by Jovan Tafoya and Marcus McElroy Jr., and are averaging 407.5 yards of total offense per game, but the Bruins offense looks to slow down the Mustangs.
(Renee Bourcier/CHSAANow.com)
Plagued by injuries the Bruins have played thin all year but the loss to University of Colorado commit Jonathan Van Diest is another name in the long list of Creek injuries.
“Injuries are a part of the game,” junior defensive lineman Gunnar Garcia said. “It’s so important to us as a team when it’s time for practice, you always (have to be) locked in and ready to go if you’re called upon to go into the game because of an injury.”
But that all goes out the window come game time. The matchup between Cherry Creek and Mullen is just one of several marquee matchups in the Class 5A quarterfinals.
“There’s no doubt this will be one of the toughest and grittiest football games we’ve played yet,” Garcia said. “But we are playing our best football at the right time and the team and I couldn’t have higher hopes.”
Another chapter in the history book will be written Friday night at 7 p.m. The game can be seen on the NFHS Network.
Alex Reddington is headed to the Big 10. The St. Mary’s Academy senior signed her letter of intent to swim for the University of Wisconsin on Wednesday.
Reddington is a Class 4A state champion in the 100-meter butterfly and 200 freestyle races and holds school records in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 fly, 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay, and the 400 freestyle relay.
“I chose the University of Wisconsin because of the extraordinary athletic department and the high level of academics,” Reddington said in a statement released by the school. “I knew from the moment I met the swim team and coaches that it was the school for me. The coaching philosophy and dedication of the athletes made it clear that, with their help, I will achieve my goals and be the best athlete I can be.”
But before she can jump in the pool with the Badgers, Reddington has one more season with the Wildcats.
St. Mary’s Academy will join the new 3A class that begins competition this year. Reddington will look to add several 3A records to go with with her already impressive school records.
The following information shows the designated home team for potential playoff football matchups to be completed by Saturday, Nov. 26. The formula for determining the home team is shown on page 50 of the football bulletin.
Sites are determined each week at the CHSAA office, one-and-a-half weeks prior to the next round. When possible, this will be live-streamed.
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Explanation
How the home sites are determined.
For 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A: The team with the fewest playoff home games will host. If equal, the higher seed will host.
For 2A: The team with the fewest playoff home games will host. If equal, the higher seed will host. Exception: If playoff home games are equal, and the opponents are from the same conference, the school with the higher conference standing in the regular season shall be the host.
For 8-man and 6-man: The team with the fewest playoff home games will host. If equal, a coin flip determines the home team.
In 3A, the higher seed will host the championship game regardless of the number of home games.
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Future home sites
Key: Home games – Fewest home playoff games; Higher seed – The highest seeded team; Mileage – One-way mileage.
AURORA — The volleyball committee met on Tuesday, and while nothing changed for next season, the group is exploring potential changes to the postseason format down the line.
They committee ultimately created a subcommittee that will be tasked with looking at the postseason. Among things that subcommittee will consider:
Keeping the pool play format at state, or moving to a bracket.
The structure of the regional tournaments, as well as the district tournaments at the 1A and 2A levels.
The location of the state tournament, currently held at the Denver Coliseum.
The number of days the state tournament runs. Right now, it’s held over two days.
Geography and travel, and the role they play in the postseason.
The potential of adding a Class 6A in the near future, and what that would look like.
The subcommittee will likely meet in early 2017, and then forward any recommendation to the volleyball committee to consider at its meeting next November.
“We are hoping to spend a year getting feedback across the state with regard to the improvements that can be made to our state tournament and postseason, as well as any ideas on what our state tournament would look like if we were to move to six classifications,” said Bethany Brookens, the CHSAA assistant commissioner who oversees volleyball.
But that’s not to say changes will definitely be made to the postseason structure.
“It’s not a guarantee we’re going to be making any changes,” Brookens said. “We’re only reviewing the whole format and seeing if there are better ways to do things than the way we currently are.”
The committee did have a thorough conversation about the RPI formula, and lengthy discussion about whether or not the percentages in the formula needed to change. But the group ultimately unanimously voted to keep it at the current percentage split of 25 for winning percentage, 50 for opponents’ winning percentage and 25 for opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage. They did want to review the data again after next season, however.
The committee did change the start time of the championship matches from 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the Saturday of the state tournament. This was made because over the course of the past couple of years, the finals have consistently been delayed by late-running semifinals.
The volleyball committee report will need to be approved by the Legislative Council in January.
AURORA — Baseball was the first sport to use the new RPI format for its postseason last spring, and on Tuesday, its committee recommended tweaks to the percentages used by the formula.
The committee voted to recommend a change from the standard formula to one that puts more weight into a team’s winning percentage.
Noting that the formula uses a team’s winning percentage (WP), opponents’ winning percentage (OWP), and opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage (OOWP), the standard formula used during the 2016 season is:
RPI = (¼ × WP) + (½ × OWP) + (¼ × OOWP)
The baseball committee’s recommendation is to use:
RPI = (0.35 × WP) + (0.35 × OWP) + (0.30 × OOWP)
“The committee spent a great deal of time discussing the weight each segment of the formula should be given,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bert Borgmann. “They ultimately felt that more emphasis needed to be placed on a team’s winning percentage and how they did against their own schedule.”
The recommendation to change the RPI percentages for baseball will need approval from Legislative Council at its January 2017 meeting. If approved there, the new percentages would be used for the spring 2017 season.
The committee also recommended changes to the seeding procedures for the Class 3A-5A postseasons. They would like the seeding committee to use the following tools, without implementing any as hard-and-fast rules:
RPI standings
Head-to-head results from non-league games
League standings
Strength of a league
Geography
Additionally, the committee recommended moving to a quadrant format for regionals as opposed to the current true seeding. This means that instead of a straight No. 1 through No. 32 seed, there would be four No. 1 seeds, four No. 2s, four No. 3s, and so on, through four No. 8 seeds.
The quadrant format would allow the seeding committee more freedom in moving teams. It has been used by the basketball seeding committee in the past, and was also used by 5A football in 2014 and 2015.
As far as regional hosts go, they recommended:
No changes to the current 3A format, where there are not automatic hosting spots given to league champions.
No changes to the current 4A format, where the top eight league champions according to the RPI are given regional hosting bids.
A process in 5A where only two teams from one league would be allowed to host. The hope here is to spread the regionals around the state in different leagues.
In 1A and 2A, no changes were made to the seeding process, meaning that district champions will continue to automatically qualify for the regional/state bracket, with at-large spots filled by the RPI. Teams will continue to be seeded by the RPI, with some consideration given to avoiding district matchups.
Finally, no changes were made to the current pitch count rule, but the committee did recommend that teams ease pitchers up to the limits early in the season, rather than maxing out right away.
Again, all of this will need to be voted on and approved by the Legislative Council in January.
AURORA — The cross country committee has recommended a change to how teams score at the Class 2A state meet.
Currently, 2A teams can run six total runners, with their first three finishers counting toward their point total. On Monday, the cross country committee recommended changing that to running six and scoring four. The proposal originally came from the Mile High League.
The recommendation now moves forward to the Legislative Council, where it will be voted upon during the January 2017 meeting.
“The change is great to continue the evolution of cross country at the lower classification,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Jenn Roberts-Uhlig, who oversees the sport. “There is, however, worry and concern for those 2A schools with a low enrollment, and if this will make it harder for them to qualify for the state meet as a team.”
If the change were to be approved, a team would need to have at least four runners qualify for the state meet. Currently, schools only need three to compete as a team.
The Legislative Council next meets on Jan. 26, 2017 in Aurora.
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Notables
The committee also recommended that each regional have at least three officials. Currently, regionals are only required to have one official.
With talk of potentially adding a 6A classification across the Association, the committee also discussed whether or not the sport would add a fifth class if that happened. No decision was reached, as everything is still in preliminary stages.
The committee forwarded a recommendation for an entry fee to the state meet as the cross country is a non-revenue producing sport. The proposed fee is $50 per team (with separate fees for boys teams and girls teams), or $10 per individual.
Cross country’s state qualifiers will be processed on Monday beginning next season, moving from Sunday.
COMMERCE CITY — Titus Grant has been waiting four years to hoist a soccer state trophy. And after a fourth-straight trip to the state title game, the team’s leading scorer was able to accept the hardware for his team and thrust it towards the sky.
After TCA finished as a state runner-up five times out of the last six years and Grant had to sit out last year’s final upon a yellow card penalty in the semifinal round, the senior forward led the Titans to the program’s first-ever boys soccer state title.
“The evolution of Titus Grant over the last four years has been absolutely incredible,” Titans head coach Blake Galvin said. “And to see him with the ability to literally lead this team into a state final like this and win a state championship is fantastic. He deserves it and he’s been a terrific leader for this team.”
“This is by far the biggest game I’ve ever played in my life, and to hold that trophy is a moment I’ve been waiting for,” Grant said. “It means a lot to me, especially after not playing last year, and finishing freshman and sophomore year as the runner-up. It’s probably the best feeling in the world right now, being able to lift a trophy with my brothers who have played all these years with me — especially the 12 seniors we have on the team this year.”
The Titans, 18-2, have advanced to the state title game five times in the last six years in two classifications: 2010, 2011 and 2013 in Class 3A and 2014 and 2015 in 4A; but the Titans have failed to produce a victory until the 2016 final, which was won behind an offensive effort of seven goals from six different scorers.
“For these boys to finally get over that hurdle – my group of seniors who have been to four straight – for them to get over that hurdle, it was big for them,” Galvin said. “The reality is I think that experience really is what helped them get over that hurdle. The fact they’ve been here, they played composed, they played a great game and I’m just really, really proud of them.”
The first goal of the game was an absolute heartbreaker for the Huskies. In the 13th minute off a shot from TCA junior midfielder Jonny Stephens, the ball hit the crossbar and as Battle Mountain junior goalkeeper Alan Villegas went up to get the ball, and it fell below him, past the goal line and into the goal for the first lead of the game.
Stephens was credited with the goal, but Villegas essentially scored on himself.
“It was unlucky for him and it kind of got him down a bit, which helped us, but Battle Mountain is a great team,” Grant said.
After that, the Titans also had goals from Grant (his 30th), senior forward Jaden Borja, junior midfielder Jake Slater, junior forward Nathan Fronterhouse and senior midfielder Jeremy Baldes.
Battle Mountain, 17-3, was able to get on the board with 11 minutes remaining in regulation, but another Stephens goal in the last four minutes sealed the 7-1 victory for the Titans.
Battle Mountain, winner of the 2012 4A state title, played very fast, cheeky and physical. Senior Creek Kamby was very quick and sharp with ball movement and junior forward Juan Macias also proved to be an force for the Huskies. There were opportunities to score, but they didn’t finish.
“It’s a team effort today,” Grant said. “We’re brothers and we play together. Six goals scored? That’s pretty crazy to come into a final and win 7-1. That’s pretty big.”
The seven goals put TCA at 121 total for the season – “Which is ridiculous,” Galvin said. “That’s a huge number of goals. They are a prolific goal scoring machine.”
