And the other 15 teams remaining on the bracket should be ready to take shelter for a 32-minute storm.
Pueblo West began its 4A state title defense on Saturday with a 100-49 win over Glenwood Springs, advancing to Wednesday’s Sweet 16.
For a team that came into the state tournament as the No. 7 seed, it looks like the Cyclones might still be the team to beat in 2017.
“It was big for us,” senior guard David Simental said. “We wanted to come out and play hard. We’ve had some lapses in the past couple of years, losing in the first.”
But the Cyclones (22-2 overall) had no intention of dropping out early this year. They also had no intention easing into a rhythm on Saturday. Simental attacked the basket early, scoring 11 of Pueblo West’s first 17 points.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Defensively, the Cyclones attacked the Demons (14-11) with a 2-2-1 press that forced turnovers resulting in early baskets. Many of those coming at the hands of Simental who scored a game-high 32 points.
“David was horrible today and shot way below his season percentages. I’m very upset at him right now,” Cyclones coach Bobby Tyler joked after the game. “We ride David’s back. As much as I would love to take all the credit in the world for a state championship last year, you don’t state championships without kids like David.”
His offensive output backed the Demons into a corner and it soon became evident that they weren’t going to recover. But that didn’t stop a team that started two juniors and three sophomores from trying.
A.J. Crowley led the Demons with 21 points and Angel Garcia added 10. But the most important thing that they took away from the game is playoff experience and a painful loss to the 4A champs is a good way for them to fuel a run for next season.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“They’re go-getters and they’re always hungry,” Demons coach Cory Hitchcock said. “They’ll take this personally and they know they could’ve played better.”
But the Cyclones were not going to be deterred. Their only two losses in the regular season came to Rampart and Pueblo South. The Rams are the 15 seed in the 5A tournament and the Colts ended up No. 2 in the 4A tournament. Their body of work didn’t make Pueblo West feel like the No. 7 seed coming into the tournament.
“We felt like we were No. 1,” Simental said. “The new rankings and things change that, but we feel like we’re still No. 1.”
Regardless of where they ended up, they knew that they had to win five games in order to complete another championship run.
They’ll do it the old fashioned way: one game at a time.
“We’re not too worried about it, we’re just focused on the next game,” Simental said. “Whether we’re the team to beat or not, we just want to win the next game.”
That next game will be on Wednesday. And if the Cyclones advance to the 4A Great next weekend, they could have a chance for retribution against Pueblo South, who beat them 67-64 on Feb. 10.
But there’s no looking ahead for the state champs. If they’re going to repeat, they’re going to make their opponents weather the storm one game at a time.
Vail Mountain’s Maddie Donovan. More photos (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Vail Mountain hasn’t won a state skiing championship since 1991. But Thursday, the Gore Rangers put themselves in title contention.
Vail Mountain’s boys head the pack after the first day, and its girls sit in a tie for second — just five points back of first-place Battle Mountain.
It was all made possible by a number of great individual performances dotting the top-10 in the four events that were held as the state championships kicked off on Thursday. Included: a state championship race from Maddie Donovan, who won the girls nordic skate.
The boys last won a state skiing championship in 1991. The girls have never won.
Thursday started with the giant slalom, an event held on Steamboat’s All Out run.
RJ McLennan. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Evergreen’s RJ McLennan took first in the boys giant slalom, finishing both runs in a combined time of 1:37.8. A senior, he had the fastest time of each run, including a 46.17 second run that was nearly a second faster than the next skier.
Vail Mountain’s Michael Resnick (1:39.0) was second in the event, while Aspen’s Trey Thorpe (1:39.9) took third.
Evergreen had three top-10 finishers, but so did Vail Mountain, and it was the Gore Rangers — with second-, fourth- and sixth-place skiers who took home the most points (171) from the event. Evergreen had 167 points in the giant slalom.
Vail Mountain’s hot start continued in the afternoon’s nordic skate event at the Touring Center, finishing with two racers in the top five.
Middle Park’s Tyler School won the skate, finishing with the top time of 14:39.08. Battle Mountain’s Reilly Franklin (14:42.99) was second, and Cameron Wolfe of Vail Mountain (14:47.34) placed third. Summit’s Peter Haynes was fourth and Vail Mountain’s Peter Littman was fifth.
Through the two events, Vail Mountain’s boys have amassed 331 points, ahead of Aspen, two-time defending champion Battle Mountain and Summit — who all sit in a three-way tie for second with 280 points. Middle Park is currently fifth with 275.
Mariel Gorsuch. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Aspen’s Mariel Gorsuch won the girls’ giant slalom with a two-run total of 1:42.7. The junior went 51.39 in her first run and 51.33 in her second.
Gorsuch’s teammate, Margo McHugh, finished second (1:43.2). Battle Mountain’s Haley Frischholz (1:45.5), a skimeister, took third.
Aspen had four of the top six finishers in the event, though only three can score. The defending champions used that to vault ahead in the team race going into Thursday’s nordic event with 175 points.
But Battle Mountain was just behind after the GS, and used a solid showing in the skate to take the girls’ team lead with 305 points. The Huskies had each of their three scorers place among the top 17.
Vail Mountain’s Maddie Donovan was first in the skate in 16:44.1. Colorado Rocky Mountain’s Kate Oldham took second in 17:03.7, and Vail Mountain’s Bridget Donovan was third (17:12.1).
The huge 170-point showing in the skate, which included Emma Blakslee finishing seventh, catapulted Vail Mountain from fifth into a second-place tie with defending champion Aspen with 300 points.
Colorado Rocky Mountain is fourth with 268 points, and Middle Park and Summit are tied for fifth with 250.
Fielding a program for the first time in more than 20 years, Durango had a strong showing during the first day of the state meet. The Demons had freshman Analise Gates place 10th in the girls giant slalom, and senior Lucas Robbins finish 18th in the boys race.
The state skiing championships resume on Friday at Howelson Hill for both the slalom and nordic classic events.
An electric presence, Borghi rushed for 824 yards and 15 touchdowns last season, and also caught 31 passes for 495 yards and five touchdowns. His season was cut short when he tore his ACL and MCL in his right knee during the playoffs last season.
After the season, he was named first-team all-state in Class 5A. He was also selected to the first team as a sophomore.
Borghi is also a two-time qualifier to the state track meet. Last season, he anchored Pomona’s state-title-winning 4×100-meter relay, and also finished second in the 100 meters, and the 4×200 relay, and was third in the 200 meters.
Borghi joins Valor Christian quarterback Blake Stenstrom and Highlands Ranch safety Ray Robinson as in-state players to commit to CU for 2018.
AURORA — Since 1921, the Colorado High School Activities Association has had eight Secretaries or Commissioners, tasked with leading the Association.
In late April, CHSAA will find out who the ninth will be. The man tasked with leading the group who is making that hire is Eddie Hartnett, the athletic director at Boulder High School who is the president of CHSAA’s Board of Directors.
Paul Angelico. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Current commissioner Paul Angelico is set to retire this summer after 40 years in education, including 26 at CHSAA and six as commissioner.
The Board will ultimately announce Angelico’s replacement to member schools at the Legislative Council meeting on April 20. But they’ve been zeroing in on this process for more than a year.
The application period closed on Feb. 14. And on Wednesday, the Board reviewed applicants for the Commissioner position.
Just before that happened, we caught up with Hartnett to talk about the process for hiring such a prominent position in Colorado high school activities.
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Question: Oh man, where to start? What was the application process like? Were you happy with the quality of the applicants?
Eddie Hartnett: Yes. We thought the application process, being that we held it open for six weeks, gave people enough time to really think about and really put thought into portfolios and resumes — and we received many of those.
Going from first of January to the middle of February, that was a good amount of time as far as allowing people to figure out if they wanted to apply and also have enough time to do it properly.
We do have plenty of qualified applicants that the Board has already reviewed, and on Wednesday, we’ll be talking about where we go from here.
We’re looking at middle of March for the interviews, and we’ll have the interviews here at CHSAA. We will have three different interview committees: the Board of Directors, the administrative assistants, and also the assistant commissioners that haven’t applied or are retiring.
Q: What qualities is the Board looking for in a Commissioner?
Eddie Hartnett. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Hartnett: It’s clear from the Board of Directors that the Board wants to continue the mission and vision that CHSAA stands for, one that Paul Angelico really emphasized over the years that he was Commissioner. They would like to have somebody that cares as much as Paul has for the schools and all the student-athletes, and all the students that are involved in activities across the board in Colorado.
That is what we’re looking for: A person that is compassionate and understands students’ needs, but also the schools’ needs.
Q: To be clear, though, I think many don’t understand that this isn’t just you guys as a group going, “Oh, this is what we’re going to do.” You have spent basically a year getting input from the membership and what they’re looking for.
Hartnett: Right, exactly. We went out for the first time and we decided over a year ago that we wanted to go and personally visit each league.
As a Board, each of the Board members represents an association or three different leagues. I gave the direction to each of the Board members to go to the different leagues around the state of Colorado that they represent and personally hear from each of the schools that participate and are members of that league to create basically the different characteristics (of the position) that each of the leagues wanted.
So each of the schools were heard directly through their leagues at various league meetings.
Q: As a group, the Board has worked very hard to make this whole process transparent throughout.
Hartnett: That’s one of the things that made this process so different than many other hiring processes. For the first time, the CHSAA Board really, really emphasized the need to be transparent to the state, from when we were originally talking about the beginning of the process, to going out to different areas and leagues, taking questions from the leagues and league presidents, and at the All-School Summit.
There were numerous venues that different Board members were able to hit, including CADA outreaches, to field questions and be transparent about the entire process.
Q: Also just in informal settings, too, right? Games, and so forth?
Hartnett: Oh, at games, different competitions. People were asking me questions even at the state wrestling tournament. It creates a comfort and a trust that we’re all in it together and we all want what is best for our athletes and students participating in all activities in Colorado.
So it is a transparent process that is going very smoothly because it’s being so transparent for the first time.
Q: You’re typically a fun, happy-go-lucky guy, but in the this process, I’ve seen your demeanor change. It’s very serious — as it should be. This is a serious thing. Do you feel pressure with this? This is a huge weight to choose the next Commissioner here.
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Hartnett: It’s something that I take very seriously. I’m very honored to be the president, to represent all of the different schools, to represent all of the different leagues, and also this (CHSAA) office.
We want to have somebody here that’s not going to miss a beat, that’s not going to take us backwards, but that will hear from the schools, collaborate with the schools, work with the schools, and lead the parents, communities and students of this state into the next decade.
That’s something that’s not only an honor, but something that you have to take very seriously. Because when I’m not around doing the athletic director job any longer, I want to know that I made an impact, and my legacy could be this person, who’s going to lead maybe even my grandchildren into athletics and activities and have an impact on them.
That’s the way I look at my role and responsibility of representing the state.
Q: In terms of hiring, we’re looking at April?
Hartnett: We’re going to announce at the Legislative Council the person who we have considered and recommended and also voted on as a Board to be approved for the Commissioner role. We will be announcing that formally, and that person will be there at the Legislative Council in April.
Q: And the cool thing with that is they get a couple of months to spend with Paul in transition.
Hartnett: They’ll be able to work closely and under Paul’s mentorship and he can help the new person kind of fit in and answer all of the questions they may have. The nice thing about Paul, too, is he has said he will be available even past that point to assist if that person ever needed it. And that’s really important.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Cheyenne Mountain coach Elgin Fitzgerald issued Harrison a challenge. If the 3-pointers fall, the Panthers had a chance.
But they didn’t. And Cheyenne Mountain allowed next to nothing to convert inside as the No. 30 Indians came away with a 65-41 win in the first round of the Class 4A state boys basketball tournament.
“We knew that they were really good at driving to the basket,” Fitzgerald said. “They have really quick guards and we knew we had to keep them in front of us. Our game plan was to make them knock down some outside shots. They did, but I think they were colder than I think they have been recently.”
As a team, No. 35 Harrison (12-12 overall) could only knock down five shots from behind the arc. And with Cheyenne Mountain forward Luke Martin dominating down low defensively, the Panthers mustered a season-low 41 points in their first playoff game since 2011.
“Their length kind of bothered us,” Harrison coach Orlando Sanchez said. “I give all the credit to (Cheyenne Mountain). They played a good, smart game. They took us out of ours and we couldn’t run. I’m proud of Cheyenne Mountain.”
Offensively, the Indians (9-15) were calm, cool and collected. They built a 25-17 lead at halftime and when the Panthers came out pressing to start the third quarter, there was no worry or panic.
They kept finding themselves in position to knock down shots or make their way to the free throw line. Will Louis, who led all scorers with 20, sank two free throws to push the lead to 35-20. Nicholas Bassett followed that up with a 3-pointer from the corner, forcing a Harrison timeout and sending the Cheyenne Mountain students into a frenzy.
“Nobody in school thought we were going to win this,” Louis said. “It’s nice to get this win. We kind of prepared for (their press). A lot of teams in our league run that diamond press which is a 1-2-2 matchup. Lewis-Palmer runs it, Vista Ridge runs it, so we’ve seen it all year.”
And without the scoring numbers that the Panthers were used to getting from Orlando Westbrook and Quinzel Harding, it proved to be too difficult to claw back into the game.
But as Sanchez walked out of the locker room, he took pride in getting a team that hadn’t known how to succeed since 2011 into a postseason bracket.
“They weren’t well-coached for a lot of years,” Sanchez said. “There was a lot of turnaround for these young men. For them to fight the way they did, I’m so proud of my seniors especially, the way they fought and the way they stuck together.”
It was a momentous occasion for Cheyenne Mountain as well. The school hasn’t made the playoffs since the Indians reached the 4A Final 4 in 2014. To get back into the playoffs and to get the win is something this team will never forget.
“We’re still really young,” Ryan Wallis said. “We’re still just juniors and sophomores so we’ll look to make another run next year.”
Not that they’re counting on this year ending soon. Everyone in the Cheyenne Mountain area knows the story of the semifinal run three years ago.
Fitzgerald is looking forward to seeing his guys start a brand new chapter in the school’s basketball history books.
“We have a young team and a ton of youth in the program,” he said. “We’ve had to battle some injuries and some other things this year so the next guy has had to step up. We have plenty of guys who are ready to step up next year and the year after that.”
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Andrew Mitchell had a hat trick and an assist to lead No. 11-seeded Steamboat Springs to a 6-3 win over No. 22 Rampart in hockey’s playoffs.
David LaPointe, Luke Borgerding and Matthew Kempers also scored for the Sailors, who advance to play No. 6 Fort Collins in the second round on Friday. Adam Hoffman had 23 saves in net.
Rampart was led by Patrick McCann, who had two goals and an assist. James Adams also scored for the Rams.
Ralston Valley senior Trey Sayers, far right, battles for a rebound Wednesday night. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
ARVADA — Ralston Valley senior Jerrod Parker wasn’t where he wanted to be in the final minutes of likely his last home game of his prep basketball career.
Parker fouled out with 3 minutes, 43 seconds left in the first-round Class 5A boys playoff game against Fruita-Monument. The senior finished with a team-high 19 points, but had to trust in his teammates to finish the deal against the Wildcats.
“It’s not the place you want to be, for sure,” Parker said of being on the bench down the stretch. “I was pretty confident from that point that we had it.”
The No. 30th-seeded Mustangs did end up closing the deal with a 69-59 victory. It was the first postseason victory since 2014 for Ralston Valley.
Ralston Valley’s Travis Torline (24) is guarded by Fruita’s Gunner Rigby. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“We just didn’t want to lose. We go out here every time wanting to win,” said Ralston Valley senior Travis Torline, who finished with 15 points. “It was a great crowd here tonight. It was awesome to get this win.”
The Mustangs had tremendous balance with four players in double-digit points. Besides Parker and Torline, senior Trey Sayers finished with 10 points and senior Filip Rebraca came off the bench for a dozen points.
No. 35 seed Fruita (10-14) was led by senior Gunner Rigby, who finished with a game-high 22 points. Senior Trey Morrill was the only other Wildcat in double-digits with 13 points.
“We don’t have a guy who is scoring a lot of points, but we do have a lot of balance,” Ralston Valley coach Mitch Conrad said.
Parker worked his magic in the paint with a number of driving layups and also drew plenty of fouls. The 6-foot-2 senior was 7-for-11 from the free-throw line. Despite the hight advantage, the 6-foot-6 Morrill didn’t have much luck trying to slow down Parker.
Ralston Valley’s Jerrod Parker had a time-high 19 points Wednesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“I’ve been undersized for a long time,” Parker admitted. “I’ve been this height since like sixth grade. I went from a tower to short, but my moves have always been in the post. I’ve had to make it work.”
The work done Wednesday night gives the Mustangs a shot against one of the favorites to win the whole thing.
No. 3 George Washington is waiting in the wings to host Ralston Valley on Saturday on the Patriots’ home court. George Washington (21-2 record) finished its regular season on an 11-game winning streak, which included scoring more than 100 points in three of its final five games.
“They are going to be a good team,” Torline said of GW. “They are 21-2 playing in a tough league, but I think we have the firepower. It’s going to be an exciting game I think.”
Ralston Valley came into the postseason season having defeated rival Arvada West in its regular-season finale to help secure a home game for the opening round. The Mustangs (14-10) finished third in the Class 5A Jeffco League.
“The tempo will be key for us,” Conrad said matching up against the Patriots. “We can’t get in a track meet with them. It can’t be a game in the 90s.”
Two-time defending league champion Chatfield (22-1) and Lakewood (17-6) were the only two 5A Jeffco teams to get a top-16 seed and first-round bye. The Chargers and Tigers will host games Saturday night.
The rest of the 5A Jeffco teams didn’t have much luck Wednesday night. A-West, Columbine and Dakota Ridge all lost their first-round games on the road to leave just Chatfield, Lakewood and Ralston Valley remaining in the tournament for the 5A Jeffco League.
Ralston Valley senior Trey Conrad (23) drives the lane Wednesday during the Mustangs’ first postseason win since 2014. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
