Ponderosa wrestling is turning to one of its former state champions to continue the program’s proud winning tradition.
Athletic director Tim Ottmann announced on Wednesday that Tito Rinaldis will take over as the new coach of the program, filling the spot vacated by Corey McNellis.
Rinaldis is a 2004 graduate of Ponderosa where he wrestled for the varsity program all four years and eventually made his way to the University of Northern Colorado.
At the completion of his four years with the Bears, he returned to Ponderosa as a teacher and an assistant coach to McNellis.
The Mustangs are a traditional wrestling powerhouse that holds 10 team titles. They won championships in Rinaldis’ junior and senior seasons.
The 10 titles are third most in state history, and Ponderosa trails only Rocky Ford (12), Alamosa (11) and Montrose (11).
COLORADO SPRINGS — There isn’t a team in the state that Manitou Springs believes it can’t hang with. And those beliefs are backed up by their results on the field.
The Mustangs broke into the Class 3A girls soccer rankings a few weeks ago. Monday, they went toe to toe with another team that has been gaining steam recently.
Colorado Springs Springs leapt over their Tri-Peaks League rivals in Monday’s new set of rankings. They also came into Monday’s game as the No. 2 team in the RPI.
But it was Manitou Springs who left the Four Diamond Sports Complex with the edge in the league standing after getting a 1-0 win.
“It’s been our biggest win so far,” Manitou coach Ben Mack said. “It feels good.”
And for good reason.
The Mustangs (6-1 overall, 2-0 Tri-Peaks) have just one blemish on their season record. And that blemish came on the road to Jefferson Academy, the new No. 1 team in the state.
In fact, the Jaguars are the only team to even score a goal against Manitou.
“How we are as a team with all this built up camaraderie and the sense of teamwork being a major factor in our success, I think we’re really confident,” keeper Monique Heiniger said. “Coach Mack says before each game that the most important game is the next game. So we treat the next game the same, regardless of who we’re playing.”
But some games do need to be treated with a little more attention than others. For a good chunk of Monday’s game, CSCS (6-1, 2-1) was able to control the ball on the attack. But the Mustangs were able to keep their shape defensively which limited the looks the Lions were able to get.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“We had possession of the ball, probably 70 percent of the time,” CSCS coach Jason Rollins said. “We owned it the whole time. We just couldn’t find a way to get behind them.”
And they made one mistake.
A misfire defensively put the ball on Bridget Bodor’s foot right in front of the CSCS net and she ripped it into the back left corner.
In rivalry game that could serve as the de facto league championship, Bodor had a little more time than she would like to let the implications of the shot enter her head.
“I was definitely nervous,” Bodor said. “But I knew if I focused and I looked where I wanted to go that I could finish it.”
The Mustangs had a 10-7 edge in shots and and even with the four that the Lions had on goal, Heiniger was able to corral them up.
And CSCS couldn’t get the production they were used to from Gabby Huthoefer and Hannah Wilson so the equalizer they were trying to find, never came.
But the one thing that the Lions can take away from the game is that if Manitou can play with anyone in the state, it means that they can do it as well and that the Tri-Peaks overall is on the rise.
“(Our league) is pretty strong,” Rollins said. “The Jefferson Academies, the Colorado Academies, they’re pretty good, but we’re hanging with them.”
But for now, the top 3A dog in the Colorado Springs area is the Mustangs. They had faith coming into the season that they could play with any team in the state. After Monday’s win, there was no talk of faith. There was only belief.
Green Mountain junior JD Wadleigh (22) is greeted by teammates after his 2-run home run against Golden. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — Timing is critical to success in so many ways on the baseball field.
So far this season, Green Mountain has had impeccable timing. The Rams (9-0 record) ripped through its non-conference schedule undefeated, including a 4-0 record in its spring break trip to Arizona.
Green Mountain kept it rolling Monday with a 7-1 home victory over Golden to begin its seven-game conference run in the Class 4A Jeffco League.
“I thought we would have a pretty good start and I feel like we should carry this throughout the season,” said Green Mountain pitcher Matthew Ramirez after picking up his fourth victory on the mound this season.
Ramirez went 6 and 2/3 innings before senior lefty Josh Harkins finished off the game getting the final out on the mound for the Rams. Ramirez, a senior, gave up six hits, six walks and never managed to get a 1-2-3 inning. However his timing was flawless getting critical outs when the Rams needed them.
Green Mountain senior Matt Ramirez picked up his fourth win of the season Monday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Golden (6-4, 0-1) stranded a dozen runners. The Demons’ lone run was off a sacrifice fly by senior Matt Kneeskern in the top of the fifth inning.
“(Green Mountain) got the hits when it mattered and we didn’t get the hits when it mattered,” Golden coach Jackie McBroom said. “I think we had guys in scoring position in five innings. We didn’t get a base hit with a runner in scoring position the whole game. That was the difference in the game.”
The Rams’ defense turned a pair of key double-plays in the sixth and seventh innings to squelch any comeback attempt by the Demons. Ramirez actually started a 1-5-3 double-play in the top of the seventh inning before leaving the mound.
“It was kind of weird because I went to third instead of second,” Ramirez said of starting the double-play with the comebacker to the mound. “At least we got the two outs.”
Green Mountain coach Brad Madden gave a lot of praise to the left side of his infield — third baseman Dylan Jacob and shortstop Kyle Coleman.
“Kyle (Coleman) and Dylan (Jacob) saved our butts a bunch of times with some unbelievable defensive plays,” Madden said. “Defensive plays were the key to Matthew being able to get into the seven inning.”
Offensively, Green Mountain had a pair of 3-run innings in the third and fifth. Junior JD Wadleigh and senior Braden Carpenter led the way combining to drive in five runs. Wadleigh had a 2-run home run off Golden starting pitcher Pablo Simon in the third inning after Carpenter had an RBI groundout.
Carpenter had a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jacob and Ramirez had RBI singles later in the fifth to push the Rams’ lead to 6-1. Carpenter drove in his third run of the game in to bottom of the sixth with an RBI single.
“Starting off league strong is something we were really looking forward to,” Carpenter said. “It’s a good starting point for us.”
Golden’s Jack McLaughlin fouls off a pitch Monday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Green Mountain moved into the CHSAANow.com Class 4A baseball rankings for the first time this spring Monday morning. The Rams enter as the top 4A Jeffco team in the poll at No. 5.
Each 4A conference champion earns an automatic bid to the 32-team postseason field. The remainder of the field will be determined by the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) standings. Madden, who guided the Rams to 4A state titles in 2014 and 2015, would like to win the league outright to not have to worry about the RPI rankings.
“RPI is so up, down and around. You can drive yourself crazy looking at it,” Madden said. “We are just trying to take care of ourselves and win as many as we can.”
Heading into Monday’s game, Green Mountain was No. 7 and Golden held the No. 14 spot in the 4A baseball RPI standings. The Rams and Demons both missed out on the playoffs last year.
Green Mountain attempts to grab its 10th victory of the season on Wednesday, April 12, when the Rams host D’Evelyn at 4 p.m.
Things don’t get any easier for the Demons. Golden hosts defending 4A state champion and No. 7 Valor Christian at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 12.
“We’ve got Valor, so we spend a whole lot of time worrying about this game,” McBroom said. “We’ve got to regroup and get ready to play baseball on Wednesday.”
Green Mountain coach Brad Madden, left, gives senior Braden Carpenter a low-five as he rounds third base after a solo home run in the fifth inning. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
