HIGHLANDS RANCH — Legend baseball beat Mountain Vista 2-1 in a marquee matchup in Class 5A. Both teams are ranked in the top five of the latest CHSAANow.com 5A baseball poll.
Lewis-Palmer is starting to show that it is the real deal when it comes to boys lacrosse. The 6-1 Rangers have broken into the Class 5A CHSAANow.com boys lacrosse rankings at No. 9.
Also joining the 5A poll is Chaparral at No. 10.
Regis Jesuit and Cherry Creek remain the top two teams in the rankings.
The Bruins are coming off a win over No. 3 Mountain Vista this weekend.
Colorado Academy jumps three spots to land at No. 5.
Dawson remains the overwhelming choice as the top team in the 4A poll. Defending 4A champ Valor Christian is sitting right behind the Mustangs at No. 2.
Aspen made a four-spot jump to land at No. 5
At No. 8 and No. 10 respectively, Vail Mountain and Steamboat Springs are the two newcomers to the 4A rankings.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association.
During the regular season, new polls are released each Monday.
Colorado Academy maintained its hold atop the CHSAANow.com girls lacrosse rankings after going 4-0 over the past two weeks.
One of those wins came against Mullen, the No. 9 team in last week’s poll.
Palmer Ridge and Centaurus are the beneficiaries of Mullen dropping out of the poll, coming in at No. 8 and No. 10 after they were previously unranked.
The lone change ahead of Palmer Ridge came with Kent Denver and Cherry Creek swapping rankings. The Bruins jumped Kent Denver into the No. 3 spot.
Dakota Ridge, still undefeated, received one first place vote, but held at No. 6.
Pine Creek moved up one spot to No. 9 this week.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association.
During the regular season, polls are announced each Monday.
To say that there was some shakeup in the CHSAANow.com baseball rankings would be a gross understatement of what happened since the last set of rankings were released two weeks ago.
And if there is a prime example, one should look no further than the Class 4A rankings.
Windsor jumped a staggering eight spots to take over the No. 1 spot in that poll.
The four teams sitting right behind the Wizards? Well, they were all previously unranked. Northridge, Ponderosa, Cheyenne Mountain and Green Mountain all join the rankings this week.
Wheat Ridge (No. 9) and Fort Morgan (No. 10) are also newcomers. Denver North, Valor Christian and Mountain View remain in the rankings at No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 respectively.
The 5A rankings also saw a significant shakeup, though not as extreme as 4A. Rock Canyon takes over the No. 1 spot, replacing Rocky Mountain who falls to No. 3. Legend jumps to No. 2 while Mountain Vista climbs to No. 4.
Mountain Range (No. 6), Eaglecrest (No. 7), Grand Junction Central (No. 8) and Heritage (No. 10) all broke into the top 10.
While 3A saw the most consistency in terms of who was ranked, the overall placement of the ranked teams certainly saw changes.
La Junta jumped to the No. 1 spot, taking over for Lamar.
Manitou Springs jumps a couple of spots to No. 6 while Valley leapt up to No. 7. At No. 9, Gunnison is the only new team in the 3A rankings.
Paonia hangs on to the No. 1 spot in 2A, but Peyton climbs to No. 2 and Holyoke jumps seven spots to No. 3.
County Line, Yuma and Sanford all join the 2A poll this week.
Holly remains the No. 1 team in 1A and Eads holds on to its spot at No. 2.
Caliche, Petz and Antonito are the three newcomers to the 1A poll.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association.
During the regular season, new polls are released each Monday.
Dawson 8, Front Range Christian 8, Lyons 8, Dayspring Christian 7, Burlington 6, Denver Christian 6, Dolores Huerta 6, Limon 6, Evangelical Christian 4, Calhan 3, Dolores 3, Meeker 1.
Dropped out:
Front Range Christian (2), Dawson (4), Calhan (9).
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holly (7)
5-1
88
1
3-0
2
Eads (2)
5-0
71
2
4-0
3
Fleming
5-1
66
4
5-0
4
Cheyenne Wells
2-1
53
6
1-1
5
Nucla
5-5
46
3
3-2
6
Caliche
4-5
35
–
2-3
7
Cotopaxi
5-2
25
8
2-1
8
Stratton/Liberty
1-3
22
9
0-1
9
Peetz
4-2
17
–
2-0
10
Antonito
2-0
15
–
1-0
Others receiving votes:
Denver Jewish Day 12, Granada 12, Kiowa 10, Rocky Mountain Lutheran 6, Otis 5, Community Christian 4, Manzanola 3, Idalia 2, Mile High Academy 2, Elbert 1.
It’s never easy to replace someone with the longevity or the success of a coach like John Olander Jr. But Jarris Krapcha is up to the task.
Eaglecrest has turned to the now former Doherty boys basketball coach to maintain a level of success that has included two state titles in five years.
“Eaglecrest is one of the premiere jobs not only in Denver or in that league, but in the state as a whole,” Krapcha said. “Coach Olander built them into a powerhouse. It’s a very good situation.”
Said Raptors athletic director Vince Orlando in a statement: “Already an accomplished coach with a wealth of knowledge, coach Krapcha is just scratching the surface on continuing his ascent to an elite coach in this state. He is exactly the type of coach we were looking for and we are confident he’ll continue the high-level of success the Raptor basketball program is accustomed.”
In his three years are Doherty, Krapcha compiled a 56-19 overall record. The Spartans made the state tournament in all three seasons and won consecutive Class 5A Colorado Springs Metro League titles from 2016-17.
They made the 5A Great 8 in 2016 before losing to eventual state champion Overland.
“Doherty is a great community with a lot of pride,” Krapcha said. “It’s a hard place to leave. I firmly believe it’s the best job in Colorado Springs.”
Krapcha took over for James Lane, who coached at Doherty from 2011-14. Previously, Krapcha was the head coach at Mitchell for one season, leading them to the state tournament in 2014, and he was an assistant women’s coach at Johnson County Community College in Kansas.
He will be a teacher at Eaglecrest, according to Orlando.
Olander had announced during the season that 2017 would be it for him. He had a strong senior class that was highlighted by Pepperdine commit Colbey Ross and when all was said and done, he would go out a champion.
Olander led the Raptors for 16 seasons, retiring after Eaglecrest won the Class 5A championship in March.
Eaglecrest posted the opening on March 14, and then held interviews last week.
Olander is a 1988 graduate of Fort Collins, where he played basketball for his father, John Sr.
He got his start as an assistant at Northglenn in 1992, and eventually landed the head job at Eaglecrest. He led the Raptors to two state titles, in 2013 when his team upset Denver East, and this past spring with a 53-47 win over George Washington.
“He honestly has built a culture of work and a culture of winning,” Krapcha said of Olander. “That part is in place. I’ll do things differently than Olander. But having that culture aspect in place, all I have to bring is my passion for basketball.”
Ponderosa has hired Max Schuman to be its boys basketball coach, athletic director Tim Ottmann announced on Monday.
Schuman most recently has been the junior varsity coach at Arapahoe, leading the team to an 11-8 record this past spring.
He takes over a program at Ponderosa that was 12-13 under Steve Ketchum last season, making the Class 4A state tournament. Ketchum was 22-26 in two seasons.
Schuman played high school basketball at Arapahoe, where he was a first-team all-state pick as a senior, and then moved on to play college basketball at Colorado College. He was a team captain there, and started at point guard from 2002-05.
After college, he eventually became a graduate assistant at Northern State, a Division II program in South Dakota.
