Below is a list of girls tennis’ regional schedules for the 2017 season.

[divider]

Class 5A

Region 1

• Date: May 3-4 (May 5 if rain)
• Site: Fairview
• Site contact: Terrin Kelly
• Coaches meeting: 
• Schools: Fairview,* Lakewood, Legend, Legacy, Rangeview, Cherokee Trail, Arvada West

Region 2

• Date: May 3-4
• Site: Cherry Creek
• Site contact: Chris Jacob
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Cherry Creek,* Poudre, Castle View, Brighton, Highlands Ranch, Eaglecrest

Region 3

• Date: May 4-5
• Site: Colorado Athletic Club Inverness
• Site contact: Tim Ottman
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Ponderosa,* Ralston Valley, Doherty, Boulder, Aurora Central, Horizon

Region 4

• Date: May 3-4
• Site: Fossil Ridge
• Site contact: Brandon Carlucci
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Fossil Ridge,* Grandview, ThunderRidge, Broomfield, Prairie View, Douglas County, Dakota Ridge

Region 5

• Date: May 3-4
• Site: Redstone Park
• Site contact: Jim Flanigan
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Mountain Vista,* Arapahoe, Rocky Mountain, Palmer, Gateway, Columbine, Hinkley

Region 6

• Date: May 3-5
• Site: Ken Caryl Ranch
• Site contact: Craig Aukland
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Chatfield,* Fort Collins, Heritage, Fountain-Fort Carson, Adams City, Chaparral, Pomona

Region 7

• Date: May 4-5
• Site: Colorado Mesa University
• Site contact: Paul Cain
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Fruita Monument,* Grand Junction, Rock Canyon, Smoky Hill, Mountain Range, Bear Creek

Region 8

• Date: May 3-4
• Site: Denver City Park
• Site contact: Michelle Topf
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Denver East,* Regis Jesuit, Monarch, Northglenn, Far Northeast, Overland, Thornton

[divider]

Class 4A

Region 1

• Date: May 4-5
• Site: Flying Horse & Discovery Canyon
• Site contact: Mike Humphrey
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Discovery Canyon,* Air Academy, Liberty, Pine Creek, Rampart, Sand Creek

Region 2

• Date: May 4-5 (May 6 if rain)
• Site: Kent Denver
• Site contact: Richard Judd
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Kent Denver,* Denver South, George Washington, Littleton, Palmer Ridge, Thomas Jefferson

Region 3

• Date: May 3-4 (May 5 if rain)
• Site: Pinehurst CC
• Site contact: Vicky Conte
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Mullen,* Lincoln, Kennedy, Valor Christian, Vista PEAK, Wheat Ridge

Region 4

• Date: May 3-4
• Site: Centennial Courts
• Site contact: Rick Schmitz
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Greeley Central,* Greeley West, Loveland, Mountain View, Windsor, Thompson Valley

Region 5

• Date: May 3-4 (May 5 if rain)
• Site: Longmont Rec Center
• Site contact: Chase McBride, Niwot
• Coaches meeting: May 1, 7 p.m., Niwot
• Schools: Niwot,* Skyline, Longmont, Silver Creek, Centaurus, Northridge

Region 6

• Date: May 4-5
• Site: Cheyenne Mountain HS
• Site contact: Kris Roberts & Jackie Jones
• Coaches meeting: May 2, 6 p.m., Cheyenne Mountain
• Schools: Cheyenne Mountain,* Coronado, Mitchell, Falcon, Mesa Ridge, Lewis-Palmer, Widefield

Region 7

• Date: May 5-6
• Site: Pueblo City Park
• Site contact: Norm Vail, Pueblo South
• Coaches meeting: May 2, 6:30 p.m., Pueblo South
• Schools: Pueblo South,* Pueblo Centennial, Pueblo West, Pueblo East, Canon City, Durango

Region 8

• Date: May 3-4 (May 5 if rain)
• Site: Lakewood Park Tennis
• Site contact: Kris Nielsen
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Evergreen,* Golden, Green Mountain, Grand Junction Central, Montrose, Standley Lake

[divider]

Class 3A

Region 1

• Date: May
• Site: Colorado Academy
• Site contact: Jon Hill
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Colorado Academy,* Alameda, Bishop Machebeuf, Denver West, Skyview

Region 2

• Date: May 3
• Site: Broomfield Swim & Tennis; City of Broomfield
• Site contact: Ben Peterson
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Holy Family,* Englewood, Jefferson, Lutheran, St. Mary’s Academy

Region 3

• Date: May 3-4
• Site: Dakota Ridge HS
• Site contact: Jerry McWhorter
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: D’Evelyn,* Arvada, Denver North, Conifer, Justice, Prospect Ridge

Region 4

• Date: May 5 (May 6 if rain)
• Site: Centennial Park, Greeley
• Site contact: Steve Longwell
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: Eaton,* Fort Morgan, Fort Lupton, Sterling, University

Region 5

• Date: May 3-4 (May 5 if rain)
• Site: Erie & Frederick HS
• Site contact: Justin Carpenter
• Coaches meeting: May 1, 7 p.m., at Erie HS
• Schools: Erie,* Berthoud, Dawson School, Frederick, Mead, Peak to Peak

Region 6

• Date: May 4 (4 p.m.)-May 5 (9 a.m.)
• Site: Memorial Park
• Site contact: Marc Knutila
• Coaches meeting:
• Schools: St. Mary’s,* Colorado Springs Christian, Colorado Springs School, Sierra, Vanguard

Region 7

• Date: May 4 & May 6
• Site: Pueblo City Park
• Site contact: Cherie Toussaint
• Coaches meeting: May 2, 6:30 p.m., D70
• Schools: Pueblo County,* Fountain Valley, Pueblo Central, Salida, La Junta, Harrison

Region 8

• Date: May 5-6 (May 7 if rain)
• Site: Canyon View Park, GJ
• Site contact: Christina Curtis
• Coaches meeting: May 4, 7 p.m., GJ
• Schools: Delta,* Glenwood Springs, Aspen, Steamboat Springs, Montezuma-Cortez, Cedaredge, Vail Mountain, Paonia, Basalt

LAKEWOOD — No. 7 Dakota Ridge girls lacrosse took care of business against Evergreen in a 20-9 win.

Hannah Krats had eight goals and two assists.

[divider]

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”640″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_mosaic” row_height=”180″ margins=”5″ last_row=”justify” lazy_load_enable=”1″ lazy_load_initial=”35″ lazy_load_batch=”15″ display_type_view=”default” ngg_proofing_display=”0″ captions_enabled=”1″ captions_display_sharing=”0″ captions_display_title=”0″ captions_display_description=”1″ captions_animation=”slideup” is_ecommerce_enabled=”1″ order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”10000″]

AURORA — Taylor Parker scored the lone goal of the game and Allie Zerr got the assist as Grandview girls soccer beat Class 4A No. 1 Valor Christian 1-0 on Thursday.

[divider]

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”642″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_mosaic” row_height=”180″ margins=”5″ last_row=”justify” lazy_load_enable=”1″ lazy_load_initial=”35″ lazy_load_batch=”15″ display_type_view=”default” ngg_proofing_display=”0″ captions_enabled=”1″ captions_display_sharing=”0″ captions_display_title=”0″ captions_display_description=”1″ captions_animation=”slideup” is_ecommerce_enabled=”1″ order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”10000″]

(Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)

If Denver East girls lacrosse coach Mallory Cleveland could have her players take one thing away from this season, it’s a love of the game.

“I’m just trying to get that love of the game across and make sure that they’re leaders on and off the field,” Cleveland said. “Building that drive to want to succeed, but learning how to accomplish the baby steps to get to what the end goal is.”

Well, a championship would be good cherry on top.

Since Denver East lost in the 2010 championship to Cherry Creek, the Angels have not made it past the quarterfinals save for a 2015 final four appearance.

This year, Cleveland wants to change that.

“(Co-coach Chris Romer) and I have been a part of this program for four years,” Cleveland said. “It’s been really fun because our seniors have been with us since the first year and they’ve really taken a big role in helping to grow the program and bring a new level of passion and commitment to East lacrosse.”

Denver East is ranked second in the official CHSAA girls lacrosse RPI and fourth in the latest CHSAANow.com girls lacrosse rankings. 

This team is the first group of seniors that Cleveland and Romer have coached all four years, so it is the brain child coming to fruition for the two coaches.

It’s only natural that Cleveland chose three of her seniors as the difference makers this season.

“I would say the Hermann twins have been extremely consistent throughout the whole season. They have so much passion and lacrosse IQ that they’ve done a great job of helping to bring the team into their own,” Cleveland said. “Lily (Hermann) on the attack side, Thyra (Hermann) in the midfield and Maddie Wells on the defensive side. (Wells) is another senior captain who is just an incredible player with so much passion and talent.

“The three of them together make us go.”

(Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)

Denver East sits on top of the Metro League with a 6-0 record and can clinch the league title with a win against No. 1 Colorado Academy on Friday.

“It’s huge, it’s a fun game for us. It’s a league game and it’s always been a rival of ours,” Cleveland said. “It’s also fun because a lot of the girls on their team and our team play on club teams together, so the girls have a great time playing against their friends.

“It’s an all-around great game to challenge ourselves and play at a higher level.”

Colorado Academy sits just under Denver East with a 4-0 record.

What makes this Denver East team so dangerous isn’t the balanced scoring led by Kate Burney’s 36 points and Lucy McHugh’s  24 goals, the 19 other different goal scorers and the four with 20-plus goals.

“I would say everywhere on the field is a strength. All over the field, they’re extremely strong, so it’s nice to be balanced and be able to run our own game on both defense and offense,” Cleveland said. “I think the girls have really worked hard to grow our offense this year.”

No, something much scarier.

This Angels team is experienced. 

Denver East has six seniors and nine juniors. Sprinkle in the freshmen duo of the McHugh twins (Lucy, Tess) and you have a recipe for success.

“We’ve taken a strong approach of staying focused and staying confident,” Cleveland said. “It’s helped to know what the end goal is, but instead of focusing on that end goal, we’re just looking at the baby steps so that we can accomplish it.”

The Angels have also seen top competition this season. After the March 5 game against Chaparral, Denver East will have played six of the nine other teams in the CHSAANow.com rankings from this week.

“With our scheduling, I always try to schedule the toughest games that we can,” Cleveland said. “It’s better to learn from tough wins and losses and to grow from that. I would prefer to have a challenging schedule so that once we get into playoffs, we are more prepared.”

The only top teams that haven’t seen Denver East are ThunderRidge, Palmer Ridge and Dakota Ridge.

But the Angels could care less who they see on the schedule, they treat each and every game like it’s the most important game of the season.

“Every game, we come in and we don’t want to think about who we’re playing necessarily,” the Denver East senior captions said. “We want to think that every game is going to be the toughest playoff game that we’re going to play. With that attitude, we can come out with the most intensity and most passion.”

Cleveland has Denver East ready to compete for a championship, and they’re loving the game along the way.

(Photo courtesy of Jared Felice)

Jared Felice started his teaching and coaching career at Fountain-Fort Carson. The 2001 graduate of Mesa Ridge High School became a social studies teacher, the dean of students and also worked on the varsity football coaching staff under Mitch Johnson.

Now he’s headed back there to oversee the athletic department.

After two years as the athletic director at Sand Creek, Felice is returning to his roots to take the athletic director position that was vacated by Chris James.

James is returning to his hometown of Pueblo as the new principal at Pueblo West. He served as the AD for the Trojans for one year.

That left the door open for Felice who jumped at the opportunity to get back to his hometown.

“I am very grateful for the opportunity to return to my roots at Fountain-Fort Carson HS and once again serve this special community,” he said. “I am fully committed to upholding the mission and vision of the district and high school in driving the athletics program in a new direction that advances our coaches and student-athletes toward success.”

The Trojans boast a standout track and field team and will head into the football season under the second year of new coach Jake Novotny.

Felice will have to jump right into the decision making process as the school is without a boys basketball coach. Gregory Williams will not be returning to the program.

Felice is unsure if he will make a hire, but says he may be a part of the process.

He will finish out the school year at Sand Creek and start as the FFC athletic director at the start of the next school year.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

CASTLE ROCK — Douglas County baseball coach Craig Gienger thinks that the Continental League is the best baseball league in the state.

Bar none.

He started league play by winning five straight games before dropping his last two, so he might know what he’s talking about.

He said humbly after his Huskies dropped Wednesday’s game to Regis Jesuit 4-3.

“On any given day out here, with anyone there are no gimmies in our league,” Gienger said. “Everybody has talent and they’re all well-coached.”

It just turned out that the Raiders (11-4 overall, 5-2 Continental) were also timely hitters. They were able to put Huskies (11-5, 5-2) pitcher Lucas Degarmo to work early, getting his pitch count into the 30’s in the first inning.

Jimmy Holinger’s single to lead off the game led to the game’s first run as he scored on a Michael Baer single.

“I’m the leadoff hitter so I have to get on any way I can get on and score,” Holinger said. “Our guys moved me over and Michael hit me in.”

That was just in the first inning. Those two would also play crucial roles late in the game.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

The Huskies though, would briefly take the lead in the second inning as an Adam Taylor triple scored Jack Lisowy and Tim Wink. The ball was overthrown at third and Taylor bolted for home, but got a cleat stuck in the dirt and was tagged out.

If Regis Jesuit was timely, Douglas County was showing to be unlucky.

The Raiders retook the lead in the top of the third as Baer drove in Brodie Marino for his second RBI of the game. Austin Chouinard grounded out to second on the next play, but Geno Macias was able to score on the play.

Crobin Geisendorff scored in the bottom of the third as Reggie Williams put one off the raised chainlink fence in right field.

Both teams had lost handedly earlier in the week, but this was shaping up to be a Continental League slugfest.

“Usually if we (only) have a one-run lead, they’re always tough games,” Holinger said. “We knew we had to play through seven innings.”

The Raiders hit pay dirt in the fourth, however. Tyler Gayle worked the count full before drawing a walk with one out. Connor Cunningham struck out, so with two down, it was Holinger coming to the plate.

He ripped a double down the left field line and Gayle was able to round the bases and score to give Regis a 4-3 lead.

Geisendorff led off the Douglas County half of the fifth with a double, but Brett Johnson was called out for leaning into a pitch and a couple of fly balls ended any hopes of a rally.

The Huskies had one last chance in the seventh.

Regis Jesuit brought in Baer to close out the game, clinging to that one-run lead.

Geisendorff walked to start the inning and was sacrificed over by Johnson. The tying run stood 180 feet away with one out and Murphy Gienger at the plate.

But Baer wasn’t phased.

“I know when to bear down and keep my mind calm and not be wild,” he said.

The Huskies did give him a little bit of help though. A miscommunication between coach and player saw Geisendorff break for third during Gienger’s at-bat. He was thrown out.

Gienger walked and Williams flew out to left field to end the game, giving the Raiders a win they knew they needed coming in.

“Coming into the week with Heritage, Douglas County and Legend, if you can take two out of three or even split the first two, you’re in good shape,” Raiders coach Matt Darr said. “At this point we’re 9-0 in two-run games or less. There’s a lot of confidence if we can get to the late innings with Baer on the mound.”

Regis Jesuit will wrap-up a tough week of play with a home game against Legend on Thursday. Douglas County will stay at home and host Highlands Ranch on Friday.

LITTLETON — No. 8 Colorado Academy boys lacrosse improved to 9-3 this season with an 8-2 win over Heritage on Wednesday.

[divider]

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”636″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_masonry” size=”180″ padding=”10″ display_type_view=”default” ngg_triggers_display=”always” captions_enabled=”0″ captions_display_sharing=”1″ captions_display_title=”1″ captions_display_description=”1″ captions_animation=”slideup” is_ecommerce_enabled=”1″ order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”10000″]

ENGLEWOOD — Fifth-ranked Kent Denver girls soccer had a scoring outburst in a 10-1 win over St. Mary’s Academy on Wednesday.

Carly Wiley, a freshman, led the way with a hat trick, while fellow freshman Annabelle Johnson scored twice. Emma Billings also had two goals.

[divider]

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”637″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_masonry” size=”180″ padding=”10″ display_type_view=”default” ngg_triggers_display=”always” captions_enabled=”0″ captions_display_sharing=”1″ captions_display_title=”1″ captions_display_description=”1″ captions_animation=”slideup” is_ecommerce_enabled=”1″ order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”10000″]

(Courtesy of Palisade HS)

Palisade baseball is off to a 13-3 start, ranked ninth in the latest CHSAA RPI standings in Class 4A. And a big reason why is senior pitcher John Taber.

Taber is now 5-1 this season with a 1.81 ERA. But since his appearance on March 30 — a span of five games — he is 3-0 with a 0.39 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 18 innings.

Included is a perfect game against Glenwood Springs in his last outing, a 12-0 win on April 22. Taber struck out four in his flawless five innings. He is the only pitcher in Class 4A to throw a perfect game this season, and one of three in the state to do so.

It was also the first perfect game of his high school career.

The Bulldogs have now won seven consecutive games.

AURORA — Asher Nolting led the effort with four goals as No. 1 Cherry Creek boys lacrosse beat Grandview 19-4 on Wednesday.

[divider]

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”638″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_mosaic” row_height=”180″ margins=”5″ last_row=”justify” lazy_load_enable=”1″ lazy_load_initial=”35″ lazy_load_batch=”15″ display_type_view=”default” ngg_proofing_display=”0″ captions_enabled=”1″ captions_display_sharing=”0″ captions_display_title=”0″ captions_display_description=”1″ captions_animation=”slideup” is_ecommerce_enabled=”1″ order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”10000″]