CHSAANow

Month: February 2018

  • Bear Creek boys hoops edges Chatfield with a bizarre twist

    LITTLETON — The unpredictable and wild Class 5A Jeffco boys basketball conference got stranger Saturday afternoon.

    Bear Creek ended Chatfield’s 4-game winning streak on the Chargers’ home court with a 60-55 victory. However, most of the talk after the game is what happened between the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter.

    The scoreboard had Chatfield with a 36-31 lead through three quarters. However, both the official scorebook run by Chatfield and Bear Creek’s scorebook had the Bears with a 34-33 lead. The score was changed on the scoreboard to give the Bears’ a 1-point lead heading to the final quarter.

    “Honesty, I don’t understand it,” said Chatfield coach Stephen Schimpeler, who’s staff and himself pleaded with the three officials that both books at the scorer’s table were incorrect and the scoreboard was actually correct. “I don’t understand how that can happen with two books. Something went wrong.”

    Bear Creek’s Jordan Ramos (3) launches a 3-pointer. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    The officials said that since both scorebooks were identical with Bear Creek (13-7, 8-4 in league) having a 34-33 lead going to the fourth quarter that was the ruling. An official scorebook run by the home team and scorebook run by the visiting team are used as a check-and-balance if there is a scoring discrepancy.

    “All I know was our scorebook and their scorebook was the same,” Bear Creek coach Will Gosch said. “When you have two scorebooks the same I don’t see where there is a controversy. The scorebooks were the same so that is what they went with.”

    It appears the discrepancy between the scoreboard and two scorebooks happened when a 3-pointer by Chatfield junior Luke Carlson with 1:42 left in the three quarter was actually marked down in both books as a 3-pointer for Bear Creek senior Jordan Ramos, hence the 6-point swing.

    Despite the scoring error, Schimpeler admitted the Chargers (11-10, 7-5) didn’t take advance of having enough time to mount a comeback and extend their winning streak to five games.

    “Bear Creek wanted it more than we did, bottom-line,” Schimpeler admitted.

    Bear Creek senior Manuel Perez scored nine points in the fourth quarter, including going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final three minutes.

    “Our system is selfless,” Gosch said about the Bears’ style of play. “If everyone shares and everyone is involved it will work. As soon as one kid tries to take over it doesn’t work.”

    Chatfield’s Liam Mann, right, works on the inside on Bear Creek’s Luke Thompson. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    Junior Grant Karger had a pair of big 3-pointers for the Bears in the final quarter and senior Jovan Dodig scored on a trio of drives inside the lane in the fourth.

    “Every day we work on contact and finishing through contact,” said Dodig, who finished with a game-high 20 points. “We talk about moving the ball and the lanes would open up. If the lane is there I’m going to take it.”

    Chatfield seniors Liam Mann (16 points), Isaiah Reed (12 points) and Keland Rumsey (7 points) led the Chargers’ rally attempt in the fourth quarter.

    The win leaves Bear Creek tied with Columbine for second in the league with two conference games remaining.

    Arvada West (14-7, 9-3) took sole possession atop the league Friday night with a big 55-50 road victory at Columbine (11-10, 8-4). The conference champion gets an automatic bid to the 48-team 5A state tournament and is guaranteed a top-32 seed that would bring at least one home playoff game.

    The Bears will need some help by either Pomona or Ralston Valley who face the Wildcats next week to reel A-West back for Bear Creek to have a chance to win the league title.

    “We stopped looking at that. That was really a pressure for us,” Gosch said about the league race. “Let’s just take one game at a time and we are really taking one practice at a time.”

    While Jeffco’s chase for the league title has been entertaining with a handful of teams in the mix coming into the final week, the RPI rankings haven’t been in the conference’s favor.

    Coming into Saturday’s games A-West (RPI #23), Dakota Ridge (RPI #29), Columbine (RPI #34), Bear Creek (RPI #36) and Chatfield (#42) were all within the top 48, but no Jeffco teams would be in the top 16 seeds to get a first-round bye. Likely just two teams would get first-round home games.

    Lakewood (RPI #51), Pomona (RPI #55) and Ralston Valley (#56) are all on the outside looking in when it comes to the postseason.

    Chatfield closes on the regular season with road games at Dakota Ridge (Tuesday) and Columbine (Friday).

    Bear Creek, who as at the top of the conference for much of the league play, finishes the regular season with road games at Lakewood (Tuesday), Pomona (Thursday) and Central of Grand Junction (Saturday).

    Bear Creek’s Grant Karger, left, goes for a block on Chatfield’s Keland Rumsey. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

  • 4A girls swimming: Divers pave way for Rampart to claim team title

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    THORNTON — It was clear after Saturday’s diving prelims, that Rampart had some work to do to bring some hardware home. Maggie Buckley, a first year diver for the Rams, answered the call.

    She gave her team a big boost, taking a final score of 464.25, finishing second only to Valor Christian’s Izzi Mroz. But it was probably the turning point of the meet. The Rams held off defending Class 4A champion Cheyenne Mountain to claim the program’s first state title.

    “Every point matters,” Rampart coach Dan Greene said. “We had a morning swim at our home meet down in Colorado Springs. We decided to go home, sleep in our own beds and come up after our wake-up swim. That was where we talked about where each girl was and where they can move up. And they did it. They did what they needed to do.”

    The finals started the same way that Friday’s prelims did. The 200-medley relay team of Catriona Clarke, Edenna Chen, Allana Clarke and Lindsey Immel lowered their state record to one minute, 42.86 seconds and claimed gold.

    Cat Wright gave Cheyenne Mountain its first win, going 2:02.53 in the 200-indivdiual medley, showing Rampart that worked needed to be done in order to upend the defending champ.

    It was the performances by Buckley and Gabrielle Peltier that gave the Rams the lead after six events and really put control of the meet in their hands.

    “It felt amazing to do this for the team,” Buckley said. “I love all the girls on Rampart. I have such a great relationship with all of them and it just felt really great.”

    The best chance for the Indians to regain some ground came in the 200-freestyle relay. A win would’ve given them enough points to regain first place and hopefully create some distance with the Rams.

    But the Indians came in fourth as Valor Christian set a meet record in the event, finishing in 1:35.90.

    “I felt like (we had control) going into the 200-free,” Greene said. “If the girls held their place or got better, we were going to win the meet.”

    If there was any doubt that the Rams were on the verge of championship glory, Chen erased them when she upset Air Academy’s Aleksandra Olesiak in the 100-breaststroke.

    Adding a solo title to the relay win earlier in the night made the entire experience just a bit sweeter for the junior.

    “I really just wanted to support the team,” Chen said. “We were really close to winning so I wanted to get more points for us.”

    The Rams were seeded first in the 400-freestyle relay, but finished second to Valor Christian. But it didn’t matter.

    As long as they didn’t disqualify themselves, Rampart had all but wrapped up the championship heading into the race.

    The failure to repeat for Cheyenne Mountain, while disappointing, doesn’t deter coach Kate Doane from constantly trying to improve the program.

    That’s easy for her to do by simply making the swimming team a part of the school that the kids actively want to be a part of.

    “I think it’s been people coming out for the team and seeing how fun it is,” Doane said. “And they stay together through the years.”

    In all, four record were set at the state meet, the relay records from Rampart and Valor, and Fort Collins’ Audrey Reimer set records in the 100-backstroke (54.22) and the 100-fly.

    Heritage’s Kylie Andrews was named swimmer of the year at the conclusion of the meet.

  • Photos: No. 7 Grandview boys basketball edges No. 6 Overland

    AURORA — No. 7 Grandview boys basketball edged No. 6 Overland 68-65 on Saturday.

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  • Final results from the 2018 state wrestling tournament

    This season’s state wrestling tournament is Feb. 15-17 at the Pepsi Center.

    Go to:

    [divider]

    State brackets & results

    Download: PDF

  • Schedule for the 2018 state wrestling tournament

    State wrestling generic
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    The schedule for the 2018 state wrestling tournament at the Pepsi Center is below.

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    Thursday, Feb. 15

    2A/3A

    • Weigh-in: 11:30 a.m.
    • Preliminaries: 3-6:15 p.m. (10 mats)

    • • Clear house • •

    4A/5A

    • Weigh-in: 1 p.m.
    • Preliminaries: 7:15-10:45 p.m. (10 mats)

    [divider]

    Friday, Feb. 16

    2A/3A

    • Weigh-in: 7 a.m.
    • Championship quarterfinals: 9:30 a.m. (10 mats)
    • First round consolation: Immediately following previous round

    4A/5A

    • Weigh-in: 8 a.m.
    • Championship quarterfinals: 12:45 p.m. (10 mats)
    • First round consolation: Immediately following previous round

    • • Clear house • •

    2A/3A

    • Second round consolation: 5:30-6:45 p.m. (10 mats)

    All classes

    • Semifinals: 7 p.m. (8 mats)

    **4A/5A

    • Second round consolation: 7 p.m. (1 mat each class). (As mats become available, expand to 10 mats)

    **4A/5A wrestlers competing in the second round consolation will begin at the same time as the championship semifinals — 4A on Mat 1; 5A on Mat 10.

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    Saturday, Feb. 17

    2A/3A

    • Weigh-in: 8 a.m.
    • Third round consolation: 10 a.m. (10 mats)
    • Semifinal consolation: Immediately following (as mats become available)

    4A/5A

    • Weigh-in: 8:45 A.M
    • Third round consolation: 11:30 a.m. (10 mats)
    • Semifinal consolation: Immediately following (as mats become available)

    2A/3A

    • Fifth place: 1:30 p.m. (10 mats)
    • Third place: Immediately following (as mats become available)

    4A/5A

    • Fifth place: 2 p.m. (10 mats)
    • Third place: Immediately following (as mats become available)

    • • Clear house • •

    • Doors open: 5:30 p.m.
    • Parade of Champions: 6:30 p.m. (4 mats)

  • Photos: Records set as Rampart claims 4A girls swimming title

    THONRTON — Four state meet records were set and Rampart claimed the team title at this weekend’s Class 4A girls swim meet.

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  • 5A girls state swimming: Gillilan, Fossil Ridge kick off the meet with a bang

    Fossil Ridge girls swimming Zoe Bartel
    Coleen Gillilan. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    FORT COLLINS — Fossil Ridge picked up right where it left off at last year’s girls swimming state championships.

    The SaberCats, in search of a repeat championship, and third in the past four seasons, had a dominant showing on the first day of the Class 5A girls swimming state prelims at the Edora Pool Ice Center.

    Their swimmers had the top qualifying time in seven of the eight individual events, and the team also qualified first in two of the three relays.

    The SaberCats set the tone with the first event of the day, the 200 medley relay. They finished in 1:39.68, just off of their state record of 1:39.40 set last season. The SaberCats have their sights set on the national public high school record of 1:39.25 set in 2015.

    Fossil Ridge also qualified first in the 200 free relay (1:34.57), narrowly missing the state record of 1:34.40 set by Cherry Creek in 2011.

    Individually, Coleen Gillilan, a junior, lowered her own state record in the 100 butterfly with a time of 52.17. She also had the top time in the 200 yard freestyle, bettering her seed time in the 200 by 3.7 seconds to 1:47.56.

    Zoe Bartel qualified first in the 200 IM (2:01.74) and the 100 breaststroke (1:01.6). She is seeking to defend both events from the 2017 meet.

    Kylee Alons qualified first in the 50 (22.70) and 100 (49.70) freestyle races. Alons won both events last season.

    Bayley Stewart had the top prelim time (54.55) in the 100 backstroke, an event she won last season.

    Bartel, Alons and Stewart are all seniors.

    Caraline Baker, a sophomore, also qualified second in both the breaststroke and the butterfly.

    5A girls swimming Kathryn Shanley Chatfield
    Kathryn Shanley. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Elsewhere, Chatfield freshman Kathryn Shanley burst onto the scene with a great showing in prelims. She qualified first in the 500 (5:06.81), edging Fairview junior Amelie Lessing (5:07.88). Shanley was also third in the 200.

    Regis Jesuit had an excellent performance in the 400 freestyle relay. The Raiders’ group of Meriel Upton, Parker Biley, Sophia Bradac and Jada Surrell-Norwood had the top prelim time in 3:29.24. Fossil Ridge was second in 3:29.94, and Mountain Vista was third in 3:35.07.

    The night closed with a swim-off for the last spot in the 100 butterfly finals. Legacy’s Kandice Chandra (58.33) edged Douglas County’s Margaret Kroening (58.98).

    The meet will resume on Saturday with diving prelims at 9:30 a.m., and the finals begin at 3 p.m.

  • 3A girls swimming: Longmont wins state title in meet’s final event

    Longmont 3A girls swimming
    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    THORNTON — What fun is a full day of swimming competition if it can’t come down to the last event?

    Longmont and Pueblo County will never know. They battled back and forth all afternoon at the VMAC in Thornton, with each hoping to walk away with the Class 3A girls swimming championship.

    After Amanda Blickensderfer held off Manitou Springs’ Sydney Dolloff-Holt in the 100-yard breaststroke, the Hornets took a six-point lead into the final event, the 400-freestyle relay.

    But a missed wall in the consolation final curbed County’s hopes. Despite a second-place finish in the championship race, Longmont came away with 203 total points, good enough to stand atop the podium when the final results came in.

    “It’s so exciting,” sophomore Lucille Matheson said. “Especially because last year we didn’t perform as well as we thought we could.”

    Matheson got the ball rolling for the Trojans, claiming the 200-individual medley in two minutes, 8.86 seconds.

    That race helped Longmont bounce back from what a disappointing day in perlims. In the blink of an eye, the Trojans went from probable contenders to fighters.

    “It was a mixed blessing,” coach Kelly Shipley said. “We needed to get knocked down a peg or two.”

    It was clear that they came into Friday knowing that every point and every race mattered. Matheson helped again with a second-place finish in the 500-freestyle, finishing in 5:05.98.

    Freshman Emma Svendsen took fourth in the 100-backstroke (59.54), but it was after the 200-freestyle relay that the Hornets overtook the Trojans in total points.

    Longmont 3A girls swimming
    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    The saving grace for Longmont was that Pueblo County was swimming in the consolation final in the 400-freestyle relay. The Trojans had a shot, and were expected, to win the event. Pueblo County freshman Rachel Paolucci missed a turn and County finished fifth in the consolation race.

    St. Mary’s Academy ended up winning the event, but the unexpected finish for County helped Longmont secure its first state swimming title.

    “They knew (they had to swim well in the 400),” Shipley said. “We don’t look at points. I think we had a bigger spread than they were aware of, which was good.”

    County was another team in search of its first title, but that piece of history will have to wait another year.

    “They’re devastated,” County coach Dan Radiff said.

    But there is hope for his team. He doesn’t lose a single swimmer from this year’s squad and will easily enter next year as a favorite to secure the title that eluded them by the slimmest of margins this year.

    He just hopes that his girls can draw on the experience of this year to push them forward next season.

    “You don’t learn lessons from wins,” he said. “You learn lessons from losses.”

    Blickensderfer, a junior at County, excelled for her team this year, claiming wins in the 100-breaststroke, 100-butterfly and in bother the 200-medley and 200-freestyle relays.

    The Hornets didn’t come away with the championship, but she could not have been prouder of how her team performed over the two days at state.

    “Victory is not found in the idea of a trophy,” she said. “It’s found in the idea of coming together and being a family. And knowing what we did today, the history that we made, we came together.”

  • Arvada West boys basketball grabs inside track to 5A Jeffco title

    LITTLETON — The ball is officially in Arvada West’s court.

    A 55-50 road victory over Columbine on Friday night gave A-West (14-7, 9-3 in league) a 1-game lead over the rest of the Class 5A Jeffco boys basketball field with two conference games remaining.

    “It feels good for the moment, but we aren’t done yet,” said A-West senior James Pelon who scored 19 points in Friday’s big win. “We still have a huge game Tuesday against Pomona. It’s not over yet.”

    It’s been a wild sprint to the league title with a handful of teams still in the mix as the regular season wraps up next week. However, the Wildcats are just two victories away from winning the conference title outright.

    A-West’s Josh Rogers (0) battles with Columbine’s Logan DeArment. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    A-West has rivals Pomona (10-11, 5-7) and Ralston Valley (3-17, 0-11) remain on its conference schedule next week. The Wildcats defeated both the first go-around in league play.

    “It sounds good, but we still know we’ve got work to do,” A-West junior Josh Rogers said of the Wildcats closing in on a fifth boys basketball league title in the program’s history. “Next week isn’t going to be easy at all.”

    It wasn’t easy Friday night. Columbine (11-10, 8-4) came in having won 7-of-8 games and not having lost a conference game on its home court. The Rebels looked primed to sweep the season-series against A-West with a 34-27 lead minutes into the third quarter, but the Wildcats rallied.

    A-West went on a 12-0 run while holding Columbine scoreless for nearly six minutes in the third quarter.

    “We were lacking energy in the first half,” said Rogers, who poured in 11 points in the critical third quarter on his way to a game-high 20 points. “The focus at halftime was to go out and make plays, don’t be scared and don’t back down. If you are going to make a mistake make it going 100 percent.”

    While Pelon and Rogers carried the majority of the scoring load combining for 39 points, junior Ethan Lindeblad (7 points) and Josh Yago (4 points) both had big baskets in the fourth quarter to hold off the Rebels.

    A-West’s Taylor Kline (10) plays defense on Columbine’s Luke O’Brien. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    “I’m so proud of our guys tonight. We didn’t play well in the first half,” A-West coach Jeff Parriott said. “I thought we got a boost from our younger kids. We were a little more assertive in the second half.”

    Columbine couldn’t buy a bucket at times in the second half while being held to just 21 points after halftime. Still, Columbine sophomore sensation Luke O’Brien (15 points) launched a 3-pointer in the final seconds that could have tied the game. His shot from long range missed the mark and Yago sank a pair of free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory.

    “That’s a really good team,” Parriott said of Columbine. “They have had a great run the last few games and they aren’t done either. It’s a well-coached team where we had to play really well to win.”

    The work is far from done for Columbine or A-West.

    The Rebels have home games against Ralston Valley (Tuesday, Feb. 13) and rival Chatfield (Friday, Feb. 16). The Chargers (11-9, 7-4), winners of four straight, hosts Bear Creek (12-7, 7-4) at 1 p.m. Saturday. The winner at Chatfield High School tomorrow afternoon will be tied for second place in 5A Jeffco with Columbine just a game behind A-West.

    “Two games removed from celebrating,” Parriott said of closing in on the league title. “You have to play them one at a time.”

    Columbine had its 4-game win streaks snapped, but the Rebels still have a chance to win the 5A Jeffco League title. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

  • No. 1 St. Mary’s girls basketball overcomes slow start to beat No. 3 CSCS

    CSCS St. Mary's girls basketball
    (Kelsey Lowry/CHSAANow.com)

    COLORADO SPRINGS — Seneca Hackley and Josephine Howrey’s lock down defense provided Class 3A No. 1 St. Mary’s girls basketball with the needed jolt to defeat No. 3 Colorado Springs Christian School.

    In a full house on Friday night, St. Mary’s (16-0 overall, 10-0 3A Tri- Peaks) got off to a slow, rough start. In the first half, CSCS (15-3, 9-1) took control of the game with a few key steals and rebounds to give them a 10-point lead. The CSCS girls held onto an eight-point lead going into halftime.

    The second half was a different story and St. Mary’s came alive. With a smooth 3-pointer from Howrey and keeping CSCS to only scoring one point in third quarter, the Pirates were within three points of the Lions going into the fourth.

    The game stayed close from then on.

    With no baskets from both teams in two minutes of the fourth quarter, Brooklyn Valdez drove the ball in to get a basket for the Pirates that tied the game. Both teams continued to battle it out and were stuck in a tie when Howrey came up big and dropped a three putting St. Mary ahead for the first time of the night and ended with the CSCS girls getting their first league loss.

    “It was a tale of two halves,” St. Mary’s coach Mike Burkett said. “They came out and did what they wanted to do the first half and so we made some adjustments and did some things we needed to do, and we came out and did what we needed to do.”

    CSCS St. Mary's girls basketball
    (Kelsey Lowry/CHSAANow.com)

    The rest of the game consisted of Howrey and Makenna Bodette making baskets that put them ahead 43-36. A free throw from Hackley cemented the lead.

    The Lions never gave up though and Megan Engesser continued to battle, giving CSCS two baskets within the last minute of the game. However, it wasn’t enough as the St. Mary’s girls increased their winning streak to 16 games and remain undefeated for the season.

    “They have some great players and a great coach and it’s a great win,” Burkett said. “Defensively we did really well but we need to work on getting better offensively and if we do that, we’ll be fine going into the playoffs.”

    The defensive effort for the Pirates was led by Hackley and Howrey blanched things out on the offensive side, scoring 16 points. Valdez added 11 points.

    “This was definitely a learning experience for us and they’re a good team so it’s really good for us to get the win,” Hackley said. “This was really exciting and it’s a big step for us with state coming up.”

    Engesser provided the Lions with 16 points tonight and Rachel Ingram helped with 11 points of her own but was ultimately not enough to beat the undefeated Pirates.

    St. Mary’s girls has three more games left in the season, but with Friday’s win they’re feeling pretty confident and are looking forward to March basketball and the possibility of seeing the CSCS girls again, possibly as soon as the district tournament.