The senior won the 100 meters in 11.31, tying the time set by former George Washington star Caryl Smith in 1987.
“The hundred has never been my race,” Minor said. “I’ve always been a 400 runner so just seeing that time, I was really shocked. I didn’t really know how to take it at the time. And when I saw that it was wind legal, I was like, ‘OK, we’re good.’ It feels really good. I’m really happy about it.”
Minor entered with a seed time of 11.79. Her previous personal best was 11.38, which she ran at the Mullen Invitational in 2018.
Minor’s time of 11.31 also breaks the previous Class 5A state meet record of 11.33, set by Regis Jesuit’s Ana Holland in 2013.
With the win, Minor is now a four-time champion in the 100 meters.
“It felt like every other race I’ve run,” Minor said. “I was really just in tunnel vision and focused on getting to the line. Once I got there and kind of just relaxed, seeing that time up there was pretty surreal.”
AURORA — No. 21 seed Cheyenne Mountain defeated No. 8 Silver Creek to reach the Class 4A girls soccer championship game on Saturday.
The contest started with Cheyenne Mountain outshooting Silver Creek, 3-0 before a lightning delay just 7:27 in halted action.
Two more delays occurred before the end of the half, and when play finally resume, Cheyenne Mountain struck with 7:06 remaining on senior Lisa Long’s score from senior Emma Hanson’s perfect assist.
“It was pretty tough,” Cheyenne Mountain coach Nikkie Athey said postgame about the three 30-minute weather delays. “We were just sitting there, but they picked it up. When it comes down to it, I’m a cheerleader, and they’re players. They finished it. It’s unbelievable. Absolutely incredible. We had our struggles at the beginning, and now we are getting into our stride. These girls are amazing and fought so hard. They deserve it.”
With a shot advantage of 10-1 at the half, Cheyenne Mountain controlled the flow and time of possession by a sizeable margin. As the shortened halftime came to a close, Silver Creek put up quite the fight in the second half.
Outshooting Cheyenne Mountain 6-4 in the second frame, Silver Creek found their offensive rhythm, but solid defense from CM didn’t allow SC to find the back of the net.
The goal from Long held, and Cheyenne Mountain now looks for its first state title since 2015. They were 4A state champions 2013-2015.
“It’s honestly all so crazy,” Long said. “At the beginning of the season, no one would have thought we would have gotten here. We have a new coach, and we have a lot of younger girls, so it’s really exciting and a little surreal. Honestly, everyone loves a good underdog, and we are just trying to deliver and our season didn’t show the type of team we were, but every single girl on this team works so hard every single day. We never give up, and that’s why we are here.”
Playing through injury, Long and the group’s other seven seniors look to accomplish a dream set long ago with a state championship Wednesday at 5 p.m.
“This has been a dream of mine since I was little. I always came to all of the state games watching the Cheyenne girls play and win a bunch,” Long said. “It’s out of this world to be able to play in my own state game and hopefully get another title for our school.”
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Evergreen 3, Sand Creek 1
(Adam Hothersall/CHSAANow.com)
No. 3 Evergreen advanced to the title game after their 3-1 win over No. 7 Sand Creek.
As the physical play of both group’s displayed themselves throughout the afternoon, possession wasn’t easy for either group to sustain.
Splitting time through the first half, Evergreen tallied one more shot (5-4) than Sand Creek, and that one extra attempt proved to be the difference. On a sprint, freshman Elizabeth Rapp dropped in a beautiful shot to the top right corner of the net to give the Cougars a one-goal advantage; a lead they never gave up.
Heading to halftime down one, Sand Creek came out with a different energy to start the second. Controlling time of possession with two more shots than Evergreen the first eight minutes, the Scorpions pushed Evergreen’s defense and senior goaltender Sarah Straut.
However, the Cougars got back to their first-half offensive rhythm as freshmen Catherine and Rami Rapp showcased their speed on the front line, attempting multiple close shots.
Despite the relentless attack, SC sophomore goaltender Alexia Montero kept coming up with clutch save after clutch save, including a diving stop to preserve the one-goal deficit with 30 minutes remaining.
Finally, to put things away, goals from Rapp (with 7:47 left) and sophomore Myla Stewart extended the Cougars’ lead to three with 4:22 left.
Sand Creek got on the board with 26 seconds left on sophomore Sydney Lasater’s goal, but on the day the Cougars attempted 13 shots to Sand Creek’s nine.
Evergreen looks to win their first 4A state title since 1997 on Wednesday against No. 21 Cheyenne Mountain.
LAKEWOOD — The Monday following the final Manitou Springs football game of the year, Jayden Omi was hobbling around Richardson Field on crutches.
“Ask me about the stupid knee injury I suffered on the last game of the season,” he said with a bit of a laugh.
It wasn’t a funny injury. It was a torn ACL. He had to wait more than two months to have surgery to repair it, but the entire time he had his mind set on returning.
His return was made complete on the final day of the state track meet where Omi claimed gold in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.97 seconds.
“I had a long season and wasn’t expecting to get here,” Omi said. “After working with my doc, my (physical therapist) and my coaches I was able to make it to state. I got in those blocks today and I knew I was going to win.”
Omi later won the 200 to add to his trophy collection, making his weekend at track one of the most remarkable comeback stories in recent memory.
“I always thought if he raced this year state would be a long shot,” Manitou boys coach Stryker Lane said. “I didn’t know a lot about what the recovery times would be, but if he came back I didn’t think he’d be in the form that he was last year.”
Omi finished fourth in the 100 last year. He wasn’t in 2018 form; he was better. Omi is also the lone athlete for the Mustangs competing at the state was determined to make sure he and his school didn’t come away empty-handed.
Colorado Academy edged Prospect Ridge Academy 2-0, then Jefferson Academy followed with its own 2-0 win over Kent Denver.
Jefferson Academy beat Colorado Academy earlier this year, 1-0. The two teams will play for the Class 3A title Wednesday, 7 p.m. at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
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(1) Colorado Academy 2, (13) Prospect Ridge Academy 0
(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Mari Annest knocked it in off the post to open it up. Then, Maya Pellegrini added the dagger three minutes later to send Colorado Academy to the Class 3A title game.
“It was about time we put one away,” Annest said after the game. “It was great service from (Pellegrini).”
Pellegrini was active offensively, trying multiple times to set Annest up with an opportunity.
Colorado Academy advanced with a controlled attack, continually chipping away — sometimes quite literally — at the goal. Including Annest’s goal off the post, the Mustangs heard the clang of the crossbar and posts four separate times.
“It was definitely a really frustrating first half,” Annest said. “We were putting a lot of pressure on ourselves and rushing forward.”
All it took to ease the frustration was a talk from head coach Sean Stedeford at halftime.
“At halftime, our coaches talked to us about calming down and playing our game,” Annest said. “We play a really good possession-style soccer, and that actually led to us getting that corner.”
And all it took to fully erase the frustration was the result of that corner — an Annest header off the near post and into the back of the net. It was her 37th goal of the season.
“Not just from a coaching standpoint, but from a team standpoint, it sort of calmed the nerves a little bit of like, ‘Ok, we’re alright,” Stedeford said.
After making its way to the Class 3A semifinals with two double-overtime wins in a row, Prospect Ridge Academy couldn’t find the goal against a rock-solid Colorado Academy defense.
“We’re incredibly organized,” Annest said. “Our defenders, midfielders, and goalkeeper do an amazing job. They’re super organized in the back. They’ve been super solid all year, so props to them.”
This season, Colorado Academy (18-1) has allowed just five goals in 19 games.
Colorado Academy threatened early and often, starting with an opportunity in the 13th minute by Pellegrini. Pellegrini got in on goal, but Prospect Ridge Academy’s Linda Leahy stopped her shot.
Colorado Academy and Pellegrini continued to apply pressure in the 16th minute. Pellegrini set up Annest with a cross in front of the net, but Leahy stoned Annest.
Leahy had 20 saves in the semifinal game.
“We had a great lions share of the possession,” Stedeford said. “Had great attempts on goal, couple big time saves, couple posts. That first half could be completely different.”
The Mustangs continued their offensive flurry in the second half as Britt Lochhead’s shot hit off the far post, and minutes later Catie Groves sent a shot off the crossbar in the 51st minute. Lochhead continued the barrage on the goalposts with a header off a corner kick straight into the crossbar.
Colorado Academy beat Prospect Ridge Academy 10-0 in April. The Mustangs were played much closer earlier in the season against the two teams on the other side of the bracket, Kent Denver and Jefferson Academy. Colorado Academy came away with a 2-0 win against Kent Denver, and lost 1-0 to Jefferson Academy (the Mustangs’ only loss this year).
“Prospect Ridge put up a big time fight,” Stedeford said. “That was a bit unexpected for our girls, but I think the resilience that that group had shown in previous rounds came through today.”
Sarah Spitz wasted no time as she squeezed a shot through the hands of Mika Fisher in the fifth minute after the Jaguars were flying into the box, peppering the Kent Denver goal.
Taylor Franco extended the Jefferson Academy lead to 2-0 toward the end of the first half. Minutes later, Brooklynn Kirkpatrick made a terrific diving save off of a deflected shot in the 40th minute to keep the 2-0 Jefferson Academy lead heading into halftime.
The Jaguars survived yet another Kent Denver attack in the second half to keep the shutout with a shot off the crossbar, a rebounded shot, and eventually a kick-save from a defender.
The early attack from Jefferson Academy held up and advanced the Jaguars into the title game.
Kent Denver beat Jefferson Academy 1-0 in the first meeting between the two teams.
DENVER — For the fifth consecutive year, Colorado Academy and Cherry Creek will square off in the girls lacrosse state championship following a 14-8 win for the Mustangs over Valor Christian and a 12-11 victory for the Bruins over Regis Jesuit.
[divider]
Colorado Academy 14, Valor Christian 8
(Theodore Stark/tstark.com)
The undefeated Colorado Academy Mustangs continued their recent dominance in the state, rolling the Eagles 14-8 behind big performances from senior Sloane Murphy and sophomore Katherine Merrifield.
The two combined for nine of the 14 goals netted.
Colorado Academy held control of the game from the jump, scoring the first three goals, two of which came in the first three and a half minutes of play.
“Our main focus throughout the season has been to focus on what we can control,” Murphy said. “It doesn’t really matter who we are playing, we just have to stay focused on our game plan and our objectives.”
“There is always room to improve,” Murphy continued. “We have a ton that we need to work on and I think our coaches are excited to implement some new stuff in upcoming practices. Regardless of who we play, we have to stay focused on us.”
The Mustangs took a 7-2 lead into the half and seemed to have the game in control. Valor made a game of things in the middle, but Colorado Academy quickly shut the door and closed out the victory.
“We had to run our game and focus on us,” Colorado Academy head coach Steph Sanders said. “Valor is a great team and they really made us execute our game plan today and I couldn’t be more proud of our girls.”
Colorado Academy has won the last four state titles, but they are not satisfied with their recent success.
“We are going to learn some things from this game and take them into the next game,” Sanders continued. “There are things that we need to improve on and we have got to do them very quickly. We must treat this game as if it were any other game, but we also have to execute a great game plan against a very challenging opponent.”
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Cherry Creek 12, Regis Jesuit 11
(Theodore Stark/tstark.com)
In a back-and-forth contest, the Cherry Creek Bruins took down the Regis Jesuit Raiders, 12-11, thanks to the late game heroics of Amelia McCarthy.
The first half was dominated by defense, but the Cherry Creek was able to make the most of their opportunities, converting four of their seven goals from the free position. Regis also scored one of their goals from the free position.
Regis Jesuit caught fire in the second half, going on a 6-0 advantage that would gain them their first lead since 22:35 left in the first half. Maddie Ferguson scored three goals during that run and Krissy Rael found the net twice.
The Bruins did not go down quietly, bouncing back for two goals of their own.
The two sides entered the final minute of play tied at 11. The Bruins ran the clock down and Amelia McCarthy dodged to her right, found open space and sent the Bruins to their 22nd consecutive state championship game.
PARKER – Two years ago, Arapahoe’s girls soccer team made the Class 5A state championship game as a No. 12 seed before falling just short of the school’s 10th title.
This Wednesday night, the Warriors will find themselves in the same position, but with a chance at redemption. For the second time in three years Arapahoe made the 5A title game as the 12th seed, and will have another go at a 10th crown when it faces Centennial League rival Grandview at 7 p.m. at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City.
The defending champion Wolves defeated No. 14 Ralston Valley 1-0.
“The senior group that we have this year learned so much from that crew,” Warriors coach Mark Hampshire said after his team weathered a 75-minute lightning delay and overcame a second-half deficit to defeat Rocky Mountain 3-2 on Saturday in the 5A semifinals at EchoPark Stadium.
“They watched the camaraderie, they watched the work ethic. They watched them have a lot of fun. The culture that we have here at Arapahoe really kind of feeds season to season – we don’t start new. We just kind of reload.”
Lauren Walter scored both the tying goal and the game-winner for Arapahoe (15-3-1) with less than 12 minutes remaining Saturday. The Warriors had tied the semifinal up at 2-2 in the 60th minute, benefiting from an own goal after Walter’s shot was deflected into the net by a Rocky Mountain defender.
Eight minutes later Walter found the back of the net after a strong throw-in from teammate Ryan Renshaw.
“It was all Ry Renshaw’s throw-in. She has a really big arm, and so we all just kind of wanted it,” Walter said. “We’ve been practicing all season for getting the head on and getting the flick. So when she threw it and some of the defenders missed it, I knew it was wide open. I just went for it.”
Arapahoe twice fell behind the Lobos Saturday on similar plays. Rocky Mountain (13-5-1) scored both of its goal off corner kicks, with Madison Hand heading both balls into the back of the net after Warriors goalkeeper Grace Cadorette made spectacular saves that led to the set pieces.
Hand’s second goal came only five minutes after the teams were forced into the locker room for a pair of lightning delays. The teams were two minutes from resuming play after the first delay, only to have to exit the field for another lightning strike in the vicinity.
When play resumed, Hand broke free and had a one-on-one opportunity that a diving Cadorette deflected out. Hand followed that up with a strong finish off the set piece.
“After Grace made such a great save, to kind of lose a little mental focus – in our game, all it takes is one mental breakdown, and it can change the game,” Hampshire said. “Great credit to Rocky Mountain. They are a fantastic team. They obviously work on their set pieces – probably the best we’ve seen so far this year.”
Hand and Arapahoe’s Audrey Weiss scored off set pieces midway through the first half, with Weiss’ goal coming just 41 seconds after the Lobos took the lead.
Arapahoe hasn’t won a state championship since 2006, falling in the title game in 2010 and 2017. The boys team won the 5A crown last fall after defeating Grandview.
“It’s a lot of fun to see the girls be resilient and be a bright spot for the school,” Hampshire said. “They’ve worked so hard. We went through a hard spot with three losses in a row, and the seniors in particular – great leadership from all of them – they said ‘hey, we’re not finishing this way.’”
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Wolves seeking fourth title in five years
(Brian Miller/CHSAANow.com)
It took a while to penetrate a stingy Ralston Valley defense, but the ball finally bounced the way of Shalom Prince and her Grandview teammates.
Prince had a shot stopped in the 53rd minute of the second half, but the rebound went right back to the senior. Prince took advantage of the empty net, giving the Wolves the lead and the eventual 1-0 victory over 14th-seeded Ralston Valley on Saturday.
Grandview (16-2-1) will have the chance to defend its title Wednesday night and go for a fourth 5A title in five years when it plays Arapahoe at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
“A lot of our stuff is on following the shots,” Prince said. “When you hit it, you just look for the next one because you just expect it to miss anyways. It was just lucky that it came right in front of me and I was able to put it away.”
Ralston Valley (13-4-2) was up to the task against Grandview’s offense. Mustangs sophomore keeper Lilly VanAlsburg finished with seven saves, but Ralston Valley struggled to find its own chances against Grandview’s defense until midway through the second half.
The Mustangs put four shots on goal down the stretch, but Wolves keeper Maddie Livingston turned them all away.
“When you score and you’re up, you get a little bit tight,” Grandview coach Tari Wood said. “We stopped possessing and doing a little bit of the stuff that we were doing so well. They got pretty determined and started running through the ball a little bit more than we did at the beginning.”
Grandview and Arapahoe played to a 2-2 tie back on April 2.
“Looking back now, I don’t mind that it was a tie,” Wood said. “It’s hard to beat a team two times in a row. It’s an even match for us.”
LAKEWOOD — Over the course of an eight-lap race, separation between the winner and the rest of the field usually spans several seconds.
In perhaps the most thrilling running event during the opening day of the state track and field championships, with all classifications competing at Jeffco Stadium, less than a full second (0.13) separated Madeleine Burns from Samrawit Dishon in the 4A girls 3,200.
Burns clinched the title in 10 minutes, 53.63 seconds, barely nipping Dishon’s 10:53.76.
“I can’t really believe it,” the Durango junior said. “It’s always been a goal of mine ever since freshman year. Now that it’s happened, I’m still kind of in shock.”
The 3,200 is the longest distance event Colorado prep track athletes compete in and, for many, the eight-lapper can be equally challenging mentally and physically. Burns had enough of both to beat a talented field that included Joslin Blair (Eagle Valley) and a trio of Niwot girls in Lucca Fulkerson, Layla Roebke, and Dishon.
Several girls took the lead at various stages of the race, but Dishon and Burns pulled away the final two laps. They traded leads a few times, but Dishon had a strong surge that threatened Burns’s title hopes.
Ultimately, the Durango standout pulled even with Dishon, then had enough closing speed to overtake her in the final fifty meters. Burns had to be at the top of her game to outlast them all as Blair (11:00), Fulkerson (11:03), and Roebke (11:05) rounded out the top five.
“I knew it would be a really competitive field just because 4A has a lot of really good girls,” Burns said. “I wanted to hang with the pack, then make a move with 800 to go. It turns out I didn’t really get to do that. I just hung on and tried to save a little bit for the last lap.”
That little bit proved to be enough for the distance star to claim her first gold medal at the state meet. She finished 12th in the 3,200 as a sophomore, but had the No. 1 seed (10:50) entering the season finale.
Challengers loomed Thursday with Dishon proving to be the greatest threat.
“I knew her from cross country and Niwot always has a lot of really strong runners,” Burns said. “They had six girls in the two mile, so I knew they would be a force to be reckoned with.”
Burns was eager for the test. Training in Durango, at an elevation around 6,500 feet, helped her overcome all of them, eventually.
“It’s pretty hilly,” she said. “There are a lot of trails. It’s hard to find flat places to run, but I think it helps us. It can be pretty lonely, because we are far away from everyone. That makes it even more exciting to race though.”
After Burns’ terrific 3,200 race, Durango earned a state crown in the 3,200 relay with a boys contingent of Aidan Fitzgerald, Marcus Flint, Noah Bodewes, and Luke Tichi. They nipped the previous 4A state record of 7:48.60, set by D’Evelyn in 2006, with a magnificent time of 7:48.55. That is currently a top 10 time in the country for this season.
Below is a roundup of other action during the morning (4A/5A) and evening (1A-3A) competitions.
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Class 5A
(Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Valor Christian girls (9:16) claimed the 3,200 relay crown over Cherry Creek (9:20).
The Eagles of Valor also set a new all-classification girls 4×200 state record (1:37.00) with an already legendary Anna Hall on the anchor leg of the preliminary round. The University of Georgia recruit has won several state and national crowns in both track and field events. She recorded the fastest time in the 100 hurdle prelims (14.37) on Thursday.
Valor’s Jane Powers (40-2.25) added to the championship haul for the Eagles with the shot put gold medal.
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Hall’s soon-to-be college teammate, Arria Minor of Denver East, will be the No. 1 seed in both the 100 and the 200-meter dashes for the girls with times of 11.79 and 23.79. She will look to collect her ninth and 10th state titles individually this weekend.
On the boys side, Highlands Ranch’s Drake Nugent (56-2.75) topped an in-city rival in Valor’s Cian Quiroga (56-1.50) to win the shot put title.
Mountain Vista (7:47) outlasted Arapahoe (7:48) in the 5A boys 3,200 relay to add another chapter to their distance running tradition. They also finished first in the event in 2018. The all-classification state record in the event is 7:45 by Smoky Hill (2001).
Valor freshman Gavin Sawchuk will be the top seed in the 100 finals.
Fort Collins’ fantastic tandem of Allam Bushara (2nd) and Micaylon Moore (1st, 48-10) swept gold and silver in the triple jump. Moore won the long jump last season, while Bushara was the triple jump champion.
Darrian Leu-Pierre, a talented basketball player for Grandview, showed off his leaping ability in high jump, clearing 6-8. Teammate Alisha Davis, a University of Northern Colorado recruit for hoops, ensured a Grandview sweep of the high jump with a mark of 5-9.
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Class 4A
With plenty of high altitude training giving them a lift, Battle Mountain sped past the field in the 3,200 relay.
Dylan Schubert (9:24), a terrific Thompson Valley junior, surged with about 500 meters left to overtake Dillon Powell of Air Academy (9:28) in the 4A boys 3,200. Cheyenne Mountain freshman Erik Le Roux finished 3rd in a time of 9:32.
The city of Longmont crowned multiple field event champions in Silver Creek junior Hunter Potrykus (15-3 in pole vault) and Longmont senior girl Tara Hitchcock (18-4.50 in long jump).
Canon City’s Brendan Young bettered the field in the long jump with a mark of 23 feet, 1 inch.
Pueblo East senior Kain Medrano (188-6) claimed a new 4A state meet record in the discus throw. He will attend UCLA on a football scholarship.
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Class 3A
A super group of 800-meter runners clinched the 3,200 relay for Peak to Peak in a very fast time of 9:17. The Pumas clinched six consecutive 3A state titles in the event.
Holy Family boys (7:59) dipped under eight minutes to claim the boys 3,200 relay.
David Hawkins of Bayfield (51-0) was atop the podium in the shot put.
22 feet, 9 inches was the winning long jump mark by Elizabeth’s Mason Anthony, who is also a top-flight hurdler.
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Class 2A
Hotchkiss has won many relay state crowns over the years and they could grab another in the 800-meter sprint medley after finishing with the No. 1 seed during prelims with a time of 1:52.84.
Those who follow 2A track know the name “Lyons” with their immense success at the state meet. They claimed the girls 3,200 relay title with a time of 10:03. In the very next event, their foursome of boys won the same relay in 8:20.
The 3,200 champions were Chloe Veilleux (Soroco, 11:45) and Isaac Roberts (Lyons, 9:57).
Yuma’s Victor Mendoza (44-1.50 in triple jump) and Jake Chrisman (14-4 in pole vault) were crowned as 2A kings.
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Class 1A
In a thrilling girls sprint medley relay final, De Beque (1:54.88) was able to catch Springfield (1:55.32), a classification power who finished runner-up as a team last season, in the final 100 meters.
Seth Bruxvoort (Heritage Christian) shattered his teammate’s 1A state meet record in the 3,200 with a time of 9:47, 17 seconds quicker than Levi Kilian’s winning mark last season. Killian didn’t compete in the 8-lapper, but is one of the favorites to win the 800 and 1,600.
Jace Bower of Wiley captured the shot put championship with a mark of 48-3.50.
LAKEWOOD — During a pitching change in the bottom of the seventh inning, Cornerstone Christian Academy coach Dustin Conley had to check on his runner at second.
Alex Roedel was hobbling and had been all day. But he had just ripped an RBI double that pulled the Bulldogs into a 3-3 tie with Nucla in the Class 1A baseball state championship game.
A runner with a bum leg. Trenton Rowan can get a hit, is that runner with a bum leg going to do everything he can to score. Is he going to give it 100 percent and fight through the pain?
Because him scoring wasn’t just going to win his team a state title, it was going to give CCA its first team state championship in school history.
With a bum leg, was he going to give it his all?
Roedel sent his coach back to the dugout.
“They ask if I could bust it out,” Roedel said. “(Heck) yeah, I can bust it out. I’m going home.”
And he followed through on his word. Rowan ripped a base hit and Roedel labored around third base and crossed home safely. The scoreboard read 4-3 in favor of the Bulldogs. There was no need to play more baseball.
There was only a need to celebrate.
The remaining players in the dugout split in two. Half went to the kid who scored the game-winning run and the other half went to the one standing on first base. Maybe jumping up and down near first base by that point.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Conley said. “It’s my first year with the team and we came in with the mindset that we had to be tough.”
And they were. The Bulldogs (23-1 overall) took a 1-0 lead in the first and watched as pitcher Cade Walker worked his magic on the mound. He surrendered just two hits in 5.1 innings of work before being pulled for maxing out his pitch count.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Then things got tricky. Tyler Wytulka blasted an RBI double to tie the game. The Mustangs (16-6) plated two more in the sixth to take a 3-1 lead late in the game.
“If you watched the semifinal game, we came back from a two-run deficit,” Walker said. “We knew we could do it again. We’d like to go into the later innings with a lead, but we pulled it off.”
Nucla came into the game having won the 1A crown two years earlier and taking runner-up honors in 2018. The Mustangs had to mount a rally of their own in their semifinal game as they grabbed a 7-4 lead in the sixth. They beat Otis 7-5 to advance to the title game.
But defensive struggles bit the Mustangs early and allowed Cody Koehn to score the game’s first run in the bottom of the first. And it seemed like the Bulldogs were going to build on that lead throughout the game. But with runners on base, Will Gabriel never faltered and kept his guys in it.
Like Walker, Gabriel was pulled for the game when his team had the lead. But it was the Bulldogs who emerged victorious.
Like Roedel in the bottom of the seventh, they made sure to give every ounce of effort hoping it would pay off. As a result, the first state championship banner will be hung in the walls of the school.
William Goodwin has to be liking his chances for gold medals. At Thursday’s Class 5A boys swimming prelims, Goodwin took the top spot in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breaststroke races.
He’s hoping to grab a couple of first-place finishes to follow up an overall solid first day.
From a team standpoint, Cherry Creek has a bit of an edge once Saturday’s finals get underway. The Bruins sit in either first or second in all three relay events and Brendan Eckerman is adding a boost from an individual outlook.
Eckerman finished second in the 50 freestyle at 21.19 seconds. The only swimmer to beat him was Fossil Ridge’s Knox Williams who finished in 21.03 seconds.
In the 100 freestyle, Eckerman will lead the field in the A final on Friday.
Legacy’s Lukas Miller kept his standing as one of the best distance performers of the year as he took the top spot in both the 200 and 500 freestyle. Miller took second in the 200 last year, but with Broomfield and Harrison Lierz competing in 4A this season, it appears to be the junior’s event to lose.
In the 500, he’ll have to hold off Arapahoe sophomore Fletcher Hayes. Less than a second separated the two in qualifying rounds and over the course of such a long distance, anything can happen with a margin that tight.
As a freshman, Hayes finished eighth in the event in 2019. He’ll have a busy day as he’ll also compete on the Warriors 200 medley and 400 relay teams. He’s also swimming in the finals for the 200 IM.
Boulder has a chance to make a play for some team hardware and Max Kreidl has a big role in that potential. He swam the top time in the 100 butterfly, took third in the 500 freestyle and is on both the 200 medley and 400 relay teams for the Panthers.
The 400 freestyle relay team was more than a second better than Cherry Creek’s squad which is anchored by Eckerman.
With it being the final race of the day, that could be the determining event when it comes to team standings. Regis Jesuit will be in the mix for team hardware and finished third in the 400 in prelims.
The state boys swim meet will continue on Friday with prelims for 4A. The 5A finals are set to begin at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. All boys swimming events are held at the VMAC in Thornton.
