Sierra Grande has brought Dave Forster back to its school, hiring the highly-successful coach to helm their girls basketball team.
Athletic director Matt Lucero announced the hire on Tuesday night.
“We welcome Dave Forster back to the Sierra Grande family,” Lucero said.
Forster, who has more than 40 years of coaching experience, was the head coach at Sierra Grande from 1988-98, leading them to the Great 8 three times, and a runner-up finish in 1992. A 1981 graduate of Adams State, Forster has a career record of 477-187 in 29 years as a girls basketball coach, and 43-12 as a boys basketball coach.
Forster, a 2019 inductee to the CHSCA Hall of Fame, spent the 2019-20 season as the head coach for the Sangre de Cristo girls. The Thunderbirds went 20-4 and reached the Class 1A state tournament.
He has also spent time as a coach at Sanford, and was a volunteer assistant at Adams State in 2018-19, but is perhaps most well-known for his 20-year stay at Centauri from 1998-2018. In that time, he led the Falcons to the 2006 championship and 323 wins. They reached the Great 8 a total of 10 times in her tenure, and the Final 4 four times.
Forster has also coached football, track and cross country.
Sierra Grande went 7-14 last season in Class 1A. The Panthers haven’t reached the state tournament since 2008-09, but have made consistent appearances at regionals.
Shelby Hoffman fully admits that she’s more of a basketball player than a volleyball player. But the key to her success on the court — any court — is a competitive drive that’s motivated by the success of her team.
But sometimes that can have a side effect that plays into the favor of the athlete. A junior this last season, Hoffman typically played as a hitter but coach Kelley Hale saw a glaring hole at the libero position and moved her to fill that gap.
Needless to say it worked out. The Falcons finished the year at 24-8 and Hoffman made her way into the newly updated CHSAA volleyball record book by recording 895 digs in the season. It puts her at the very top of that category.
“If I’m going to play a sport, I’m going to give it my all,” Hoffman said. “Coach put me at libero this year for the very first time. I didn’t know what to think about it at first, but it was kind of fun and digging was really fun.”
Hoffman wasn’t the only volleyball player to set a record in the fall of 2019. Palmer Ridge freshman Kyra Kisting ended the year with 1,223 assists to top that category and Castle View senior Leanne Lowry set a career mark with 2,177 digs.
What will tie these three players together is that the records they set were about setting up others for success. And they were never doing with the mindset of getting their names atop a list of record holders.
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“I knew I was close (to the record),” Lowry said. “But it was never really something that I had on my mind the entire time.”
She played and battled for every dig like it was her mission to reach that mark, however. In just the Sabercats’ fifth match of the year, she had a season-high 32 digs in a five-set win over Palmer Ridge.
She averaged 5.7 digs per set as a senior and kept her play at a consistent level which proved to be a key factor in setting that career record.
“It just shows that everyone is really focus on who hits the ball, which is a very important aspect,” Lowry said. “It’s really cool to show people how important libero and defense is. For me that was really cool.”
And often times, the direct pass to setup a thrilling kill can get overlooked. But Palmer Ridge’s Kisting thrived on making sure she the ball set up for the right hitter at the right time.
Her first year in the program resulted with her seeing significant varsity time and proved essential in the Bears’ run to the Class 4A state title match against rival Lewis-Palmer. She also ended the season with more assists in a single season than anyone else in Colorado history.
“I was really blessed with an amazing back row that started every play,” Kisting said. “I also had such a variety of hitters that I knew I could go anybody. And they were all so welcoming to me.”
With plenty of volleyball still to play in her career, Kisting plans on using a season record to motivate her to improving as an overall volleyball player.
“It’s really been pushing me to get better,” Kisting said. “Now my goals are becoming a better athlete and a better teammate. I feel like this is all making me better.”
(Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics Communications)
It wasn’t long ago that Jennifer Kupcho wasa going through a list of her proudest accomplishments with her swing coach. The Jefferson Academy alum has quite the list to get through as she has won championships at several levels of her career.
She won an NCAA championship at Wake Forest in 2018. In 2019 she made history by winning the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, the first organized women’s tournament to be held at the annual site of the Master’s.
As she went through her list, her coach, Ed Oldham, acknowledged that her high school state championships were every bit as important in her journey.
High school golf for Kupcho is where she started to gain momentum toward becoming the nation’s top-ranked amateur and a star in the making on the LPGA Tour.
“He told me that it was the big stepping point in getting to the national level and moving on to where I could compete in college,” Kupcho said. “I never really thought about it that way, but it’s definitely true right now.”
It was the first of many stepping stones Kupcho used to evolve into the elite player she is today. The first title came on May 20, 2014 at the Country Club of Colorado. She navigated her way around the Pete Dye design and overcame a tricky set of greens to finish the tournament at 2-over-par.
She won the tournament by 14 strokes.
(Courtesy of Mike Kupcho)
She made her way to River Valley Ranch in Carbondale the next year to defend her championship. By then she knew she was headed to Wake Forest to play for the Demon Deacons and looked every bit the part of a Division I golfer.
On the par-5 second hole, her drive landed in the middle of the fairway and she casually stepped up and knocked it on the green in two shots to give herself an eagle put. It seemed ordinary at the time, but looking back Kupcho knows that the biggest flaw in her game at that time made it crucial for her to get to the green as efficiently as possible.
“I was much more aggressive player then,” she said. “I was always going for greens and trying to make each shot as short as possible because my wedges weren’t that good and my overall short game wasn’t that good. So when I went for greens and I missed it, it was not a good combo.”
She claimed her second title with a 10-stroke win over Cheyenne Mountain’s Kylee Sullivan and tied a bow on a remarkable high school career.
(Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics Communications)
She continued making a name for herself at the collegiate level and battled her way to the individual NCAA championship in 2018.
It was an additional stepping stone on the path that had been laid out to her by Oldham. It was clear in high school that she had conquered girls golf in Colorado and now the focus started getting a little wider.
“I remember him saying to me at a young age, you’re the best in Colorado, now let’s get to the best in the country,” she said.
She worked her way up to become the top-ranked amateur in the United States.
“Once I got to the best in the country, now let’s get to the best in the world,” she added.
All indications are she’s on her way. Kupcho made perhaps her biggest historical impact last year as she claimed the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur championship.
Augusta National was long known for not allowing women to become members. That policy ended in 2012 when the club admitted Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore as its first female members.
The founding of the ANWA was intended to fuel the growth of women’s golf. The first 36 holes of the tournament were played at the Champions Retreat Golf Club in Evans, Georgia with the final 18 holes being contested between the top two players on the leaderboard. The two were Kuchpo and Arkansas’ Maria Fassi.
Kupcho shot five-under over the final six holes of the tournament to get the four-stroke win, forever placing her name in golf history.
“I’m starting to understand it more than I did,” Kupcho said. “Fast-forward a year, the week it was supposed to happen I was getting a bunch of media requests and I told my agent I didn’t understand why it was such a big deal, it happened a year ago.”
Her agent had to remind her that she had literally made history.
“Going through that week and reliving the day over after they replayed the event (on TV), it definitely sunk in a little bit more,” Kupcho said.
The next step was turning pro. She had earned her LPGA Tour card in November 2018, but delayed actually turning pro until she finished college. She made her professional debut at the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open.
She later made her way to France to compete in the 2019 Evian Championship which plays as a major on the LPGA Tour. In the final round of the tournament she carded a five-under-par-66 to finish in a three-way tie for second. At 13-under on the tournament, she finished two strokes behind champion Ko Jin-young out of South Korea.
But the second-place finish was just another sign of her growth as a golfer. It started when she was young, it continued when she won state championships at Jefferson Academy and hasn’t slowed down one bit.
(Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics Communications)
On May 29, the Legislative Council will meet virtually. Below is information about the meeting, including links to the agenda and proposals that will be considered.
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Schedule
May 29, 2020
9 a.m. – Meeting Convenes
[divider]
Action Items
Note: Constitutional Proposals require 2/3 vote for approval; Administrative and Athletic Proposals requires majority vote for approval, unless otherwise noted.
Proposals
Constitutional
CON 1
Definition of Schools Eligible for Membership
(Board of Directors)
CON 2
Activity-Only Member Schools
(Board of Directors)
CON 3
Clarification of Budget Process
(Board of Directors)
Administrative
ADM 1
CLOC Committee
(Board of Directors)
ADM 2
Transfer Clarification
(Board of Directors)
ADM 3
Return to Original School
(Board of Directors)
ADM 4
Restricted Varsity Eligibility
(Board of Directors)
ADM 5
International Students
(Board of Directors)
ADM 6
Transfer Clarification
(Board of Directors)
ADM 7
Homeless Students – Eligibility
(Board of Directors)
ADM 8
Migrant Student/Boarding School
(Black Forest League)
ADM 9
Amateur Status Update
(Board of Directors)
ADM 10
Coach Ejection
(Board of Directors)
ADM 11
All-Star Games
(Board of Directors)
ADM 12
Reporting of Scores
(Board of Directors)
ADM 13
High School/Middle School Practice Allowed
(Board of Directors)
ADM 14
Change Practice Requirement
(Board of Directors)
ADM 15
Exceeding Game Limits Can be Appealed
(Board of Directors)
ADM 16
Board of Director Appeals Timeline
(Board of Directors)
ADM 17
Transfer Eligibility
(5A CSML)
Athletic
ATH 1
Team Composition
(Board of Directors)
ATH 2
COED Teams
(Board of Directors)
ATH 3
Swimming & Diving
(Board of Directors)
ATH 4
Unified Sports
(Board of Directors)
Activity
None
Policy
None
Junior High/Middle School Division
None
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Action items — Committee reports
Note: Require majority vote for approval, unless otherwise noted. Those are noted with an asterisk (*), and require 2/3 vote approval.
For its exemplary record of leadership, service, and activities that serve to improve the school and community, the Durango High School student council has been recognized as a 2020 National Gold Council of Excellence by National Association of Student Councils (NatStuCo).
“Receiving a National Gold Council of Excellence Award reflects the highest dedication on the part of the school to providing a strong, well-rounded student council program,” said Nara Lee, National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Director of Student Leadership. “NatStuCo applauds the work of the National Gold Councils of Excellence and challenges them to continue their leadership and service to their schools and communities.”
The 2020 Gold Council of Excellence was earned by 261 high schools nationwide and 16 high schools in Colorado. More importantly, Durango was also 1 of 13 schools in the country to be recognized for a Decade of Excellence award. This honor is bestowed on councils who have received a NatStuCo Council of Excellence award for at least 10 years.
“It’s a huge honor receiving this award and means so much more hitting 10 years of recognition,” said Miles Bronson, Durango’s co-student body president.
Added Kaylan Wait, Durango’s DHS co-student body president: “This award helps recognize all of the countless hours spent by student council members in their efforts to promote the welcoming environment of our school, and we are incredibly proud to be a recipient!”
Wait also thanked the StuCo parents and Durango community for their ongoing and continual support of DHS Student Council.
“We would also like to thank our parents and community members for their constant support and encouragement of our program,” Wait said.
Durango student body secretary treasurer Laura Clark expressed how this award has helped her grow as a leader.
“I can’t express the extent to which this program has influenced my growth and success in high school,” Clark said. “By following the guidelines for recognition of this award, our student council class and myself personally have become better leaders and hopefully impacted many lives throughout our school and larger community. Leaving DHS, I could not be more proud to say that I am an alum of both Durango High School and the student council program.”
Finally, Durango student body vice president Lilah Hwang offered thoughts on how receiving this award motivates her.
“Receiving this award makes me all the more proud to be a part of this council and family,” Hwang said. “To be able to show the community and other councils around the state all of our hard work is not only an amazing accomplishment but a motivation to continue to strive to be better than the year before.”
To meet the requirements for the National Council of Excellence Award, a student council must meet a variety of criteria. In addition to basic requirements such as a written constitution, regular meetings, a democratic election process, the councils have demonstrated successful sponsorship and participation in activities such as leadership development and service to the school and community.
Councils awarded the gold level of the award have successfully demonstrated the highest levels of leadership.
For more information on the Durango HS Student Leadership program, contact DHS Leadership advisor Dale Garland (dgarland@durangoschools.org) or the Durango High School Athletics/Activities office.
