Broomfield is 17-2-0 this season. The Eagles will host No. 32 Denver East, No. 16 Legacy and No. 17 Castle View in Region 1.
Also hosting in 5A are Grand Junction Central, Cherokee Trail, Douglas County, Eaglecrest, Legend, Arvada West and Loveland.
Defending champion Mountain Range is the No. 26 seed.
Erie is the No. 1 seed in 4A. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Erie is the lone remaining unbeaten team in any of the three classes at 19-0-0, and they are the No. 1 seed in 4A. They will host No. 32 Montrose, No. 16 Golden and No. 17 Berthoud in Region 1.
Other hosts in 4A include Mullen, Valor Christian, Pueblo West, Wheat Ridge, Mountain View, Silver Creek and Conifer.
Valor Christian is the defending champion.
In 3A, Strasburg sits in prime position as it tries to defend its title. The team will host No. 16 Meeker and No. 17 Limon in its Region 1.
Other hosts include Rocky Ford, Eaton, Brush, Lamar, The Academy, Basalt and Burlington. Valley also received a high seed, but isn’t hosting.
The 3A field expanded to 24 teams this season, the most its ever had.
Below is an interactive database of boys golf’s state qualifiers in classes 5A, 4A and 3A during the 2016 season. These golfers qualified out of their respective regionals.
Fossil Ridge has ascended to the top of the CHSAANow.com softball rankings in Class 5A this week.
The SaberCats are a perfect 6-0-0 to start the season, and received six of the nine first-place votes in the classification to lead the poll with 77 total points.
Legend is No. 2, having bumped up one spot from No. 3.
ThunderRidge, unranked in the preseason, jumped all the way into the 5A poll at No. 3 this week. The Grizzlies are one of five newcomers to the ranking, which also includes No. 6 Legacy, No. 7 Arvada West, No. 9 Grand Junction Central and No. 10 Rocky Mountain.
D’Evelyn joined this week’s 4A softball poll at No. 9. (Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)
Valor Christian remained atop the 4A ranking, though Erie sits just one point behind the Eagles at No. 2.
The 4A poll added Mullen (No. 4), D’Evelyn (No. 9) and Rifle (No. 10) this week.
In 3A, Strasburg continues to lead the ranking. The poll added No. 8 Fort Lupton, and also saw some major movers: Brush went from seventh to second, and The Academy jumped from eighth to third.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday during the regular season.
Voted upon by coaches and select media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
Windsor 12, Cheyenne Mountain 9, Pueblo County 9, Frederick 8, Thompson Valley 8, Thomas Jefferson 7, Golden 6, Berthoud 4, Evergreen 4, Pueblo West 3, Palmer Ridge 1.
Dropped out
Frederick (5), Berthoud (7), Thompson Valley (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
1
Strasburg (7)
4-0-0
70
1
2
Brush
3-1-0
55
7
3
The Academy
4-1-0
51
8
4
Eaton
6-1-0
43
2
5
La Junta
5-3-0
38
4
6
Rocky Ford
5-1-0
31
3
7
Sterling
5-4-0
28
5
8
Fort Lupton
7-0-0
23
–
9
Valley
2-2-0
21
6
10
Cedaredge
2-0-0
10
10
Others receiving votes:
Meeker 6, Lamar 4, Faith Christian 3, Basalt 1, Weld Central 1.
Even in their initial season as a program, Elizabeth had a whiff of success.
“We started in 2006,” Stacey Folmar, the head coach since the beginning, said. “We had 11 kids out. We didn’t qualify for state as a team, but we had six individual qualifiers and so we ended up placing sixth as a team.”
As the years have passed, the Cardinals have blossomed in the gym even more.
“We’ve had three state championships and four state runner-up titles, all since 2009,” Folmar said. “We’re proud of the legacy of the gymnastics team and hopeful that we can remain as competitive as we have been.”
The Cardinals won 4A state titles in 2009, 2010, and 2012, while last season they were the runner-up to Niwot, 178.2-177.175. So, what’s allowed Elizabeth to surge so suddenly?
“When we started there was just such a passion for the sport and to each other,” the veteran coach noted. “There was a bond created and I think that bond has become the legacy of our gymnastics team. The success has to be attributed to the commitment of the kids, the commitment of our parents, and the commitment of the school that has stood behind us. It’s been a really big group effort.”
What makes the current contingent compelling is their youth. 16 freshmen were among the 27 on the roster a season ago. 20 of 24 gymnasts this fall will be underclassmen.
“We’re young but there’s so much potential and so much energy that we really believe we can maintain our level of competitiveness even in the larger field,” Folmar said, noting that several teams are moving down from Class 5A to 4A. “We’re looking at it as a welcomed challenge.”
(Photo: Matt Taylor)
Lexye Wood, one of many skilled freshmen in 2015, was the runner-up in the all-around competition in 4A behind only Standley Lake sophomore Rachel Cody. Amanda Taylor, a rare junior on Elizabeth, placed third in the all-around.
Folmar knows the program will have to stick to its blueprint. The Cardinals are in this together and she said it’s not fair to talk about only one or two individuals when so many are ready to make an impact.
“We have some young event specialists that I think are going to contribute a lot,” she said. “Dillon Lind, she’s a senior who is fabulous on the floor. We’re not really looking for that great all-arounder, we’re looking for everyone to contribute their very best to the team. It’s going to take all 24 to make this happen.”
Elizabeth boasted their largest group in history last fall and remain confident in the direction of the program.
“We have so many girls that are so good at what they do and we all push each other,” Lind said. “We’re all competitive. Someone will see someone else do something and it’ll be like, ‘oh, I can do that too.’ We push each other in that way. It’s good for the team.”
In 5A, Pomona, Broomfield, Rocky Mountain, Cherry Creek, Overland and Mountain Range are all expected to be in the upper crust again.
Pomona shattered the all-classification Colorado record at last season’s state meet in becoming the first-ever team to score over 190 points with 190.925. In doing so, the Panthers won the school’s first girls state championship in any sport.
Before that, Overland had claimed four of six 5A crowns, while Broomfield won in 2012 and Bear Creek in 2010.
Mountain Range is No. 1 in 5A softball. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Mountain Range is looking for a repeat performance of their historical softball state title run in 2015.
In the first ever appearance in the state tournament for the school, the Mustangs fought to the Class 5A state championship and, as a result, have earned some respect heading into the 2016 season.
Mountain Range was voted as the No. 1 team in 5A in the first set of CHSAANow.com softball rankings.
They start the season one spot above Chaparral, which went into last year’s state tournament with the No. 1 seed. The Mustangs beat the Wolverines 4-2 in the semifinals of the tournament.
Legend comes in at No. 3, taking a couple of first place votes along the way. Grandview also snagged a No. 1 vote, but will start the season ranked No. 8.
State runner-up Pomona will begin the year ranked No. 7.
Coming off back-to-back state championships, Valor Christian will start the year ranked as the No. 1 team in 4A.
State semifinalists Erie and Mountain View come in at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively while state runner-up Wheat Ridge lands at No. 4, taking a first place vote in the process.
All eight teams from last year’s quarterfinal round are ranked in the preseason top with Berthoud (No. 7) and Air Academy (No. 8) completing the field.
Strasburg is No. 1 in 3A softball. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Strasburg enters the season as the unanimous pick as the No. 1 team in 3A. The Indians came away with their third title in four years with a 7-5 win over Eaton.
The Reds land at No. 2, hoping for another chance to make a championship run.
Rocky Ford (No. 3), La Junta (No. 4) and Sterling (No. 5) all come in with high rankings after they each advanced to to the state quarterfinals.
Sterling was the only team from that trio to advance to the semis.
Brush comes in at No. 7 after also advancing to the semifinals last fall.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday during the regular season.
Voted upon by coaches and select media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
The Adams 12 school district will not be fielding teams in boys or girls lacrosse during the next two-year cycle. District athletic director Lee Peters informed the CHSAA office of the change on Thursday.
Adams 12 was due to offer a boys team at Mountain Range, and a girls team at Horizon, during the 2016-18 — which includes the 2017 and 2018 spring seasons. Both programs were set to be new teams.
The decision to not field the teams was made because of the “limited time for planning, preparation and funding,” Peters said.
Instead, the plan now is to “continue to work on this in order to re-apply for the 2018-20 cycle,” according to Peters.
