The 2018 all-state gymnastics teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created based upon results at the state meet. The following criteria was used:
Athletes who won an event or finished in the top five in the all-around, and/or finished in the top two of an individual event, were named to the first team.
Athletes who finished fifth-10th in the all-around, and/or finished third-fifth in an individual event were named to the second team.
The athletes who won all-around championships in their classification were named gymnast of the year.
Coaches who led their teams teams to championships were named coaches of the year.
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Class 5A
Gymnast of the year: Amber Boll, Lakewood Coach of the year: Tracy Boychuk, Pomona
First Team
Name
School
Amber Boll
Lakewood
Samantha Demoss
Overland
Elena Reiffin
Overland
Tori Sayers
Arvada West
Mia Tims
Pomona
Brooke Weins
Pomona
Second Team
Name
School
Julia Butler
Pomona
Alexia Dellinger
Rocky Mountain
Aaliyah Jamison
Overland
Darcy Jew
Broomfield
Kalise Newson
Pomona
Melanie Roberts
Broomfield
Payton Roberts
Arvada West
Carly Schnabel
Lakewood
Delenn Steffes
Overland
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Class 4A
Gymnast of the year: Emily Graham, Green Mountain Coach of the year: Marisa Purcell, Niwot
DENVER — It wasn’t lost on Lewis-Palmer volleyball coach Wade Baxter that his team is a frequent visitor to the Denver Coliseum in November.
He took the time to take in the atmosphere on Thursday, but it’s something that he has become used to.
“This isn’t a novelty for us,” he said.
But he and his girls will never carry that mentality onto the court. The always hungry Rangers beat Niwot 25-11, 25-15, 25-10 to claim their fifth Class 4A state championship in six years. It’s the desire to never settle for defeat that has made the team a true volleyball dynasty in Colorado.
“I don’t really have to work too hard at that,” Baxter said. “The way we scheduled this year with seeing Chaparral twice, seeing Valor Christian twice had them so pumped up. They knew how hard they had to work to play those teams and beat them.”
It didn’t come without a casualty. The Rangers (28-1 overall) suffered a home loss to Chap. Even if it was the second match of the year for L-P, it was a turning point that triggered a level of dominance that ran all the way through early November.
“They were mad,” Baxter said. “They knew they didn’t play up to their potential.”
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
It looked like a completely different team that took the court in the final match of the year against Niwot. The Cougars (25-4) tried to shut out the intimidation factor and even jumped out to early leads in the first two sets.
But the Rangers had too many weapons. They were strong with hits from Trinity Jackson and Taylor Buckley. They had finesse points from Kessandra Krutsinger. And the ability of Gianna Bartalo to receive the serve and set up the Rangers offense was every bit as important as the sets and the kills that registered the 75 points needed to claim the title.
Bartalo watched as an eighth grader when her older sister Lydia played on the team that lost to Cheyenne Mountain. Even then, it was a heartbreaking feeling that she didn’t want to experience as a player.
“It makes us work harder and emphasizes playing as a team,” Bartalo said. “That’s most important thing in any team effort.”
It was that team effort that drove the Rangers through the 4A bracket. Like their coach, they were well aware that it’s not a new experience to reach the Coliseum and play for a state championship. Overcoming that mentality is their primary focus before they even step on the court for their first match.
“We can’t take it for granted,” Jackson said. “That’s where our losses will come. (The tournament) is something that we have to look forward to otherwise it will turn into something we don’t want it to be.”
What it turned into was the eighth overall title for the Rangers, sixth most in state history. It’s the second title for Baxter who took over for Susan Odenbaugh following the 2016 championship season.
The continuity of the coaching staff has made each championship connect with each other, but they’re still able to stand out on their own.
“It’s the same, but it’s different,” Bartalo said. “They have different coaching styles but it’s still so special every single time.”
And making it special each time is main factor in making sure the team is hungry for another title the following year.
The 2018 all-state softball teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These team were created following a process where the coaches voted upon a list of nominees. Players who were named first-team all-league are eligible for the all-state ballot.
Coaches also voted specifically for player and coach of the year.
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Class 5A
(Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
Player of the year: Laurin Krings, Loveland Coach of the year: Kristen Shirk, Legend
“It was truly amazing,” she said. “I was just focusing on the landing. When I saw the scores, it was disbelief. I love seeing a 10.”
To perform a vault, the gymnast sprints down a runway, hurdles onto a springboard, and leaps onto the vault with their hands. The landing is the trickiest part, to try and stick it without having the feet or rest of the body flail.
Boll’s performance checked all the boxes needed for a perfect score, securing only the second such mark at the Colorado state meet. The other 10.0 was recorded back in 1988 (Broomfield’s Carol Ulrich, floor exercise).
“That vault performance was amazing,” Lakewood coach Jamie Zeeman added. “She had a 10 (in a non-state meet) once before that. It was last year. She did everything perfect.”
(Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
The vault cemented Boll’s status as one of Colorado’s finest gymnasts, as did championships in the all-around, balance beam, floor exercise, uneven bars, and vault competitions — the rare five.
“Gymnastics has been my life for a long time,” she said. “I hope it just brings awareness to how good gymnastics can be. I was excited about my floor, because it was even better than my previous meet. I tried to make everything as clean as possible.”
She certainly did that and more with tremendous marks in beam (9.600), bars (9.850), and floor (9.850). To those who had witnessed Boll’s accomplishments Thursday — a 9.900 during the vault preliminaries and an all-around point total of 39.125 — the title haul wasn’t a surprise.
But, something did catch Zeeman off-guard.
“Beam has always been her Achilles heel,” she said. “For her to win it was a huge accomplishment.”
A former Lakewood gymnast herself (2010 graduate), Zeeman is brightened by the thought of what Boll delivered to the program (first gymnastics champion of any kind) and to the sport in general.
“It’s really cool in Jeffco that gymnasts like Amber are able to showcase it, make it known, and give it the publicity that it needs,” she beamed.
Nearly half of the 4A and 5A competitors in event finals were from Jefferson County.
One such competitor was Green Mountain senior, Emily Graham, who overcame a near-season ending injury to clinch her spot as 4A’s queen. She won the all-around title with 37.025 points, just barely edging Lindsay Chohon of Niwot (37.000).
Graham (uneven bars champion in 2016) endured plenty just to get herself physically ready to perform. Unfortunately, injuries prevented her from any wins Saturday.
Nonetheless, she added to a rich tradition for Green Mountain. Teammate Lucy Meinert was the balance beam champion this year.
As for Niwot, the top 4A team, Chohon led a 1-2-3 finish in the floor exercise, posting a 9.600. Grace Stephenson and Mia Curry were second and third.
In other classification finals, Ciera Babb doubled up on victories in vault (9.500) and bars (9.400). As a sophomore, she became the first title-winner in Rampart history (balance beam).
Babb was a member of a groundbreaking team in 2016 as well, the first from the school to qualify for the state gymnastics meet.
THORNTON — Gaius Sallustius Crispus, an Ancient Roman historian, didn’t have Niwot gymnastics in mind when he said, “Harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay.”
But the phrase certainly applies to this group. The Cougars only feature 15 athletes, eight of which competed during Friday’s opening round of the Class 4A state gymnastics championships.
That was all Niwot needed to finish atop the team standings for the first time since 2015 as they garnered 181.500 points. Green Mountain, featuring all-around state champion Emily Graham (37.025 points), was the runner-up with 179.950.
The small seeds of a meager Niwot roster, only in number of entries, blossomed into a sturdy force, capping the program’s 2018 aspirations with a gold trophy.
“With low numbers, they become super close,” coach Marisa Purcell said. “They become a lot closer than they do when you have a lot more gymnasts.”
The essence of this group is the alliance they have with one another. Although plenty of teams create deep ties, the Cougars are even closer. Donned in shimmering green and black colors, the gymnasts come from seven different schools in the St. Vrain Valley School District.
“You’re always proud to bring it home,” Purcell beamed. “It’s special for them to not only represent Niwot, but to represent the district as well.”
It proved to be a perfect collaborative effort for the group, who was looking to climb to the peak of 4A after back-to-back second place showings to Elizabeth and Green Mountain.
In some ways, unity can only take a team so far though. For teams with realistic championship hopes, ability matters just as much.
Niwot is plenty capable, flashing both their physical and psychological strengths with a bundle of points in the floor exercise (Grace Stephenson first, Lindsay Chohon second), balance beam (Hattie Katachis second, Taylor Green Becker third), and vault and uneven bars (two in top four of each event).
“We worked really hard this off-season to get some bigger skills and get the right routines down in order to be contenders here at state,” Purcell said.
During last week’s regional meet, Chohon and company gave a glimpse of what was in store Friday with sweeps of at least the top three spots in every event. Chohon, a senior, was at the forefront of that effort, bettering all competitors in the floor exercise, balance beam, and vault.
It was still a little bittersweet Friday for the Cougars though as Chohon finished runner-up for the second time in a row, a fraction of a point behind Graham in the all-around competition — 37.025-37.000.
“She’s one special girl to me,” her coach said, still plenty proud of Niwot’s top competitor. “I’ve coached her since she was 10, so we’ve been able to travel this journey together. She was voted captain this year by her teammates and led them.”
The skillful group (Katachis was third in all-around) lifted Niwot to a sixth team championship (1991, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2015, 2018). They are now tied with Loveland for the fourth-most titles in the Colorado prep ranks.
The school also collected plenty of hardware at the state cross country meet six days ago as Cruz Culpepper and Layla Roebke won individual crowns, and the girls team conquered 4A.
As for Graham, an evening that was capped with a title was almost stalled from the get-go.
“Going into this week, we thought I had a torn ACL and meniscus,” she said. “We got results back yesterday and nothing’s torn, it’s something else.”
The senior, with third and fourth place showings on her resume from the past two seasons, endured the pain, especially in vault.
“All season I’ve just been doing one vault,” the newly crowned 4A queen said. “Tonight I decided to go for a second time and on my second one I got a 9.4. That was the best score I got all year.
“Down the vault runway, it hurt pretty bad but I fought through it.”
Graham finished second in the event, which added to a runner-up score in uneven bars and a fourth place finish in balance beam. As a result, she became Green Mountain’s first all-around winner since Melanie Zaharias (5A, 1998).
Humble in victory, Graham was just as pleased with Green Mountain’s overall performance.
“We pulled together as a team so much,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better last meet. We have a good history with the coaches having state championships and I was on the championship team my sophomore year. Just adding to that is exciting.
“We also have a really talented young group of girls.”
