Highlands Ranch (5A) and Sand Creek (4A) are both ranked in their respective polls. (Mark Adams)
Pine Creek is the lone newcomer to this week’s CHSAANow.com girls basketball poll in 5A. The Eagles (11-0) are No. 10 this week.
Regis Jesuit remained atop the poll, and continued to be followed by Highlands Ranch. Fossil Ridge moved up one place to No. 3, Grandview is No. 4 and ThunderRidge rounds out the top 5.
The 4A poll added Glenwood Springs (No. 8), 3A added The Classical Academy (No. 10), 2A added Heritage Christian (No. 10) and 1A added Hi-Plains (No. 10).
Pine Creek 20, Denver East 11, Rampart 11, Grand Junction 5, Arapahoe 4, Monarch 4, Mountain Vista 4, Horizon 3, Legend 3, Dakota Ridge 1, Poudre 1.
Dropped out
Monarch (10).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Broomfield (13)
6-0
148
1
1-0
2
Pueblo South
7-1
126
2
3-0
3
Mesa Ridge (2)
7-0
118
5
4-0
4
Valor Christian
7-2
92
3
2-2
5
Elizabeth
7-1
73
6
2-1
6
Pueblo West
6-1
68
4
2-1
7
Palmer Ridge
6-1
57
8
2-0
8
D’Evelyn
4-3
34
7
0-0
9
Sand Creek
3-2
33
9
0-0
10
Silver Creek
5-2
23
10
1-0
Others receiving votes:
Glenwood Springs 21, Pueblo East 10, Palisade 8, Pueblo County 5, Thompson Valley 3, Air Academy 2, Mullen 2, Eagle Valley 1, Longmont 1.
Dropped out
None.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holy Family (8)
7-1
116
1
1-1
2
Pagosa Springs (4)
6-0
102
2
2-0
3
Lamar
6-0
77
5
2-0
4
Centauri
6-0
73
3
1-0
5
Bishop Machebeuf
5-1
61
6
1-0
6
Sterling
6-1
50
–
3–1
7
Eaton
5-1
35
4
1-1
8
Peak to Peak
5-1
25
–
2-0
9
Strasburg
6-0
24
10
2-0
10
Coal Ridge
5-1
14
9
1-0
Others receiving votes:
Trinidad 11, Kent Denver 9, The Classical Academy 8, Frontier Academy 8, Valley 7, Brush 6, Olathe 6, The Academy 6, Aurora West 5, Middle Park 4, St. Mary’s 4, The Pinnacle 3, Florence 2, Manitou Springs 2, Jefferson Academy 1, Sheridan 1.
Dropped out
Estes Park (7), St. Mary’s (8).
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Yuma (9)
4-0
108
1
1-0
2
Peyton (2)
6-0
94
3
2-0
3
Lutheran
4-0
80
4
2-0
4
Akron
4-1
67
2
2-1
5
Liberty Common
7-0
58
6
0-0
6
Simla
5-0
40
7
1-0
7
Hoehne
3-1
32
9
0-0
8
Paonia
4-2
31
8
2-0
9
Meeker
3-1
26
–
0-0
10
Sangre de Cristo
3-3
18
5
0-3
Others receiving votes:
Heritage Christian 14, Kiowa 12, Crowley County 7, The Vanguard 7, Del Norte 5, Wray 2, Highland 1, Hotchkiss 1, Limon 1, Springfield 1.
Dropped out
Kiowa (10).
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Caliche (4)
5-0
49
1
1-0
2
Norwood (1)
5-0
44
3
2-0
3
Idalia
5-0
38
4
1-0
4
Eads
5-1
36
2
2-1
5
Kit Carson
4-2
30
6
2-1
6
Prairie
6-0
25
7
2-0
7
McClave
4-1
17
10
1-1
8
Cheraw
5-0
10
9
2-0
9
Dove Creek
6-0
8
5
2-0
10
Liberty/Stratton
3-3
7
8
1-1
Others receiving votes:
Hi-Plains 4, Holly 3, Walsh 3, Belleview Christian 1.
Thomas Jefferson remained in the No. 3 spot in the 4A poll. (Pam Wagner)
Unbeatens Arapahoe and Grand Junction have joined this week’s CHSAANow.com boys basketball rankings in 5A.
The Warriors (3-0) are No. 9, while Grand Junction (5-0) is No. 10. Highlands Ranch, last week’s No. 5, and Chaparral, last week’s No. 10, both dropped out this week.
Elsewhere, Denver East maintained its grip on the top spot, and Fossil Ridge continued its climb up the poll. The SaberCats are No. 2 this week, moving up two spots from No. 4. Fossil Ridge went 3-0 last week, including a 66-48 win over Highlands Ranch.
Overland fell one spot to No. 3, and is followed by No. 4 Mountain Vista and No. 5 Regis Jesuit. Mountain Vista moved up from eighth; Regis up from No 6.
Eaglecrest is sixth in this week’s 5A poll, Legend is seventh and Rangeview fell five spots to eighth.
In addition to Denver East, the other four No. 1 teams remained the same this week: Valor Christian (4A), Holy Family (3A), Sanford (2A) and Caliche (1A).
The 4A poll added Air Academy at No. 10 this week. That ranking also saw Thompson Valley jump from fifth to second following wins over three 5A teams. Thomas Jefferson is third.
Falcon 35, Greeley Central 11, Lewis-Palmer 8, Mountain View 7, Frederick 6, Mesa Ridge 2, Palmer Ridge 2, Glenwood Springs 1, Ponderosa 1, Pueblo South 1.
Dropped out
Denver South (8).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holy Family (8)
5-0
98
1
2-0
2
Colorado Academy (1)
4-0
81
3
2-0
3
Brush (1)
2-0
77
2
1-0
4
Jefferson Academy
4-0
69
9
4-0
5
Bishop Machebeuf
4-0
67
6
3-0
6
Faith Christian
4-3
36
4
3-1
7
Moffat County
3-1
29
7
3-1
8
The Pinnacle
3-1
22
–
1-0
9
Kent Denver
3-1
20
10
2-0
10
Colorado Springs Christian
1-2
19
5
1-2
Others receiving votes:
Denver Science & Tech 10, St. Mary’s 6, Valley 6, Aspen 4, Monte Vista 4, Cedaredge 2, Sterling 1.
Dropped out
Aspen (8).
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Sanford (12)
4-0
155
1
4-0
2
Yuma (3)
3-0
125
2
2-0
3
Akron
2-0
110
4
1-0
4
Lutheran
2-1
106
3
1-0
5
Ignacio (1)
5-0
101
5
2-0
6
Resurrection Christian
4-2
75
6
3-0
7
Limon
3-1
39
9
2-0
8
Simla
3-1
31
10
2-0
9
Rye
4-1
30
–
1-1
10
Denver Christian
1-3
24
7
1-1
Others receiving votes:
Swink 23, Peyton 22, Haxtun 13, Alexander Dawson 11, Sedgwick County 6, Crowley County 3, Front Range Christian 3, Custer County 1, Paonia 1, Rangely 1, Sierra Grande 1.
Lakewood is No. 7 in this week’s 5A poll. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
Lakewood, coming off a 4-0 week, has jumped into the 5A CHSAANow.com girls basketball ranking.
The Tigers (6-0) are No. 7 this week, and are joined by fellow newcomer Cherry Creek (3-1), which is No. 9 this week.
Regis Jesuit remained as the unanimous No. 1 pick in 5A. In fact, the Nos. 1-4 teams stayed the same this week. The Raiders continued to be followed by No. 2 Highlands Ranch, No. 3 ThunderRidge and No. 4 Grandview.
Fossil Ridge jumped up from ninth to fifth, and Rock Canyon from eighth to sixth. Castle View is eighth, and Monarch is tenth.
Broomfield (4A), Holy Family (3A), Yuma (2A) and Caliche (1A) all remained atop their respective rankings this week.
Fossil Ridge, meanwhile, went from sixth to fourth after going 3-0 last week. The standout win was a 58-51 win over then-No. 3 Eaglecrest.
The 5A ranking continued to be led by Denver East, which has also started 3-0 at the Great Western Shootout in Utah. Overland remained in the No. 2 spot despite going 1-2 at the same tournament.
Highlands Ranch rounds out the 5A top 5.
The other No. 1 teams also stayed the same this week: Valor Christian (4A), Holy Family (3A), Sanford (2A) and Caliche (1A).
Fairview is the No. 1 seed in 5A. (Courtesy photo)
The groundwork, as is so often the case, was laid four years ago. Tom McCartney saw it in his freshmen then. Those freshmen are now seniors, and that group has Fairview seeded No. 1 overall in the Class 5A football playoffs.
“We knew that it was a special group,” McCartney, Fairview’s coach, said Sunday morning. “We also knew that for them to do the things and reach some of the goals they’ve set, you’ve got to have junior compliments. You want to know that your juniors are also part of that.
“We’ve been kind of waiting on this group of seniors for a while, and a lot of them have gotten a lot of playing time as sophomores and juniors,” he continued. “When you get in those kinds of battles against teams like Pomona and Ralston Valley, and Legacy and Arvada West and Boulder — and Grandview in the playoffs last year, and Regis the year before — all of those experiences help. So, yes, to be honest with you, we’ve seen this coming from this particular group. We knew this was a talented group.”
The Knights were the lone 5A team to finish the regular season unbeaten (9-0). They were ranked No. 2 in the CHSAANow.com football poll in recent weeks, but were No. 1 in Wild Card points during that stretch, and finished atop the final Wild Card standings released Sunday morning.
And so, when the 5A bracket was unveiled, it was Fairview in the No. 1 spot. (See the full bracket.)
“It feels awesome,” McCartney said. “It’s playoff football. We’re just going to prepare. We understand that if you win you move on, and if you don’t you’re done. We want to keep playing. The best way to keep playing is to be prepared and to improve.”
Fairview draws No. 32 Mountain Vista (3-6) in the first round. The two teams played in 2010 and 2011, both Mountain Vista wins.
“Our seniors, when they were freshmen, played them. And so we know a little bit about them,” McCartney said. “We’ve got a ton of respect for coach (Ric) Cash. His teams are always prepared. They’re always hard-nosed.”
Rounding out the top-5 seeds in 5A were No. 2 Valor Christian, No. 3 Cherry Creek, No. 4 Regis Jesuit and No. 5 ThunderRidge.
The top 16 seeds host in the first round, meaning No. 6 Cherokee Trail, No. 7 Columbine, No. 8 Pomona, No. 9 Chatfield, No. 10 Grand Junction, No. 11 Mountain Range, No. 12 Doherty, No. 13 Prairie View, No. 14 Rangeview, No. 15 Ralston Valley and No. 16 Douglas County will get home games.
The 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man brackets were also released on Sunday.
Brush is 2A’s top seed. As the top-8 host in the first round, No. 2 Manitou Springs, No. 3 Platte Valley, No. 4 Faith Christian, No. 5 Gunnison, No. 6 Bennett, No. 7 Kent Denver and No. 8 Florence will all get home games.
Also qualifying in 2A were No. 9 Strasburg, No. 10 Lamar, No. 11 Olathe, No. 12 Fort Lupton, No. 13 Aspen, No. 14 Ridge View Academy, No. 15 Jefferson and No. 16 The Academy.
In 1A, Buena Vista got the top seed. No. 2 Limon, No. 3 Centauri, No. 4 Paonia, No. 5 Monte Vista, No. 6 Hotchkiss, No. 7 Yuma and No. 8 Platte Canyon will also host first-round games.
Additional 1A qualifiers were No. 9 Resurrection Christian, No. 10 Rye, No. 11 Burlington, No. 12 Cedaredge, No. 13 Colorado Springs Christian, No. 14 Wray, No. 15 Lyons and No. 16 Front Range Christian.
Hoehne is 8-man’s top seed. Also hosting in the first round will be No. 2 Dayspring Christian, No. 3 Norwood, No. 4 Simla, No. 5 Caliche, No. 6 Kiowa, No. 7 Sargent and No. 8 Dove Creek. Also qualifying were No. 9 Sanford, No. 10 Vail Christian, No. 11 Merino, No. 12 Walsh, No. 13 Akron, No. 14 West Grand, No. 15 Fowler and No. 16 Granada.
Liberty/Stratton grabbed 6-man’s top seed. Also qualifying were No. 2 Hi-Plains, No. 3 Eads, No. 4 Prairie, No. 5 Otis, No. 6 Peetz, No. 7 Hanover and No. 8 Flagler
