There were a number of major movers as CHSAANow released the first football rankings of the regular season on Monday.
New Wheat Ridge football coach Dan Reardon. (Tracy Renck)
Pueblo East (Class 3A), Discovery Canyon (3A), and Wheat Ridge (4A) all made big jumps after being unranked in the preseason.
Pueblo East had the biggest climb, and wound up at No. 3 in the 3A poll after winning its first two games. The Eagles beat Longmont, No. 4Â in the preseason 4A poll, in Zero Week, then topped Coronado, the defending 3A champion which has since moved up to 4A, in Week 1.
Discovery Canyon is No. 6 in 3A this week. Last Thursday, the Thunder beat Silver Creek, the 3A runner-up a season ago which has also moved up to 4A.
And Wheat Ridge, also off to a 2-0 start under new coach Dan Reardon in 4A, has won its games by a combined 91-0. The Farmers are No. 5 in this week’s 4A poll.
In total, those moves were just a microcosm of the new rankings, which saw massive change. All seven polls got at least one new team, with 4A and 6-man getting four new members, and 3A adding three.
There’s also a new No. 1 team in 2A, where Brush takes over for Platte Valley.
The least amount of change occurred in 5A, where Valor Christian continues its stranglehold on the No. 1 spot following its physical win over Pomona. The Eagles received all 13 first-place votes.
Teams Nos. 2-4 stayed the same behind them: Cherry Creek (which beat Regis Jesuit), Cherokee Trail and Pomona. Grandview joined the top five this week, bumping up three places from its preseason No. 8 spot.
More photos. (Tim Visser/TimVisserPhotography.com)
Chatfield remained at No. 6, Fairview moved up three spots to No. 7, Regis Jesuit fell to No. 8 and Ralston Valley remained at No. 9.
The lone newcomer in 5A is Overland, which joined at No. 10.
In addition to Wheat Ridge in 4A, new teams include No. 8 Vista Ridge, No. 9 Falcon and No. 10 Fort Collins. Pine Creek remained atop that poll following its escape of Falcon’s upset bid.
Besides Pueblo East and Discovery Canyon, D’Evelyn also joined the 3A ranking. Lutheran stayed atop that poll after its overtime win in Texas last week.
2A added No. 9 Eaton, while 1A added No. 7 Meeker. Paonia is still No. 1 in 1A.
The 8-man ranking added No. 8 Akron and No. 9 Springfield. Dayspring Christian continues to lead that pack.
Finally, 6-man added No. 6 Prairie, No. 7 Pawnee, No. 8 Walsh and No. 10 Cotopaxi. Stratton/Liberty remained in the top spot.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, polls will be released each Monday.
Voted upon by coaches and select media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding, except in 5A where they are used as part of the seeding criteria.
Frederick is the new No. 1 team in 4A softball this week. (Courtesy of Michelle Camacho)
It’s a week for change in softball. All three classifications got new No. 1 teams when CHSAANow.com’s rankings were released on Monday.
Brighton takes over in Class 5A. The Bulldogs are just 1-0-0, but their lone win came over then-No. 5 Eaglecrest — which owns wins over three ranked teams. Eaglecrest is No. 2, Dakota Ridge is No. 3 and former No. 1 Legacy dropped to No. 4.
Frederick is the No. 1 team in 4A after starting the season 8-0-0. Among those wins are a 6-0 decision over former No. 1 Erie on Aug. 23.
Meanwhile, defending champion Strasburg takes over in 3A. The team has started 3-0-0, including a wins over Valley (No. 2) and Eaton (No. 4).
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
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.
Last year’s event featured 13 volunteer coaches who had either college or NFL experience. (Courtesy of the Ekhoff family)
It’s an event to honor his memory, but the Nate Ekhoff Kicking Camp also aims to help local kickers, punters and long snappers.
The camp honors former Ponderosa kicker Nate Ekhoff, who was diagnosed with leukemia just after his senior season in 2011. He died from complications of the disease less than a year after that.
Last summer, Nate’s family started the Nate Ekhoff Kicking Camp. It featured 13 current and former college/NFL kickers, punters and long snappers as volunteer coaches. Thirty Colorado high school players took part. Ultimately, the camp provided $4,000 in college scholarships to four Colorado athletes who went on to play at the Division II level.
(Courtesy of the Ekhoff family)
“Our family is very excited to help them out a little,” Marshall Ekhoff, Nate’s dad, wrote in an email.
This year’s event is Saturday at Sports Authority Stadium in Parker from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Registration is $125 and includes lunch and a t-shirt.
Coaches include former Northglenn and Colorado State punter/kicker Jimmie Kaylor; former Mullen and CSU long-snapper John Treacy; former Arvada West and CSU punter/kicker (and current A-West baseball coach) Matt McDougal; former Oregon State and NFL punter/kicker Sam Paulescu; former Arapahoe and CSU kicker Jason Smith; and former Nebraska punter/kicker Dan Wingard.
In addition, there will be a concurrent tailgate party from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in the parking lot at Sports Authority Stadium. Admission is free. The tailgate will feature games, music, grilled food and there will also be a silent auction and drawings.
Donations will be accepted, as well, on behalf of the Nate Ekhoff Kicking Scholarship Fund.
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Local short stuff
John Hickey will be the new football coach at Flager. He has more than 25 years of coaching experience, most of it in DPS. He was Denver South’s interim coach in 2006, and has also headed Stratton. His stops as an assistant include Denver North, Denver East, Denver South and Alameda. His son, Johnny Hickey — who played at Broomfield — will serve as defensive coordinator.
North Park hired Chad Carlstrom as its football coach.
Cherry Creek hockey announced it has hired Brent Tollar as an assistant coach. Tollar was Steamboat Springs’ head coach last season as the Sailors went 10-7-1.
Denver East graduate Chyna Ries will head to the University of Texas instead of USC. “Initially I verbally committed to USC but was unable to get in,” Ries told co.milesplit.com. “Texas was one of my favorites as well but I had some additional work I needed to do to get in there. This was a long process and I want to reinforce to others to take your academics serious day one.” Ries won the long jump, was second in the 200 meters and third in the 100 at the Class 5A state track and field meet this past spring.
Fossil Ridge boys lacrosse’s Jake Frane committed to Notre Dame. He will be a sophomore this coming season.
Big news in the administrative realm: Russ McKinstry, the very successful boys basketball coach, has taken over as the athletic director at Monarch. Said McKinstry, to BoCoPreps.com: “There are high standards and expectations, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The Colorado Athletic Directors Association has a new twitter account: @CoAD_Assn.
Doherty boys basketball coach James Lane resigned in late June. He was there for three seasons, and went 16-8 last spring as the Spartans made 5A’s second round.
Dakota Ridge teammates Gillian Vance and Sydney Merchant, Regis Jesuit’s Jaclyn Murray, Jefferson Academy’s Jennifer Kupcho and Silver Creek’s Erin Sargent (who plays for Skyline) all qualified for the U.S. Girls Junior Golf Championship, set to be held July 21-26 in Flagstaff, Arizona. Denver East’s Sarah Hunt is an alternate.
Kyle Freeland, the Thomas Jefferson product who went No. 8 overall to the Rockies in this summer’s MLB Draft, made his pro debut on Wednesday night. He pitched just two innings, but didn’t allow a run and struck out two against three hits. He also topped out at 96 mph. “When I got done with that second (inning), I just felt like I was getting in my groove,” Freeland told the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, “but they said, ‘We’re done after two. You threw 17 pitches, your two innings are up, we’ll just prepare for the next start.’”
In mid-June, Mead’s baseball and softball fields were vandalized by “unidentified youths” who sliced up the Mavs’ windscreen with a knife. The damage was estimated to be roughly $5,000.
Genoa-Hugo and Karval will co-op once again in 2014-15 in volleyball, football, boys and girls basketball, as well as baseball.
One school district in South Carolina has voted to prohibit parents from coaching their own kids at the varsity and junior varsity levels. According to The Post and Courier, a newspaper which covers the district, that extends to volunteer coaches, as well. There is a waiver, however, which would allow a parent to coach their kid if they are “determined to be vital to the existence of the program.”
Ohio is revamping its classification system. Some are hailing the change as a solution to competitive balance, though it only affects football, volleyball, soccer, basketball, baseball and softball. Essentially, enrollment numbers are being adjusted based upon if a student’s parents reside in the attendance zone or not, and if the student has been in the same district since seventh grade. Here are more details from theSuburbanite.com.
There’s an interesting transfer case brewing in Pennsylvania. It revolves around a Philadelphia-area football player.
Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 17 are below.
Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 9 are below.
Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 2 are below.
