(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

Mountain Vista (in 5A) and Lamar (3A) each moved up to the top spots in their respective baseball rankings this week.

The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association.

During the regular season, new polls are released each Monday.

Complete rankings for all classes are below.

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CHSAANow.com Baseball Polls

Voted upon by coaches and select media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.

Coaches and media members looking to vote should email rcasey@chsaa.org.

(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

Baseball’s preseason rankings were unveiled on Monday, and Cherry Creek (5A), Valor Christian (4A), Eaton (3A), Paonia (2A) and Holly (1A) are the top-ranked teams in their respective classifications.

The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association.

During the regular season, new polls are released each Monday.

Complete rankings for all classes are below.

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CHSAANow.com Baseball Polls

Voted upon by coaches and select media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.

Coaches and media members looking to vote should email rcasey@chsaa.org.

(Courtesy of Pikes Peak Christian)

Pikes Peak Christian volleyball upset No. 7 Kiowa on Thursday night, giving the Eagles their first top-10 win in program history.

The Eagles rallied from down 2-1 to win the Class 1A match 3-2 (25-13, 19-25, 17-25, 25-16, 15-4).

According to athletic director Marko Hahn, this is also the first time Pikes Peak Christian has beaten Kiowa since 2008.

“A win against Kiowa is a culmination of hard work and dedication by our ladies,” coach Shawn Sweat said. “These ladies give 200 percent every time they step on that court. It’s confirmation that their hard work pays off.”

Senior Gabrielle Braithwaite and sophomore Kyler Sweat each had six kills for Pikes Peak Christian, while Anna Cagle had seven aces and 11 digs. Sweat also had 12 digs.

“Last night our ladies did everything we asked them to do,” Sweat said. “It took all ten of our girls just doing what they know when we needed them to do it. We don’t have a specific stand out player. They play as a team, they win as a team.”

Freshman Ashley Collitt led Kiowa with 21 kills.

Pikes Peak Christian is now 5-2, while Kiowa is 1-1.

Castle View (No. 4), Fort Collins (No. 6) and Highlands Ranch (No. 9) shook-up a new-look poll in Class 5A volleyball this week.

The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.

Complete rankings for all classes are below.

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CHSAANow.com Volleyball Polls

Voted upon by coaches and media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.

(Paige Stingley/Valor Christian Athletics)

Luke McCaffrey rushed for two touchdowns as Valor Christian got its first-ever win over Mullen on Friday night.

The Eagles, top-ranked in and two-time defending champions of Class 5A, beat the No. 4 Mustangs 31-7. 

With senior Blake Stenstrom out due to a concussion, it was the first career start at quarterback for McCaffrey.

“Any player that comes into the game just wants to do everything that they can,” McCaffrey told Altitude TV after the game. “I don’t really focus on the snaps, just making the snaps count. I really just went out there and tried to do everything I could.”

Valor Christian was 0-2 against Mullen in the short history of their rivalry, having lost to the Mustangs last season and in 2012.

“It was incredible, just to do something that nobody at Valor has done before,” McCaffrey told Altitude. “That was one of our themes all week, just focusing on that: do what’s never been done, and do everything you can for your brothers.

“I thought each and every player contributed. … It was special to see.”

The Eagles’ Joshia Davis had a key touchdown late in the first half when he scored off an option pitch with three seconds remaining. Davis had set the Eagles up at the 2-yard-line with a long run just before the half.

Valor Christian travels to play at Greater Atlanta Christian next week, while Mullen continues a tough early slate of its own by playing No. 5 Regis Jesuit. The Mustangs lost to No. 2 Pomona in Zero Week.

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3A: (3) Holy Family 56, (8) Palisade 20

(@HF_Athletics/Twitter)

Holy Family went on the road and put on a show.

Palisade actually had rallied from an early 14-0 hole to tie the game at 14-14, but then Holy Family connected on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Stone Samaras to Kyle Helbig on 4th down and 1.

It was quickly 35-14 at halftime, and then Samaras found Helbig again on the third play of the second half to make it 42-14.

Samaras finished with four touchdown passes and a rushing score. Helbig had three receiving touchdowns.

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2A: (7) Sterling 42, (8) D’Evelyn 28

Sterling moved to 2-0 with yet another big top-10 win on Friday night.

The Tigers beat No. 6 Resurrection Christian in Zero Week.

“We’ve had a pretty good run these two games of being able to put together enough to win a football game,” coach Rob Busmente told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show after the game.

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4A/5A: Boulder 27, (9) Denver South 25

(Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)

Boulder won on the final play of the game after an 80-yard kickoff return set up a 1-yard touchdown.

On Friday, the Panthers jumped out to a 16-0 lead, and also led 18-6 at halftime. Denver South battled back and eventually took the lead, but last-second heroics from Patrick Fletcher on his return set up the winning touchdown by Shane Provost.

Provost’s score came on a shovel pass, according to BoCoPreps.com.

It was a great note to start the 2017 season for the Panthers. Last season, Denver South beat Boulder 56-17 to open the season. Boulder went on to finish 1-9.

“There was 12 seconds left and I wanted to score and I wanted to get that ‘W’ because I knew it would change the program and change the environment,” Fletcher told BoCoPreps.com of his kick return.

Find a photo gallery from the game here.

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Chase for the state wins record

Both Kent Denver and West Grand won on Friday night, which means that Kent coach Scott Yates will retain sole possession of the state wins record.

Kent, ranked No. 1 in 2A, beat Eagle Valley 41-0. That is win No. 317 for Yates.

West Grand, No. 6 in 8-man, beat Sanford 40-0. That is win No. 316 for coach Chris Brown.

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Notables

• In 8-man, Justice beat Nederland 44-13. It was the first on-field game for new Nederland coach Beth Buglione, who is the first female coach in state history. Nederland only had nine players available on Friday, according to the school. Here’s BoCoPreps’ story on the game.
• In a rematch of the 6-man title game, No. 3 Cheyenne Wells beat No. 1 Flagler 70-20. It’s complicated, but many of Flagler’s players played at Hi-Plains last season when Flagler dropped its program. This season, Hi-Plains dropped its program, and now many of those players are playing for Flagler.
• In a big 5A game, No. 5 Regis Jesuit fought off No. 3 Cherry Creek, 25-20. The Raiders led 12-0 after the first quarter, but the Bruins slowly chipped away. They cut it as close to 19-14 in the fourth quarter but Kiahn Martinez had a TD that sealed the game with a minute to play for Regis.
• 2A No. 3 La Junta beat Gunnison 42-0, and 1A No. 1 Strasburg beat No. 8 Burlington 24-6. That extended each team’s winning streak to 14 games, which is the most in the state.
• Caliche snapped a 15-game losing streak with a 50-28 win over Kiowa. 
• In the Pigskin Classic, Pueblo West beat Pueblo County 28-7.
• Another local rivalry: Fort Collins beat Fossil Ridge 17-6. Fort Collins finished minus-5 in turnover margin but still won. “Our defense stuck their neck out there, and they played hard the whole night,” coach Eric Rice told the Scoreboard Show.
• In 1A, Monte Vista upset No. 9 Cedaredge 31-8. “We just kind of wore them out in the second half,” coach Manny Wasinger told the Scoreboard Show.
• In 2A, No. 9 Faith Christian edged No. 6 Resurrection Christian 9-0.
• 4A No. 5 Windsor beat Vista Ridge 14-3 in the return of coach Chris Jones. Jones took a year off of coaching before returning to the sidelines this fall.
• 6-man: No. 6 Stratton/Liberty ran away from No. 7 Genoa-Hugo 51-14. “It was a weird 6-man game,” coach Toby Kechter told the Scoreboard Show. “Usually, it’s a two-or-three touchdown game and you’re nervous as heck, but our defense was so good that it just felt really good and our kids were really confident in what we were doing.”
• 8-man: No. 3 Hoehne edged No. 4 Sargent 30-27. “Things went our way in the end,” coach Gabe Dasko told the Scoreboard Show. “I just kept telling our kids: ‘You guys have got to learn to finish in the end.’ Our two big leaders, Jacob Yates and Trystan Moltrer, stepped up and made some big plays for us.”
• Grand Junction beat local rival Grand Junction Central 21-0.
• Buena Vista and Alamosa didn’t kick their game off until 9:32 p.m. due to a shortage of officials. They ended at 11:45 p.m., a 37-7 Alamosa win.

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More coverage

• In 3A, No. 7 Longmont ended No. 1 Pueblo East’s 11-game winning streak.
• No. 5 Mead football ran away with a season-opening win against No. 9 Lewis-Palmer.
• A pick-6 on the final play lifted Lakewood over Arvada West.
• Photos from that Lakewood/Arvada West game.
• Doherty and Rangeview put up a combined 138 points tonight. Yep.
• Photos from the Boulder/Denver South game.
• Relive our live coverage from Friday’s games.
• An updated top-10 football scoreboard, and Saturday’s schedule.
• A complete scoreboard for Friday’s games.

Kit Carson is No. 1 in 1A. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

No surprise: Four of the five defending champions are ranked No. 1 in CHSAANow.com’s preseason volleyball rankings.

The lone exception is Kit Carson, which is top-ranked in Class 1A after finishing runner-up to Fleming last season.

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.

Complete rankings for all classes are below.

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CHSAANow.com Volleyball Polls

Voted upon by coaches and media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.

The 2017 all-state girls track and field teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.

These teams were created based upon results at the state meet.

In order to be considered for athlete of the year, they must first have made the all-state team by winning an event.

Athletes of the year were selected based upon their performance at the state meet. Coaches of the year were selected based upon the team champions.

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Class 5A

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Athlete of the year: Arria Minor, Denver East

Coach of the year: John Reyes, Grandview

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Class 4A

Athlete of the year: Mary Gillett, Niwot

Coach of the year: Chuck Schwartz, Air Academy

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Class 3A

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Athlete of the year: Sarah Yocum, Faith Christian

Coach of the year: Tim Daggett, The Classical Academy

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Class 2A

Athlete of the year: Sophia Anderson, Paonia & Soleil Gaylord, Telluride

Coach of the year: Brian Mitchem, Paonia

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Class 1A

Athletes of the year: Melanie Deering, Kiowa; Tatelyn Lasley, Springfield

Coach of the year: Mike Jaco, Springfield

Silver Creek is making the right moves at the right time. The Raptors have climbed to the No. 2 spot in the Class 4A CHSAANow.com baseball rankings. 

They sit right behind Valor Christian, who holds on to the No. 1 spot.

Green Mountain also shot up the rankings, gaining three spots to take over the No. 3 position.

(Courtesy of Palisade HS)

Air Academy (No. 7) and Palisade (No. 9) are the two new teams to crack the 4A poll this week.

Three new teams made their way in the 5A rankings as Legend (No. 6), Legacy (No. 8) and Brighton (No. 10) have all impressed voters enough with the postseason right around the corner. 

Cherry Creek remains the No. 1 team in 5A, but Mountain Vista jumped up to the No. 2 spot. Mountain Range is two spots better than a week ago, sitting at No. 4.

Lamar holds on to the No. 1 spot in 3A with Lutheran climbing up to No. 2.

Valley made a three-spot jump to come in at No. 4.

At No. 9 and No. 10 respectively, Delta and Resurrection Christian are the two newcomers to the 3A poll.

Paonia maintained its spot atop the 2A poll while Sedgwick County jumped a spot to get to No. 3.

At No. 8, Hotchkiss is two spots better than last week.

Front Range Christian joins the 2A poll at No. 10.

Holly remains the unanimous No. 1 team in 1A. Eads was able to jump a spot to No. 2, trading places with No. 3 Fleming. 

Kiowa jumped two spots to No. 8 while Granada (No. 9) and Manzanola (No. 10) join the rankings this week.

The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association.

During the regular season, new polls are released each Monday.

Complete rankings for all classes are below.

[divider]

CHSAANow.com Baseball Polls

Voted upon by coaches and select media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.

Coaches and media members looking to vote should email rcasey@chsaa.org.

Go to: 5A | 4A | 3A | 2A | 1A

(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

Cherry Creek and Valor Christian are picking the right time to peak. After all, in hunt for a state baseball championship teams put more emphasis on how they’re playing in May, not in March.

In the last week of April, the Bruins and the Eagles have made their way into their respective top spots in the CHSAANow.com baseball rankings.

Cherry Creek takes nine of 12 first-place votes to come in as the new No. 1 in the Class 5A poll. The Bruins unseat Rock Canyon, which falls to No.2 after a 12-10 loss to Regis Jesuit last week.

The Raiders are just one of three new teams to crack the 5A top 10. Douglas County enters the poll this week at No. 7 and Broomfield, fresh off a shutout win over Mountain Range comes in at No. 9.

Valor Christian — the defending 4A champion — regains the top spot in that class, jumping up three spots from last week’s ranking.

The Eagles overtake No. 2 Cheyenne Mountain, which claimed the top spot a week ago.

(Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)

Still undefeated, Denver North climbs a couple of spots to take the No. 4 position this week, grabbing a couple of first-place votes in the process.

Summit and Pueblo West are the two newcomers in the 4A poll, taking the No. 9 and No. 10 spots respectively. 

Lamar remains the No. 1 team in the 3A rankings, but University was able to jump a spot to land at No. 2.

Peak to Peak (No. 5) and Colorado Academy (No. 6) each climbed two spots from last week’s poll.

There were no new teams in the 3A poll.

Paonia held its spot at the top of the 2A poll. Sedgwick County jumped a spot to No. 4 and County Line fell a spot to No. 5, but no other changes occurred in the 2A rankings.

Holly did not play a game last week and it didn’t effect anything in the least as the Wildcats are still No.1 in the rankings.

Fleming (No. 2) and Cheyenne Wells (No. 4) each jumped a spot from last week. Three new teams joined the 1A poll as Denver Jewish Day comes in at No. 6, Stratton/Liberty takes the No. 9 spot and Sierra Grande rounds out the poll at No. 10.

The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association.

New polls are released each Monday during the regular season.

Complete rankings for all classes are below.

[divider]

CHSAANow.com Baseball Polls

Voted upon by coaches and select media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.

Coaches and media members looking to vote should email rcasey@chsaa.org.

Go to: 5A | 4A | 3A | 2A | 1A

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

It might be too early to say that Cheyenne Mountain is back at a championship level, but a 11-0 start to the season has certainly gotten the attention of voters across the state.

Fresh off a win over Falcon on Thursday and Canon City on Saturday, the Indians are the new No. 1 in the Class 4A CHSAANow.com baseball rankings.

The Indians only broke into the poll a week ago and after leaping over Northridge, Windsor and Ponderosa, they are looking closer and closer to being in championship contention once again.

Valor Christian made a decent jump this week, gaining three spots to land No. 4. 

Silver Creek is the only team to join the poll, coming in at No. 9

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Lamar regains the top spot in the 3A poll after being overtaken by league rival La Junta last week. 

University gains some ground to come in at No. 3 as does Manitou Springs who jumps a spot to land at No. 5.

Eaton rejoins the top 10 this week, rounding out the 3A at No. 10.

In 5A, Rock Canyon holds on to the top spot in the poll. Mountain Range, however, made a four-spot jump to come in at No. 2.

Cherry Creek gets back into the top three, getting a few first-place votes in the process.

Fruita Monument (No. 8) and Legacy (No. 9) are the two newcomers to the 5A rankings.

Paonia held on to the top spot in the 2A poll, as did the top four overall teams from last week’s rankings.

Rocky Ford is two spots better this week at No. 7.

Lyons is the only new team in the 2A poll, coming at No. 9 this week.

Holly also held on to its No. 1 ranking, hanging on to the top spot in the 1A poll. Eads (No. 2) and Fleming (No. 3) also held on to their positions from a week ago. 

At No. 8, Kiowa is new to this week’s top 10, as is Granada who rounds out the poll at No. 10.

The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association.

During the regular season, new polls are released each Monday.

Complete rankings for all classes are below.

[divider]

CHSAANow.com Baseball Polls

Voted upon by coaches and select media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.

Coaches and media members looking to vote should email rcasey@chsaa.org.

Go to: 5A | 4A | 3A | 2A | 1A