Brighton softball is among the many contenders in Class 5A. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
A little more than three weeks ago, Eaglecrest softball went to Dakota Ridge and easily handled the Eagles.
The final was 8-1 that day. They’d already beaten Douglas County, a quarterfinal team last season, as well as Rock Canyon, another quarterfinalist in 2013. No one is going to anoint a state champion after three games — but Eaglecrest sure looked like a favorite at that point.
Well, here’s the state of Class 5A softball at this moment: Dakota Ridge is ranked No. 1, Eaglecrest is now No. 9. And both are still very much in contention for the No. 1 overall seed come next month.
The classification has been crazy. Consider that there ceased to be an unbeaten team in 5A softball on Sept. 11 — less than three weeks into the season.
But what makes it all the more confusing is the sheer amount of parity.
Chaparral shot up to No. 5 in this week’s ranking after 10-consecutive wins. The Wolverines dropped their first two games this week.
After Eaglecrest’s 3-0 start, the Raptors lost to Brighton. Two games later, Brighton lost to Columbine. Columbine turned around and lost to Mountain Vista. Mountain Vista then fell to Cherry Creek. Two games after that, Cherry Creek lost to Lakewood, which then lost to Chatfield.
Dakota Ridge is currently the No. 1 team in the state. They have won four games in a row, but have the loss to Eaglecrest and another to Mountain Range. Two games after beating Dakota Ridge, Mountain Range lost to Fossil Ridge.
Another 5A contender: Mountain Range. (Pam Wagner)
“When the committee sits down to figure out head-to-head, it’s going to be: ‘What week?’” joked Bud Ozzello, CHSAA’s assistant commissioner who administers softball. “That’s how good this classification is.”
So who will end up as the No. 1 seed? Who knows. What’s clear is that there’s no clear-cut favorite.
Dakota Ridge has a win over Legend, which beat Douglas County, which has beaten Columbine, which has topped Brighton, which owns a win over Grandview, which beat Eaglecrest — which, of course, beat Dakota Ridge.
The classification has become a snake eating its own tail.
Ultimately, what this regular season is proving is that it likely won’t even matter much who gets the No. 1 overall seed. Or the Nos. 8, 9 or 10, for that matter.
Because in order to reach the state tournament, and move on once there, “You’re going to have to battle,” Ozzello said.
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Short stuff
The first of the new championship trophies were delivered last week: boys golf. The rest have since been delivered, and now dot CHSAA’s hallways until their championship dates.
Berthoud football is off to a 3-0 start, and ranked No. 10 in 3A this week. This may be a case of those special graduating classes that come through schools at one time or another. According to John Hall of the Berthoud Surveyor, this year’s junior class was a stellar bunch dating to their youth, including winning the Northern Colorado Championship.
Due to low numbers, Deer Trail will forfeit its game to Peetz this week. Deer Trail was down to five guys.
Pinnacle’s football team beat Jefferson 55-18 last week, and in doing so snapped an 18-game winning streak. Their last win came in Sept. 2012.
Castle View’s Savannah Heebner threw a perfect game in a 14-0 win over Highlands Ranch last week. She struck out 10 in five innings, and is now 10-1 with a 0.77 ERA in 11 games. She has four shutouts.
It was quite the weekend for Fairview’s athletic department. The volleyball team won the Bruins Classic on Saturday, capped by a 2-1 win over Cherry Creek. On Monday, the volleyball team cracked the 5A rankings at No. 8. Also over the weekend, the boys tennis team also tied Cherry Creek in winning the Cherry Creek Invitational. That followed a win over Cherry Creek in a dual earlier in the week.
Steamboat Springs JV boys soccer goalie Andrew McCawley scored a goal off a long punt. Here’s video.
Following Valor Christian’s loss last week, 8-man’s Dayspring Christian owns the state’s longest football winning streak at 16 games.
After going 3-4 last week, Colorado football teams are now 20-11 against out-of-state competition this season.
Three Broncos players visited local football programs on Tuesday. Corey Nelson stopped by Horizon, Ben Garland went to Legacy, and Montee Ball was at Gateway.
Colorado boys lacrosse has two highly-ranked sophomores in the Class of 2017. Per Inside lacrosse, Mountain Vista’s Colin Munro (a North Carolina commit) is No. 4 nationally, while Fossil Ridge’s Jake Frane (Notre Dame) is No. 17.
Mullen turned to Matt Guglielmo to coach its girls soccer team. He’s also the school’s boys coach.
Valor Christian alum Max McCaffrey had two touchdowns for Duke football in its win over Kansas last week. He’s now the team’s leading receiver this season with 178 yards.
Grandview alum Kevin Gausman was part of the Balitmore Orioles squad which clinched the AL East on Tuesday.
A Colorado legislator is considering a proposal which “would require public schools to change Indian-themed mascots that the Native American community found offensive.” The threat of losing state funding would hang over those schools which don’t change it, according to the proposal.
If you missed it Wednesday, our Brian Miller detailed the story of Hugo Falco, a Brazilian exchange student who is playing 6-man football at Stratton/Liberty.
Arickaree/Woodlin is the new No. 1 team in the 6-man football poll this week. More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Turns out a win over a No. 1 team does help you move up to the top spot.
Arickaree/Woodlin, No. 2 in CHSAANow’s 6-man football poll last week, moved up to No. 1 this week following its 60-30 win over Stratton/Liberty on Friday night.
Coach David Saffer was expecting the move after the game on Friday.
Saffer’s squad was the only new No. 1 team this week. Valor Christian (5A), Pine Creek (4A), Lutheran (3A), Brush (2A), Paonia (1A) and Dayspring Christian (8-man) all held firm atop their respective rankings.
Ralston Valley is up to No. 4 in this week’s 5A football poll. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Valor held on to the top spot despite its loss to Chandler (Ariz.). But the Eagles are no longer a unanimous selection: they received 13 of the 18 first-place votes this week.
No. 2 Pomona, No. 3 Grandview and No. 4 Ralston Valley — which got three — also received first-place votes in 5A this week. Fairview rounds out the top five after bumping up one spot.
Regis Jesuit is sixth, Cherry Creek fell to seventh following its loss to Jordan (Utah), Overland moved up to eighth and Cherokee Trail fell to No. 9 after losing to Regis Jesuit. Doherty is the lone newcomer in 5A this week, and joins at No. 10.
Among the biggest movers this week was Fort Collins, which jumped up from No. 9 to No. 5 in the 4A poll following its win over Windsor last week.
The 4A ranking added Pueblo Centennial (No. 10), 3A added Berthoud (also No. 10) and St. Mary’s joined 2A (No. 9). In 1A, newcomer Rye is No. 10, and 6-man has two new teams this week: No. 9 Hanover and No. 10 Weldon Valley.
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. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding, except in 5A where they are used as part of the seeding criteria.
Is there a clear-cut favorite in Class 5A softball? Three weeks into the season, it doesn’t appear that way.
For the second week in a row, there is a new No. 1-ranked team. Dakota Ridge takes over atop CHSAANow.com’s poll, and follows Legacy (preseason) and Brighton (last week) as top teams in the classification.
The Eagles are 7-2-0 this season and went 2-1 last week with wins over Castle View and Erie. Dakota Ridge also beat Legend earlier this season, but did drop a game to Mountain Range last week.
Brighton dropped to No. 2 following a loss to Columbine last week. Legend moved up to No. 3 after going 3-0 last week with wins over Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest and Grandview.
Mountain Range, meanwhile, moved up to No. 4 from No. 9. Legacy rounds out 5A’s top five teams.
Columbine is the lone newcomer in 5A, joining at No. 10.
Frederick (4A) and Strasburg (3A), the other two No. 1 teams, stayed the same this week.
4A added Windsor (No. 8) this week, while 3A added Brush (No. 9) and Skyline (No. 10).
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.
BROOMFIELD — Freshman Matthew Fountaine scored two goals as Holy Family boys soccer won Wednesday’s home conference game against Berthoud by a score of 4-0.
Fellow freshman Lorenzo Centeno also scored for Holy Family, as did junior Scott Avirett.
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.
Jack Thorne just finished his junior year at Berthoud. He is an all-state swimmer who competes for nearby Thompson Valley (Berthoud doesn’t field a team). Monday, Thorne came out as gay on Twitter, Facebook and OutSports.com.
He is believed to be the first openly gay high school athlete in Colorado.
Thorne won the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke championships at May’s Class 4A state meet. His time of 48.824 in the 100 back set the meet record. Thorne was also part of Thompson Valley’s 400 freestyle relay team which placed third, and in June was named to CHSAANow.com’s 4A all-state team.
In a letter Monday, Thorne wrote that he wants “to be the person that 14 year old me didn’t have, I want to help that 14 year old realize it’s going to get better. If I can do that, or if I can change somebody’s mind about the LGBT community then this will have been worth it.”
Last year, CHSAA became the first state high school association to team up with the You Can Play! project, which takes a stand against homophobia in sports.
The association launched You Can Play, Colorado! which included a state-wide video contest. The winning submissions were shown at the state basketball championships. That initiative was part of CHSAA’s We Are CHSAA positive leadership campaign.
“One piece of our positive leadership campaign was that kids that are struggling with coming out shouldn’t feel isolated nor an inability to express themselves,” CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico said on Tuesday. “We hope that in some way it was helpful.”
I’ve spent months trying to figure out how to do this, when to do this and I’ve realized there’s never going to be a perfect time to say what I want to say. But there’s no time like the present. I’m gay. Some of you already know, and for some of you this may come as a surprise. Nothing has changed, I’m still the same Jack, the same Jack you race, the same Jack who you carpool with, the same Jack screaming for you on the side of the pool. This doesn’t define me, I’m not gay Jack, I’m just Jack. Being gay happens to be one of the many things that make me who I am, it’s not what defines me and I won’t let it define me.
I’m not doing this for attention, I’m doing this because I want to be able to be myself and I want to be able to help somebody. I want to be the person that 14 year old me didn’t have, I want to help that 14 year old realize that it’s going to get better. If I can do that, or if I can change somebody’s mind about the LGBT community then this will have been worth it.
I’ve had some people try to discourage me from doing this the way I am. If my close friends and family know, why should I tell the world about it? Unfortunately we live in a world where people are treated differently because they love someone of the same sex, one where kids are bullied and picked on because of this, one where people would rather end their own lives than face this discrimination and hostility. I wish we lived in a world where people didn’t have to pretend to be something they’re not and where people didn’t have to come out at all, but unfortunately we do. My sexual orientation is no more significant than my hair color, it’s part of me, but it isn’t something that defines who I am.
I want to thank my friends and family who have supported me. You are amazing. The world is changing for the better and I hope I can be part of that change and help break down those stereotypes and misconceptions people have about the LGBT community.
The last portion is for those of you who are struggling. The way you’re feeling right now, it isn’t always going to be like this. A year ago I was just like you, alone, sad, scared, I was pushing my friends away and I hated this part of me. Now I’ve come full circle and I’m actually proud of who I am. I’ve had help and support from some amazing people all the way through this process. Now that I’m here, I want to be able to help someone like those people helped me. You don’t have to deal with this alone. If you need advice, or just someone to talk to I’m here.
On that note, I have some very important things to do such as swim, eat and sleep, so I will end this with a thank you to those of you who have taken the time to read this letter.
Thompson Valley’s Andrew Bradberry won both the 100 and 200 (pictured) meter races on Friday. (Brock Laue)
LOVELAND — Heather Waite, a fourth-place finisher at Class 5A state meet in the pole vault as a junior, was looking for a breakout performance to kick start her senior year.
Friday, she seized it. At the R2-J Invitational, a high-level midseason meet at Loveland High School, Waite won the pole vault by over a foot with a towering mark of 12 feet and half of an inch. The mark was a new personal best, a school record, and places her second in 5A.
“It was 11-8,” Waite said of her previous best. “I haven’t been able to clear anything higher than 11-6 yet this season, so I’m super excited for this.”
Waite, who won the prestigious Mullen Runners Roost Invitational last weekend over defending 5A state champion Megan McCabe of Cherry Creek, set the tone for the Loveland Indians Friday in their quest for another district title.
This year’s edition of the R2-J Meet featured 12 teams, including strong programs from Cheyenne Mountain, Eaton, The Classical Academy, and a portion of Valor Christian’s squad.
The overall meet was scored separately from the R2-J district meet, which is comprised of Loveland, Thompson Valley, Mountain View and Berthoud. The ultimate prize for the district teams is the overall team championship, decided by the total points for both boys and girls teams.
Loveland has won every district championship since the meet began in 1999 and was able to claim another on the strength of its girls program. Loveland’s girls finished first in both the overall and district meets and had a whopping 143 points, 60 ahead of their nearest competitor, The Classical Academy, in the overall meet.
“Our kids really competed well, which is what we ask for,” Loveland coach Paul Quere said about his team’s performance. “There’s a lot of pride on the Loveland side in the R2-J Meet and Thompson Valley, Mountain View and Berthoud all have great teams. We kind of separate that really from the bigger meet, because it means more to our kids and more to our coaches. Obviously, boys and girls, for what we had, had a really outstanding day and I’m just proud of the way they competed.”
Waite’s eye-opening pole vault was the headliner, but the Indians got contributions from Taylor Buschy (fourth in the 100 meters, second in the 200 meters, second in the 400 meters), Alex Koschel (second in the triple jump) and Ashley Krawczuk (second in the 100 meter hurdles, fourth in the high jump).
Loveland’s distance runners also made noise with two sizzling finishes. Ashlyn Brent had a 32-second personal best in the 3,200 with a time of 11:39. She ran a meter behind Thompson Valley’s Ellie Colpitts, who placed fourth in 11:45, the entire race and then turned on the jets the last lap to earn third place and a spot in the top 20 in 5A.
(Brock Laue)
On the boys side, Loveland’s Kyle Brinkman used a similar tactic to win a district championship. Brinkman stayed within 10 feet of Thompson Valley’s Kaleb Simington in the 1,600. Simington boasts the fourth-best 3,200 meter time in 4A at 9:49 and has been the best distance runner in the town of Loveland this spring, but Brinkman had him in sight with 200 meters to go.
A crowded lead pack began their kick together, but Brinkman “found a little gap and got through,” he said. “The last 200 I shifted into gear and took off.”
The closing kick was enough to secure the district title with a time of 4:34.56, just over three seconds clear of Simington.
Mountain View’s boys, one of the top teams in 4A this season, ran away from the field with a commanding 132.5 points. The Classical Academy was second with 97 points.
The Mountain Lions displayed their talent with an 8:13 3,200 meter relay.
“The (4-by-800) went really well, because it was the first time we’ve run our ‘A’ team,” Nick Olson, one of Mountain View’s top sprinters, said afterward. “We ran the fastest time in the state so far for 4A.
“As a team, we’re definitely looking really strong,” Olson added. “Our (4-by-200) is one of the top five teams in the state for 4A, so is our (4-by-400) team, and just now with the (4-by-800), that sets us really high. The boys team is looking really strong and we’re competing really well.”
Thompson Valley also had several great performances. Andrew Bradberry won the 100 and 200 meters with a 10.80 and 22.49 double. His 100 time places him first in the classification. Jake Martinson won the pole vault with a mark of 14 feet, 3 inches — a new Thompson Valley record and the second best vault in 4A this year.
The story of the day was breakout performances. Waite hopes her top-shelf mark leads to greater heights.
“By the end of the season, a really ambitious goal I have is 13-0,” Waite said. “A more realistic one is 12-7.”
After Friday, several R2-J tracksters are leaning towards the ambitious side.
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.
