Wrestling’s regular season is rapidly winding down — the final day is Saturday. With regionals set for Feb. 14-15, the picture in terms of team rankings seems clear at the moment.
The latest On The Mat wrestling rankings were released this morning, with few changes. The most notable movement was Pine Creek going from No. 5 to No. 3 in 5A.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
PUEBLO — Some girls high school basketball players do not have games like this their entire careers.
Shannon Patterson of Pueblo South is having nights like this on a regular basis.
The senior poured in 26 points powering the defending Class 4A state champion Colts to a convincing 76-30 win over Pueblo County in the South-Central League opener for both teams Tueday night at the Hornets’ Nest.
“Coming in people were saying we were not the same team we were last year,” said Patterson, who also had six 3-pointers. “We just wanted to prove them wrong and show them that we could be better than last year’s team and not to doubt us.”
South (11-1), which is ranked No. 3 in the latest CHSAANow.com poll, won its seventh game in row. Pueblo County (9-5) was no match for the Colts, who made 14 of 20 3-point attempts.
“I wasn’t surprised with how well South played, I just thought we could play with them and obviously I was wrong,” Pueblo County coach Mark Villegas said. “We missed some shots early and they hit a couple of big 3s and it just snowballed from there.”
Kendra Jesik and Patterson each had five points giving the Colts a quick 10-3 lead just over one minute into the game.
The Colts kept pushing the tempo and then with 4:44 left in the first half Patterson put on a clinic.
Pueblo South’s Shannon Patterson. (Tracy Renck)
The 5-foot-6 Patterson scored her team’s final 12 points of the second quarter, the final six on back-to-back treys. Patterson had 21 first-half points and the Colts were up 37-15 at intermission.
“I think she is the best player in 4A,” Villegas said of Patterson. “She provides ball pressure and she takes your best offensive player out of the game and she scores at will right now.”
Patterson, who came into the game averaging 23.4 points a game, drew praise from South coach Shannan Lane. Patterson has signed to play for Colorado State University-Pueblo next year.
“Shannon’s been solid,” Lane said. “She has stepped up her game from last year and she has had to. Everybody knows we are trying to fill those points we lost from Mikala (Gordon). We didn’t know where we were going to get those points and Kendra has picked it up a bunch. I really didn’t know if Shannon, who was scoring 16 points a game last year, could average almost 10 more points a game this season and she has. She’s playing at a different level. Her speed, her quickness and she’s just one heck of an all-around player.”
Gordon, a 5-foot-9 post player, averaged 17 points a game last season and was the Colts’ floor leader. Gordon is now playing for Colorado Christian University.
As good as Patterson and Jesik have been, they don’t work alone. Guard Jaylan Duran is scoring 12.3 points a game and 6-foot post player Sissy Hall is at 6.6 points. The juniors had nine points each against Pueblo County.
“The key for us is just to play as a family and trust each other,” Hall said. “If we do that, I’m confident we can make another run at winning state again.”
Duran had a game-high 19 points on the strength of five 3-pointers in the Colts’ 66-42 victory over D’Evelyn in the Class 4A state championship game at the Events Center at the University of Colorado last March.
South has won five girls basketball state championships in school history in 1979, 1992, ’93, ’94 and last year.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
Ralston Valley continues to be out front of the CHSAANow.com hockey ranking. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Regis Jesuit moved up three places in this week’s CHSAANow.com hockey poll.
The Raiders (3-0-0) were No. 7 last week, and are now No. 4.
Ralston Valley remained on top of the rankings, a spot the Mustangs have occupied since the preseason. They beat then-No. 4 Cherry Creek 3-0 on Saturday.
Monarch returned to the No. 2 spot, jumping Mountain Vista. Cherry Creek dropped one spot to No. 5.
Cherry Creek and Dakota Ridge are among a host of contenders this season. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
The 2013-14 hockey season emerges from its annual winter break on Thursday. We take a look at where things stand:
[divider]
Ralston Valley, last season’s champion, has just about rolled through its entire 2013 schedule. So have Monarch — last season’s runner-up — Mountain Vista and Regis Jesuit.
Those four teams are all winning games by an average of at least 6.6 goals thus far. (Monarch is winning games by an average of 10.6 goals; Mountain Vista by 9 goals.)
These teams are dominant — so far. Regis, Monarch and Mountain Vista have only played three games; Ralston Valley has played four. Thus, these stats don’t so much reveal a trend, but rather a lack of data.
So here’s what we’re saying: It’s early. Very early. Those four teams are very much contenders to win this season’s championship. But they aren’t alone.
Steamboat Springs. (Mark Adams)
There’s also:
Lewis-Palmer (7-1-0). The Rangers have a number of quality wins — Standley Lake (3-2-1), Bishop Machebeuf (3-2-1), Resurrection Christian (4-2-0) — and the lone loss came to Ralston Valley, 5-2. That was the Mustangs’ closest contest of the season thus far.
Cherry Creek (5-1-1). The Bruins’ lone loss came 4-3 to Mountain Vista in overtime on Dec. 20; their tie came with Dakota Ridge (4-0-2) on Dec. 11.
Dakota Ridge (4-0-2). As noted above, one tie came with Creek, the other with Columbine (5-0-1).
And others on the bubble, such as Pueblo County (5-0-2), Columbine (5-0-1), Battle Mountain (4-1-1) and Steamboat Springs (4-3-0).
Surprise team: Columbine.
The Rebels are unbeaten, and have already matched their win total from last season, when they went 5-14-0. Furthermore, the program was 20-69-2 (.211) from 2008-09 to last season.
“By far the best start we’ve ever had. Absolutely,” said Columbine coach Chris Gassman, who is now in his third season at the helm. “We’ve gotten better every year I’ve been there, but this is by far the best one.
“We are definitely a surprise to everybody.”
At the break, Columbine is tied for second in the Foothills Conference with four points. (Only conference games count toward the point total, and the Rebels are 2-0-0. Cherry Creek leads with five points at 2-0-1.) The Rebels are ranked No. 5 in the most recent CHSAANow.com poll.
“Would I say I saw us starting out undefeated? No,” Gassman said. “But … we feel we’re a top-5 team in the conference this year, just with the kids we’ve got coming back.”
The difference? Prior to the season, Gassman and coaches from Cherry Creek and Regis Jesuit put together a “preseason” league. Six high school teams competed as club teams — Cherry Creek, Cheyenne Mountain, Columbine, Heritage, Regis Jesuit and Resurrection Christian. Each team played the others two times.
Columbine’s team also played a few preseason tournaments, and ended up playing “20-something games preseason-wise,” Gassman said.
“Instead of only having two or three weeks (together) before the season started, we had three months,” Gassman said. “It gave us basically a season before CHSAA started.”
So now, Columbine is already in mid-season form.
“We’ve got pretty much the same group from last season, I think we added like five kids. It’s kind of the same good, solid group for a while,” Gassman said. “Something clicked, and they’re starting to figure it out.”
Among Columbine’s wins are Steamboat Springs, which at one point was ranked, and Heritage, which is just on the fringe of the most recent poll. There’s also the tie with Dakota Ridge. Still, there isn’t yet a defining win. They get that chance with a game against Mountain Vista on Saturday. Six days later, Ralston Valley awaits.
“We’re right back into it, right away,” Gassman said.
Brothers Jacob Seibold and Logan Seibold both have seven points thus far to lead the team. Jacob has five goals and two assists, Logan has three goals and four assists.
The Rebels have also had outstanding goaltending via senior Ashton Opperman (2-0-1, 0.31 GAA), Forest Czarnecki (2-0-0, 2.68) and Evan King (1-0-0, 2.65).
“Ashton has been the backup the last couple of years, and this year, he has just kind of taken the team by himself. He has been unbelievable,” Gassman said. “Our other two kids … they’ve both given us a chance to win in every game we’ve played.
“Goaltending has not been any part of a discussion or issue with this team, at all. It’s been nothing to worry about at all. It’s been fantastic.”
Gassman said Opperman will likely play the majority of the games as the season heats up.
Looking ahead: Things are really going to start taking shape as soon as this weekend. In addition to the Columbine game, Mountain Vista also plays Regis Jesuit on Friday.
There’s also Monarch at Battle Mountain on Friday, and Ralston Valley at Cherry Creek on Saturday.
We’ll start to get a good idea of where each team falls with each passing week. But things will happen fast: the regular season ends Feb. 15.
Points
T1. Sam Horning (Palmer): 17
T1. Jack Longenecker (Bishop Machebeuf): 17
T3. DJ Jones (Lewis-Palmer): 15
T3. Julain Claudio (Lewis-Palmer): 15
5. Ryan Case (Cheyenne Mountain): 15
Goals
1. Sam Horning (Palmer): 13
T2. DJ Jones (Lewis-Palmer): 10
T2. Isaac Ruybal (Pueblo County): 10
T4. Nick Rems (Bishop Machebeuf): 9
T4. Cody Oakes (Cherry Creek): 9
T4. Tim VanTuinen (Resurrection Christian): 9
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
Ralston Valley remains atop the hockey poll this week. (Dennis Pleuss)
Mountain Vista’s big week has made an impression on the hockey voters.
The Golden Eagles, coming off a 3-0-0 week which included a 4-3 overtime win over then-No. 6 Cherry Creek, moved up six places to No. 2 in this week’s CHSAANow.com ranking.
Ralston Valley continued to lead the poll, and received five of the six first-place votes. Monarch is third, Cherry Creek is fourth and Columbine rounds out the top-5.
These polls will serve as the rankings over the winter break, and through the first part of January. The next poll will not come out until Jan. 13.
