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.
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.
DENVER — The state spirit championships continued on Saturday, and seven more champions will be crowned by night’s end. Find Day 1 results here.
Saturday’s champions include Evergreen (4A poms); Broomfield (4A cheer); Faith Christian (3A cheer); Clear Creek (3A poms); Salida (2A/3A co-ed cheer); Cheyenne Wells (2a cheer); and Vail Christian (2A poms).
[divider]
Class 4A poms
Evergreen won the 4A poms championship. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Prelims
Rank
Team
Score
Tie-break
1
Evergreen
94.67
470.00
2
Broomfield
94.33
468.00
3
Valor Christian
93.00
463.00
4
Battle MountainÂ
90.00
445.00
5
Wheat Ridge
89.33
446.00
6
Windsor
89.17
443.00
7
Mullen
88.00
431.00
8
Durango
87.00
423.00
9
Eagle Valley
86.67
435.50
10
Canon City
86.50
423.50
11
Lewis-Palmer
85.50
424.50
12
Mead
84.67
422.00
13
Frederick
82.50
403.50
14
Green Mountain
79.33
397.00
15
Centaurus
75.33
378.00
16
Conifer
73.67
366.00
Finals
Rank
Team
Score
Tie-break
1
Evergreen
96.33
477.50
2
Broomfield
94.67
469.50
3
Valor Christian
92.00
461.00
4
Battle Mountain
90.33
449.00
[divider]
Class 4A cheer
Broomfield won the 4A cheer championship. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Prelims
Rank
Team
Score
Tie-break
1
Broomfield
85.20
428.10
2
Palmer Ridge
78.87
389.20
3
Valor Christian
77.80
388.90
4
Pueblo West
76.40
381.40
5
Erie
74.33
371.80
6
Glenwood Springs
72.13
361.40
7
Sand Creek
70.23
348.80
8
Coronado
70.07
347.20
9
Pueblo South
65.67
324.60
10
Windsor
64.63
324.30
11
Weld Central
64.00
319.50
12
Ponderosa
61.70
304.00
13
Vista Ridge
60.97
305.80
14
Green Mountain
59.50
299.70
15
Thompson Valley
58.93
297.30
16
Longmont
58.77
290.90
17
Rifle
58.73
296.20
18
Woodland Park
58.13
292.10
19
Canon City
57.97
290.90
20
Wheat Ridge
57.30
284.50
21
Durango
56.17
285.70
22
Skyline
55.57
271.60
23
Englewood
55.57
273.90
24
Elizabeth
54.97
271.50
25
Golden
54.13
266.80
26
D’Evelyn
54.07
267.60
27
Pueblo Centennial
53.37
265.60
28
Mead
52.77
260.60
29
Mullen
52.37
267.20
30
Lewis Palmer
52.03
263.30
31
Battle Mountain
51.70
257.90
32
Northridge
51.30
257.00
33
Montezuma-Cortez
46.53
228.20
34
Ft. Morgan
43.73
228.50
35
Roosevelt
43.33
215.30
36
Pueblo Central
41.23
210.30
37
Denver North
40.47
210.60
38
Silver Creek
19.27
98.90
39
Conifer
0.00
0.00
39
Mountain View
0.00
0.00
Finals
Rank
Team
Score
Tie-break
1
Broomfield
90.27
451.10
2
Pueblo West
77.27
389.90
3
Palmer Ridge
75.27
376.60
4
Glenwood Springs
75.03
375.80
5
Erie
74.60
373.60
6
Valor Christian
73.57
366.80
7
Sand Creek
72.97
360.00
8
Coronado
71.87
358.60
[divider]
Class 3A cheer
Faith Christian won the 3A cheer championship. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Prelims
Rank
Team
Score
Tie-break
1
Faith Christian
71.67
355.20
2
Manitou Springs
68.70
346.20
3
University
68.23
340.00
4
St. Mary’S
67.40
335.30
5
Dolores Huerta
67.10
330.30
6
Coal Ridge
60.17
301.20
7
Holy Family
59.77
299.90
8
Frontier Academy
58.83
294.60
9
Machebeuf
58.77
293.10
10
Sterling
58.27
293.70
11
Lamar
56.73
282.10
12
Pagosal Springs
55.77
277.20
13
The Academy
54.73
278.10
14
Buena Vista
54.03
270.50
15
Florence
53.93
275.40
16
Bayfield
53.37
268.40
17
Middle Park
52.13
261.50
18
Alamosa
51.20
256.10
19
Pinnacle
50.60
246.60
20
La Junta
46.37
227.80
21
Kipp Denver
45.63
226.80
22
Trinidad
45.17
224.60
23
Jefferson
44.20
220.60
24
Peak To Peak
0.00
0.00
24
0.00
0.00
Finals
Rank
Team
Score
Tie-break
1
Faith Christian
72.80
364.60
2
Manitou Springs
70.47
353.30
3
St. Mary’S
69.10
346.90
4
University
59.87
301.80
[divider]
Class 3A poms
Clear Creek won the 3A poms championship. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Prelims/Finals
Rank
Team
Score
Tie-break
1
Clear Creek
83.33
415.00
2
Bayfield
82.00
411.00
2
Bennett
82.00
405.00
4
Sheridan
81.33
407.00
5
Aspen
80.83
404.00
6
University
80.17
398.50
7
Grand Valley
77.33
382.00
8
Basalt
61.33
303.00
[divider]
Class 2A/3A co-ed cheer
Salida won the 2A/3A co-ed cheer championship. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Arvada West, which placed eighth at last season’s Class 5A state wrestling tournament, begins the season atop the On The Mat rankings.
Defending champions Broomfield (4A) and Paonia (2A) also open the season as preseason No. 1s. Brush, a fifth-place finisher last season, is atop the 3A ranking.
Pomona, the defending 5A champion, opens the season at No. 4.
Alamosa won the 3A title last year, and is No. 5 in that preseason ranking.
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.
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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
Mountain Range is ranked 10th this week. (Pam Wagner)
Mountain Range, 7-1 this season, has joined this week’s CHSAANow.com football poll in Class 5A.
The Mustangs, ranked No. 10, are riding a four-game winning streak, including a 22-16 decision against Rocky Mountain last week. Their lone loss this season came at Grand Junction on Sept. 20.
Valor Christian remained atop the 5A ranking with 19 of the 22 first-place votes. Fairview, which got the other three first-place votes, stayed in the No. 2 spot following its big win over Pomona, and continued to be followed by No. 3 Regis Jesuit, No. 4 Cherry Creek and No. 5 ThunderRidge.
Columbine stayed in sixth this week, while Cherokee Trail bumped up two spots to seventh. Pomona remained in eighth and Grand Junction moved up to ninth after beating 4A No. 1 Montrose.
Despite the loss, Montrose remained atop the 4A ranking. Pine Creek moved up to No. 2, jumping Monarch, which fell to No. 3.
Coronado is now atop the 3A poll after Palisade’s loss to Delta. Discovery Canyon is second and Palisade dropped to third.
Delta joined the ranking at No. 7, as did Roosevelt (No. 9) following its win over then-No. 3 Silver Creek. Silver Creek dropped to No. 8 this week.
Aurora Sports Park sits quiet prior to Saturday’s action. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com) A roundup of Saturday’s action at the state softball tournaments at Aurora Sports Park.
AURORA — Fossil Ridge won its first two games at Saturday’s opening rounds of the 5A state softball tournament by a combined score of 29-7. It now finds itself in the semifinals for the first time in school history.
In fact, Fossil Ridge had never even won a game at the state tournament before Saturday.
The third-seeded SaberCats beat No. 14 Pine Creek in the opening round, 10-3, then followed with a 19-4 mercy-rule-shortened win over No. 6 Eaglecrest which ended on Haley Donaldson’s walk-off three-run home run.
Legacy softball coach Dawn Gaffin goes over instructions between innings Saturday afternoon during the Lightning’s 8-1 quarterfinal victory against Dakota Ridge. Legacy, 5-time Class 5A state champion, will face Brighton in the 5A state semifinals 10 a.m. Sunday at Aurora Sports Park. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)
Fossil Ridge is 22-1 in 2013. The SaberCats’ lone loss this season came to Legacy on Sept. 16. They could get a rematch on Saturday — but first they’ll need to get past No. 7 Legend, another first-timer in the semis.
Legend (19-5) dispatched No. 10 Grandview 13-8 to open the tournament, then beat No. 2 Rock Canyon 6-1 in the quartefinals.
No. 9 Brighton was the lone team to knock off a No. 1 seed on Saturday. The Bulldogs, now 22-2, beat No. 1 Douglas County 8-4 in the quarterfinals. That followed an 11-1 win over No. 8 Loveland, the defending champion.
In the semis, Brighton will get No. 5 Legacy, which beat a pair of Jeffco squads (Chatfield and Dakota Ridge) to earn its seventh consecutive berth into the state tournament semifinals.
No. 12 Chatfield gave Legacy a tough test before the Lightning pulled away in the late innings for a 6-2 win.
“I think we kind of learned from it,” Legacy senior pitcher Haley Smith said. “Our bats were kind of cold at first, but we had everybody set up.”
Legacy used some “small ball” tactics in the third inning against No. 4 Dakota Ridge to score four runs on the way to an 8-1 victory.
Despite the rich tradition of winning five straight 5A state crowns from 2007 to 2011, Smith doesn’t believe Legacy will be nervous going into the semifinals.
“If anything I think there is less pressure because everyone thinks we can’t do it,” Smith said. “We are the underdogs.”
Semifinal games:
(9) Brighton vs. (5) Legacy, 10 a.m.
(3) Fossil Ridge vs. (7) Legend, 10 a.m.
[divider] Broomfield is headed to the semifinals. More photos. (Pam Wagner)
Fifth-seeded Broomfield narrowly survived being No. 13 D’Evelyn’s second upset victim of the day. But the Eagles did survive, and advance, to the 4A semifinals on Sunday.
Broomfield rallied from 2-0 and 4-2 holes to hold on and beat D’Evelyn 7-6 on Saturday. The Eagles had a four-run fifth-inning which led to the win. They will face top-seeded Wheat Ridge in the semifinals.
Wheat Ridge junior Erin Dalton connects with a pitch during the Farmers’ 5-0 win against Roosevelt in the opening round of the Class 4A state softball tournament Saturday at Aurora Sports Park. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)
Wheat Ridge didn’t have much problem advancing.
The Farmers shut out No. 16 Roosevelt by a 5-0 score in the opening round and cranked out 11 hits in a 9-4 quarterfinal victory against No. 8 Mountain View. Still, Wheat Ridge coach Marty Stricklett said there is “some improving to do” going into the final day of the season.
The Farmers edged Broomfield 2-0 earlier this season. Sophomore Christina Nelson hit a two-run home run in the first inning and senior pitcher Jessica Salbato pitched a shutout against Broomfield back on Aug. 30.
A 1-0 loss to Niwot in the 4A semifinals last year still motivates the Farmers heading into their eighth straight trip to the state semifinals.
“Tomorrow we are still going off what happened last year,” Stricklett said. “We’ve got to show up and play our game. The name of our game is hitting. We’ve got to hit the ball.”
On the other side of the bracket, No. 6 Erie beat No. 11 Silver Creek 11-1 and No. 3 Pueblo East 7-1 to advance to Sunday. The Tigers will face No. 2 Ponderosa, which escaped No. 15 Palmer Ridge’s upset bid, 5-4, to open the tournament, then beat No. 7 Berthoud 6-0 in the quarters.
The four semifinalists at the 3A level each only played one game on Saturday. That’s because Strasburg, Sterling, Holy Family and Valley all had opening-round byes as seeds Nos. 1-4.
Top-seeded Strasburg beat No. 9 Basalt 11-0, and will meet No. 4 Valley, which eeked past No. 5 Eaton 1-0.
In the other semifinal, No. 2 Sterling will meet No. 3 Holy Family. Sterling beat No. 7 Lamar 5-0 and Holy Family beat No. 11 Dolores Huerta 3-0.