Pueblo Central football snapped a 15-game losing streak on Saturday.
Nico Martin ran for three touchdowns as Pueblo Central beat Glenwood Springs 27-17.
The Wildcats grabbed a 21-7 lead in the second half, but the Demons were able to battle back and pull to within four points thanks to a 30-yard field goal.
But just as he had been the hero on offense all day, Martin shut down any hopes that Glenwood had of making a full comeback as he picked off a pass late in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
And just like that our boys get their first W in 15 games…with plenty more on the way #OA ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/njnraBscy9
An early three-touchdown lead for Fruita Monument is exactly how the Wildcats were looking to pace their second win of the year.
That lead took Discovery Canyon away from the running game that got them to the 2016 Class 3A state title game and ultimately led to a 49-14 for Fruita.
“We’re ahead of where we were last year,” Wildcats coach Todd Casebier said. “I thought our defense good a job of taking away the inside run game. It kind of forced them to go outside and we have really good athletes on the edge.”
By the time Treyton Queen trotted into the end zone to make it a 21-0 game, the Thunder (0-1 overall) was forced to do something it doesn’t do often: go to the air.
But that’s about as close as the game would get. The Wildcats (2-0) came out firing on all cylinders in the second half and got the season off with a win against a traditionally tough opponent.
“It’s no more or less important than the win last week,” Casebier said. “It’s a good sign of where we’re at.”
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(1) Pine Creek 23, ThunderRidge 7
David Moore III ran for 155 yards and two touchdowns as Class 4A No. 1 Pine Creek topped 5A’s ThunderRidge 23-9.
Quarterback J.C. Coulter found Gene McFarland through the air for the Eagles’ other touchdown on the day.
(5) Peyton 49, Byers 0
Trevor Walker ran for 108 yards and scored one of six rushing touchdowns for Peyton in its 49-0 win over Byers.
The seventh touchdown for the Panthers came on a Charles Sparks punt return.
Rocky Mountain Lutheran 65, Custer County 18
Charlie Hahm had himself a nice little Saturday as he ran for 244 yards and six touchdowns. He added one catch for 60 yards that also went for a touchdown.
The Eagles are 1-0 to start the year in 8-man play.
AURORA — Jim Lucas, an assistant principal at Pine Creek High School, has been elected as the next president of CHSAA’s Board of Directors.
Lucas’ appointment will be made formal at the Legislative Council meeting on Thursday. He will become the 61st Board president, succeeding Boulder’s Eddie Hartnett.
Lucas will serve as Board president during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years. His term will begin in June 2017.
“It’s going to be exciting, and it’s going to be challenging,” Lucas said on Wednesday night. “It’s humbling to be selected.”
Lucas currently represents the Colorado Association of School Executives on CHSAA’s Board of Directors, and has since 2011. He will be the first Board president from the Colorado Springs area since Widefield’s Shelli Miles was president from 2009-11.
Lucas has a wide range of experience at both small and large high schools, as well as public and private high schools, ranging from being a coach to a teacher to an administrator. He has spent time at a number of Colorado high schools, including Columbine, Crowley County, Custer County, and Florence. (He was principal at both Custer County, from 1996-99, and Florence, from 2000-08.)
He has been at Pine Creek ever since, including roles as interim athletic director and assistant principal.
Lucas says his wide-ranging experience will help him have a well-rounded viewpoint as Board president, including time at Fort Hays State University in Kansas, where he got his master’s degree in athletic administration.
“I have a soft spot in my heart for rural schools, just because I’ve worked in them. And I understand the big metro schools,” Lucas said. “Ultimately I think it will help as I lead the Board. Those experiences will help guide all of us, and guide myself.”
Lucas has twice previously served as a Board president for the Colorado Association of Secondary School Principals, of which he’s been a member since 2003.
“I think that will help me, having that experience with CASSP,” Lucas said.
Lucas said one of his focuses as president will be to help ease the transition from retiring CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico to the next commissioner.
“I want to spend some time with that (new commissioner) and kind of give them some historical background of the Board of Directors,” Lucas said. “I want to see a smooth transition.”
CHSAA’s Board of Directors, formerly known as the Executive Committee, has been around in some form since the Association was formed in 1921.
Lucas applied to be Board president in December, writing a letter to CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico.
The Board considered two candidates during an executive session on Thursday, and then voted to elect Lucas president.
While serving on the Board, Lucas has served on a variety of CHSAA committees, and helped to rewrite the Association’s personnel handbook.
LITTLETON — Brie Oakley couldn’t quite believe it.
“I saw my time and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I broke 17.’”
The Grandview senior, the Class 5A state runner-up to Lauren Gregory in cross country last fall, claimed the win in round one of a showdown between the big schools’ distance goliaths on Friday at the Liberty Bell Invitational.
The two pushed each other to monumental heights in the Division 1 race at Heritage High School, eclipsing Jordyn Colter’s 17:00 course record from 2012 easily as Oakley crossed the line in 16:44 and Gregory in 16:52.
Oakley, donning the blue and black of the Grandview Wolves for the first time last school year, added another record-setting performance to her resume. She shattered Boulder High legend Melody Fairchild’s 5A state track meet record in the 3,200 with a 10:33, while also claiming the 1,600.
In attempting to unseat Gregory, a Fort Collins harrier trying to become one of the only four-time state champions in the sport, Oakley slipped away from Gregory’s grasp after two miles of the 3.1.
Brie Oakley. (Brock Laue/CHSAANow.com)
“The second mile we broke away,” Oakley said. “Before the third mile, I knew I just needed to go now. I could feel myself breaking away.”
Even at altitude, the tandem ended up with new high-water marks nationally for 2016, passing Ashton Endsley’s (Abilene, TX) 16:56.
“It feels really surreal,” said Oakley, who ran 47 seconds quicker than her previous lifetime best.
Grandview was also the highest Colorado team finisher in Division 1 with 138 points, good for third place behind Jackson Hole’s (Wyo.) 75 and Albuquerque Academy’s (N.M.) 133.
In Division 2, the defending state champion Broomfield Eagles buried the girls field with 39 points. Madison Mooney, a new Eagle who transferred from Horizon, spread her wings and took off from everyone to a winning time of 17:49. She was over 20 seconds ahead of ThunderRidge’s Shae Henley (18:12) and teammate Ivy Gonzales (18:17).
“I’m trying to place a lot higher at state this year,” said Mooney, whose sister, Megan, competes for Florida State University. “I’m going for top five. The course is definitely really difficult. I’m more of a flat-course runner, but after today I know that I can push myself to go to that limit.”
The Silver Creek boys also doubled up on Division 2 titles as Brock Dykema (15:58) won individually, while teammates James Lee (2nd, 16:04) and John Moroney (4th, 16:07) had his back during a comfortable 39-91 victory over Broomfield.
“During the homestretch I was just trying to kick as hard as I could, because I didn’t know where my teammates were behind me,” Dykema said. “I always have to be scared of that, because they’re good too.”
Thomas Chaston (15:57) claimed first in the Division 3 race as his team, Cheyenne Mountain, got past Evergreen 64-85 for the win. Valor Christian’s Keely Jones (18:51) was victorious in Division 3, but Roosevelt (82) got the better of Steamboat Springs (85) and Valor (89) in the team race.
Custer County’s Jerald Taylor, from Class 2A, was wildly impressive in winning Division 4 in a blistering 15:40, the fifth quickest time of the day behind only four top-flight competitors in Division 1. Cole Sprout of Faith Christian, perhaps one of the nation’s better freshmen, was second in 16:00.
Kent Denver’s Sam Schaffer (18:53) scurried away from Buena Vista’s Annie Hughes (18:58) to win the Division 4 girls race, while Holy Family swept the team titles with ease.
PUEBLO — Thanks to a strong second-half performance, Wray High School’s girls basketball team is moving on in the Class 2A state tournament.
Holding a two-point lead at half, the Eagles found another gear soaring to a 62-40 victory over Swink in a quarterfinal game at Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Massari Arena.
“I think depth was the difference,” Wray coach David Reed said. “We were playing 10 kids and they were playing six kids and that makes a huge difference. We were able to run a little more and control the rebounds with our big girls, and we were able to get some easy lay-ups.”
The Eagles (19-5 overall) advance to play Paonia (24-1) at 4 p.m. Friday in a semifinal game.
Wray won girls state basketball titles in 2008 and 2009, defeating Paonia in 2009 in the championship game.
“Coach (Scott) Rienks (of Paonia) does a great job with his team,” Reed said. “We’re going to have to use our depth, 10 players, and take care of the ball a little bit better and control the tempo and give ourselves a shot to win.”
Wray held a slim 30-28 lead at intermission, but then took control in the third outscoring the Lions 16-6.
“I told the girls at half that we needed to control our emotions a little better, and make better decisions,” Reed said.
When Bailey Reed, the coach’s daughter, hit a 3-pointer in the right corner with 26 seconds left in third she gave the Eagles a 46-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Eagles kept pushing the pace in the final quarter and were up 52-34 after Maddie Soehner’s transition lay-up with 5:47 remaining.
Hannah Lenz and Soehner had 15 and 12 points, respectively for the Eagles. Kyla O’Neal was Swink’s lone player in double-figures with 11.
(1) Yuma 86, (8) Custer County 25
Logan Hixon had 32 points and Peighton Roth added 18 points, powering top-seeded Yuma to a victory over the Bobcats.
Yuma jumped out to a 23-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and were never threatened.
Yuma (24-1) has been in the state championship game three years in a row, losing to Akron (2013), Lutheran (2014) and Akron again last year.
The Indians were trying to win their first girls state basketball championship since 1997.
Elizabeth Mullett paced Custer County (10-13) with nine points.
(2)Paonia 52, (7)Sanford 25
Taylor Carsten and Ashley Van Vleet had 10 points each as the Eagles muscled past the Indians.
The Eagles raced out to a 21-8 first-quarter lead on the strength of Carstens seven points – six of them coming via two 3-pointers.
Any chance Sanford had of getting back in the game in the second half was snuffed out as the Eagles only allowed the Indians 10 points total in the third and fourth quarter.
Cedaredge 53, Kiowa 41
With a chance for victory slipping away, Cedaredge came alive.
The Bruins finished the game on an 18-0 run in the last six and a half minutes of the game to claim the victory.
“It got a little out of control,” Cedaredge coach Ryan Hilbig said. “I was about to call a timeout and then we hit one three, and then we hit another three and we woke up. It was a big win for us.”
Cedaredge ran its record to 22-2 and will meet top-seeded Yuma at 7 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. Kiowa dropped to 19-5.
This is the Bruins first appearance in the semifinals since 2007 and that bid didn’t seem like it was going happen early in the fourth quarter.
Courtney Freeman hit drained a 3-pointer from the left of the top of the key with 5:08 left to give the Bruins a 44-41 lead they would never surrender.
Nellie Freeman, a senior and Courtney’s older sister, led the team with 15 points and Kendall McHugh added 12.
Kiowa’s Helen Janes and Melanie Deering had 12 points each on the loss.
Custer County cross country. (Courtesy of Jack Swartz/Custer County)
Custer County cross country will have a new look this fall thanks to a scholarship from Brooks Booster Club.
The Bobcats are one of 25 teams in the nation to win the scholarship, which will provide the team with $14,000 in Brooks running gear. Included are 30 uniforms, warmups, trainers and spikes, and some money for the program.
“To be honest,” said Custer County coach Jack Swartz, “all I did was apply. It was pretty straight forward.”
Brooks started the program to help teams “so that more young runners can sign up, go to meets, and compete in the sport we love most.”
Last season, Custer County’s Corey Lewenkamp placed second in the Class 2A boys state race, and Michael Franta was 37th. Both have since graduated.
Custer County’s girls return seniors Kayli Short and Katlyn Freeburg, who both participated at state last season. Short was 56th, and Freeburg was 71st.
