Lakewood is No. 9 in this week’s 5A football ranking. More photos. (Tom Hoganson)
Lakewood, coming off a big win over Montrose, has joined the Class 5A football poll this week.
The Tigers beat Montrose, then ranked No. 2 in 4A, on Saturday. Monday, they entered CHSAANow.com’s ranking at No. 9.
Elsewhere in 5A, Valor Christian remained the unanimous No. 1 team, but things changed behind the Eagles. Cherokee Trail (No. 2), Pomona (No. 3) and Grandview (No. 4) all moved up one spot this week after Cherry Creek, last week’s No. 2, fell to Pomona.
Creek is No. 5 this week, and is followed by Fairview, Ralston Valley, Regis Jesuit, newcomer Lakewood and Overland.
Denver South is ranked No. 3 in this week’s 4A poll. More photos. (Pam Wagner)
The 4A ranking also added one team in No. 10 Longmont, which was ranked in the preseason. Pine Creek maintained its spot at No. 1. Pueblo South moved up to No. 2 after Montrose’s loss, and Denver South bumped up to No. 3. Montrose is fourth this week, and Vista Ridge is fifth.
In 3A, Erie joined at No. 10. Lutheran continued its stay at No. 1, and Delta remained just behind at No. 2. Discovery Canyon bumped up to No. 3 after its big win over Holy Family last week.
The 2A poll added No. 8 Bayfield, while 1A added No. 7 Cedaredge and No. 9 Platte Canyon. Granada (No. 7) joined the 8-man ranking, while 6-man added No. 8 Cheyenne Wells and No. 9 Flagler.
The No. 1 teams in each of those classifications remained the same. Those are Brush, Paonia, Dayspring Christian and Stratton/Liberty, respectively.
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.
The Huskies, off to a 8-0 start, are ranked No. 8 in CHSAANow.com’s poll.
The other big mover in 5A was Chaparral, which went from No. 5 to No. 2.
Olathe joined the 3A poll at No. 10, while 2A added Rye (also No. 10) this week. The 1A poll has two newcomers: No. 9 Springfield and No. 10 McClave.
All five No. 1 teams stayed the same this week: Rampart (5A), Lewis-Palmer (4A), Eaton (3A), Resurrection Christian (2A) and Fleming (1A).
The biggest battle for the top spot came in 3A, where four different teams received first place votes, including Eaton, Valley, Manitou Springs and Platte Valley. Those teams are Nos. 1-4 in this week’s poll.
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 media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
There were a number of major movers as CHSAANow released the first football rankings of the regular season on Monday.
New Wheat Ridge football coach Dan Reardon. (Tracy Renck)
Pueblo East (Class 3A), Discovery Canyon (3A), and Wheat Ridge (4A) all made big jumps after being unranked in the preseason.
Pueblo East had the biggest climb, and wound up at No. 3 in the 3A poll after winning its first two games. The Eagles beat Longmont, No. 4Â in the preseason 4A poll, in Zero Week, then topped Coronado, the defending 3A champion which has since moved up to 4A, in Week 1.
Discovery Canyon is No. 6 in 3A this week. Last Thursday, the Thunder beat Silver Creek, the 3A runner-up a season ago which has also moved up to 4A.
And Wheat Ridge, also off to a 2-0 start under new coach Dan Reardon in 4A, has won its games by a combined 91-0. The Farmers are No. 5 in this week’s 4A poll.
In total, those moves were just a microcosm of the new rankings, which saw massive change. All seven polls got at least one new team, with 4A and 6-man getting four new members, and 3A adding three.
There’s also a new No. 1 team in 2A, where Brush takes over for Platte Valley.
The least amount of change occurred in 5A, where Valor Christian continues its stranglehold on the No. 1 spot following its physical win over Pomona. The Eagles received all 13 first-place votes.
Teams Nos. 2-4 stayed the same behind them: Cherry Creek (which beat Regis Jesuit), Cherokee Trail and Pomona. Grandview joined the top five this week, bumping up three places from its preseason No. 8 spot.
More photos. (Tim Visser/TimVisserPhotography.com)
Chatfield remained at No. 6, Fairview moved up three spots to No. 7, Regis Jesuit fell to No. 8 and Ralston Valley remained at No. 9.
The lone newcomer in 5A is Overland, which joined at No. 10.
In addition to Wheat Ridge in 4A, new teams include No. 8 Vista Ridge, No. 9 Falcon and No. 10 Fort Collins. Pine Creek remained atop that poll following its escape of Falcon’s upset bid.
Besides Pueblo East and Discovery Canyon, D’Evelyn also joined the 3A ranking. Lutheran stayed atop that poll after its overtime win in Texas last week.
2A added No. 9 Eaton, while 1A added No. 7 Meeker. Paonia is still No. 1 in 1A.
The 8-man ranking added No. 8 Akron and No. 9 Springfield. Dayspring Christian continues to lead that pack.
Finally, 6-man added No. 6 Prairie, No. 7 Pawnee, No. 8 Walsh and No. 10 Cotopaxi. Stratton/Liberty remained in the top spot.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, polls will be 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.
Chaparral is No. 5 in this week’s 5A volleyball poll. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
Chaparral and Regis Jesuit both joined this week’s CHSAANow.com volleyball ranking in Class 5A.
Both teams were unranked in the preseason. Chaparral joined the poll at No. 5 after going 4-1 over the first two weeks of the season. Regis Jesuit, meanwhile, is No. 10 after going 3-2.
Rampart remained atop the 5A ranking. In fact, the only No. 1 team to change this week was in 3A, where Eaton takes over for Manitou Springs. Lewis Palmer (4A), Resurrection Christian (2A) and Fleming (1A) all held firm in their respective top spots.
Mullen (No. 9) was the lone newcomer in 4A, while Gunnison (No. 10) joined 3A. The 2A poll added Swink (No. 6) and Hoehne (No. 9). Cheraw joined 1A at No. 10.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, polls will be released each Monday.
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.
Rock Canyon 9, Castle View 6, Highlands Ranch 6, Monarch 5, Legend 3, Mountain Vista 3, Douglas County 2, Lakewood 1.
Dropped out
Legend (8), Mountain Vista (10).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
1
Lewis-Palmer (9)
1-0
90
1
2
Cheyenne Mountain
1-0
74
4
3
Ponderosa
0-0
66
2
4
Air Academy
0-1
55
3
5
Elizabeth
0-0
39
5
6
Pueblo West
0-1
37
8
7
Montrose
1-0
35
7
8
Longmont
0-0
32
6
9
Mullen
2-0
19
–
10
Valor Christian
1-1
16
9
Others receiving votes:
Thomas Jefferson 10, Windsor 10, Roosevelt 5, Steamboat Springs 3, Woodland Park 3, Holy Family 2, Niwot 2.
Dropped out
Thomas Jefferson (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
1
Eaton (7)
2-0
97
2
2
Manitou Springs (3)
0-0
89
1
3
Valley
3-0
80
4
4
Platte Valley
2-0
62
5
5
Bayfield
1-1
61
3
6
University
0-1
36
6
7
Sterling
1-2
26
7
8
Lutheran
2-4
21
8
9
Colorado Springs Christian
0-0
16
10
10
Gunnison
0-1
12
–
Others receiving votes:
Pagosa Springs 10, Coal Ridge 9, St. Mary’s 8, Machebeuf 6, Lamar 5, Faith Christian 4, Frontier Academy 4, Centaurus 1, Grand Valley 1, Olathe 1, The Academy 1.
Resurrection Christian claimed last year’s Class 2A championship. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
Last year, the Resurrection Christian volleyball team was somewhat of an unknown quantity.
By season’s end, all of Class 2A knew just how good the Cougars were.
Resurrection Christian, which is located in Loveland, had a perfect season, posting a 29-0 record en route to capturing the first volleyball state championship in school history.
Now, the Cougars have reloaded for another run at state supremacy.
“I have very high expectations (for 2014),” veteran coach Caleb Howard said. “The girls are not mincing words. They want to win state again.”
Howard and his team has reason to be confident.
The Cougars return two first-team all-state players, outside hitter Preston Lienemann and setter Madison Webb — both seniors — and second-team all-state selection Abby Skipworth, a junior outside hitter.
“We are not going to sneak up on anybody this year,” Howard said. “We were a bit of underdog last year for sure. At the beginning of the summer I did worry some about fighting off apathy or simply resting on our laurels, but as the summer progressed I don’t have to worry about that anymore because of the competitive nature of these girls.”
Resurrection Christian defeated Lutheran (25-18, 25-19, 25-13) in the state title match a year ago, but Lutheran will not be a contender for the 2A crown this season as the school has moved up to 3A volleyball.
“Yuma was a young team last year and we expect them to be very good again this season,” Howard said. “Then, you have some teams that are always good like Fowler and Akron.”
The last time Resurrection Christian lost a match was in pool play during the 2012 state tournament.
“I loaded up the schedule this season with a couple of 4A teams and some 3A teams,” Howard said. “Our goal is to try and win every match, but we just want to be playing our best at the end of the season.”
[divider]
Class 2A volleyball
Defending champion: Resurrection Christian
Runner-up: Lutheran (moved up to 3A)
Returning All-State players: Jordan Baer, Akron, Sr. (1st); Preston Lienemann, Resurrection Christian, Sr. (1st); Tara Traphagan, Yuma, Jr. (1st); Madison Webb, Resurrection Christian, Sr. (1st); Bryna Burns, Sr., Rye (2nd); Taylor Carsten, Paonia, Jr. (2nd); Braya Hunt, Denver Christian, Jr. (2nd); Aly Ridings, Sr., Meeker (2nd); Leah Roberson, Sr., Swink (2nd); Abby Skipworth, Jr., Resurrection Christian (2nd);
