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.
The 2018 all-state baseball teams honor the best players in the sport as judged by the leagues and coaches. They are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues, and then a vote of head coaches.
Player and coach of the year was also selected by a vote of the coaches.
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Class 5A
Mountain Vista’s Sam Ireland. (Tim Bourke/MaxPreps)
Player of the year: Sam Ireland, Mountain Vista
Coach of the year: Ron Quintana, Mountain Vista
First Team
Name
School
Pos.
Year
Brayden Brooks
Mountain Range
Senior
Garrett Declue
Arapahoe
LHP/CF
Senior
Riley Egloff
Heritage
RHP/3B
Senior
Sam Ireland
Mountain Vista
RHP/3B/1B
Junior
Niklavs Levensteins
Ralston Valley
3B/2B
Senior
Jack Liffrig
Mountain Vista
LHP
Senior
Justin Olson
Pine Creek
1B/LHP
Senior
Tanner O’Tremba
Cherry Creek
Zach Paschke
Mountain Vista
INF
Senior
Second Team
Name
School
Pos.
Year
Justin Boyd
Legend
SS/CF
Junior
Matthew Boyd
Regis Jesuit
Senior
Riley Cornelio
Pine Creek
SS/RHP
Junior
Brandon Dryer
Arapahoe
LF/RHP/2B
Senior
Hayden Heinze
Rocky Mountain
OF
Senior
AJ Jergensen
Ralston Valley
OF
Junior
Arian Jimenez-Quezada
Heritage
SS/3B/RHP
Senior
Kasey Koppelmaa
Chatfield
LHP/OF
Senior
Andrew Morris
Monarch
2B/P
Senior
Josh Thompson
Highlands Ranch
P
Senior
Honorable mention:
Luke Bailey, Chaparral, OF, Senior
Jake Barber, Cherokee Trail, Senior
Simon Baumgardt, Lakewood, P/SS, Junior
Tyler Boggs, Fruita Monument, C, Senior
Alex Champagne, Heritage, SS/2B, Freshman
Colten Chase, Cherokee Trail, Senior
Dorsey Chatham, Boulder,
Pete Chronowski, Heritage, LHP/1B, Junior
Benjamin Derosiers, Castle View, LHP/1B/CF, Senior
Ozzie Dominguez, Aurora Central, P/1B, Senior
John Emerson, Denver East, Junior
Tanner Garner, Broomfield, Senior
Zach Goodman, Arapahoe, C/OF/UTIL, Senior
Jake Greiving, Legend, C/OF/3B, Junior
Zach Harstad, Loveland, 1B/LHP/OF, Junior
Calvin Hunt, Ralston Valley, RHP, Junior
Jenner Kehe, Lakewood, P/OF/SS, Sophomore
Cam Kennedy, Smoky Hill, CF/3B/2B, Junior
Reese Lansville, ThunderRidge, RHP/INF, Senior
Cale Lansville, ThunderRidge, RHP/INF, Freshman
Grant Magill, Mountain Vista, C, Junior
Jayden Martinez, Grandview, OF/DH, Junior
Nick Merone, Rock Canyon,
Trey Morrill, Fruita Monument, P/OF, Senior
Cade Nelson, Rocky Mountain, INF/P, Junior
Drew Norsen, Fort Collins, OF/LHP, Sophomore
Jay Onken, Pine Creek, OF/RHP, Senior
Ryan Overboe, Legacy, LHP/1B/RF, Senior
Quentin Parr, Cherry Creek,
Mike Polson, Mountain Range, Senior
Henry Rock, Fairview, Junior
Tyler Schultz, Cherry Creek,
Frankie Shearn, Columbine, OF, Senior
Ross Smith, Legacy, RHP/RF, Senior
Drew Stahl, Mountain Vista, INF, Junior
Ryan Stohr, Dakota Ridge, RHP/1B, Junior
Zach Sulyma, Eaglecrest, 3B/C, Senior
David Velasquez, Brighton, SS/P/3B, Senior
Wyatt Wendell, Rock Canyon,
Reggie Williams, Douglas County, Senior
Kevin Zapanta, Overland, 2B/1B/RHP, Senior
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Class 4A
Valor Christian’s Josh Danyliw. (Paul DiSalvo/MaxPreps)
The 2018 all-state girls soccer teams honor the best players in the sport as judged by the leagues and coaches. They are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues, and then a vote of head coaches.
Player and coach of the year was also selected by a vote of the coaches.
The 2017 all-state football teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues, and then a vote of head coaches across the state.
Players were placed onto the first-team, second-team and honorable mention based upon the number of votes they received. In 5A-1A, spots were reserved for linemen and one kicker/punter, while 8-man reserved spots for linemen.
CHSAA does not determine who makes or doesn’t make the team; they are created entirely from the results of the coaches’ vote.
BENNETT — Big plays at key moments helped Strasburg football return to the Class 1A football championship game.
The defending champions beat No. 1-seeded Bennett, their nearby rival who entered the game unbeaten, 41-34 in the semifinals on a crisp Saturday afternoon.
“I wasn’t so sure about this one, and when you’re not so sure, that’s when you’ve got to just dig in and figure it out,” said Bennett quarterback Jake Miller, who threw two touchdown passes and ran for another. “It was great, it was fun. They were a hell of a team.”
Bennett had led 15-7 early in the second quarter, but Strasburg seized the momentum in the form of 27 unanswered points to close the half. Included was a blocked punt that Ashton Houshell recovered in the end zone that made it 34-15.
“We needed a little momentum, because they had it,” said Strasburg coach Jeff Giger. “With their punt formation, we thought we could get one. It really changed the momentum.”
(Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
Bennett didn’t throw in the towel, though.
The Tigers came out of halftime with fire, and Jesse Rodriquez scored his third rushing touchdown of the game to make it 34-21. It stayed that way until the fourth quarter when the Tigers’ Rocky Lechman hit Trever Miller for a 30-yard touchdown, trimming the Strasburg lead further to 34-27.
But Strasburg, and Miller, had an answer. Facing fourth-and-1 with just under five minutes to play, Miller broke through the line for a 47-yard touchdown that seemed to deflate the massive home crowd. That made it 41-27 Strasburg.
“That fourth-and-1 run by Jake was a huge one, and these kids, they just — I don’t know, they play so well together,” Giger said. “It’s so much fun.”
Again Bennett battled back, with Lechman finding Rodriquez on a 20-yard touchdown, but Strasburg recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
Hunter Bergstrom and Michael Burns also had rushing touchdowns for Strasburg on Saturday.
The win avenged an earlier 37-14 loss to Bennett for Strasburg.
“They whooped us,” Miller said. “We had to redeem ourselves and that’s what we did.”
“This game was big for both communities,” Giger said. “They do such a great job there, and they got us that first time. The kids just battled all year and really wanted this chance. They got it, and held on.”
Strasburg will advance to the 1A championship next week at Centauri. The Falcons beat Limon 20-12 in the other semifinal on Saturday.
DENVER — To start the volleyball season, Mountain Vista handed Cherry Creek one of its two losses on the year. To start the state tournament, the Bruins returned the favor.
Cherry Creek battled to a 21-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-20, 15-7 win over the Golden Eagles, knock off the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A bracket. It was just one of many upsets across all five classifications on Friday at the Denver Coliseum.
Mountain Vista won the regular season opener between the two teams. That match also went to five sets.
“It was motivation to come in here and beat them,” coach Sally Moos said.
The Golden Eagles claimed the first set of the match, putting the Bruins into a quick hole. It was all tied up after two, but Mountain Vista again pulled ahead, putting Creek on the verge of defeat and losing any control over its own fate.
Even at that point, there was no panic from the Centennial League’s only representative at the tournament.
“I don’t think so,” junior outside hitter Katie Sherman said. “We were all just so into (the match) and we wanted to win it so bad.”
So they battled. The fourth set remained tight until Creek pulled away at the end. They came out in the fifth and dominated from the start, jumping out to a 11-3 lead.
Mountain Vista started to rally back, but the Sherman put down one last kill to give the Bruins control of Pool I.
“We wanted to win that so bad,” Sherman said. “They’re probably our biggest rival. We’re super excited.”
Cherry Creek finished the regular season with just two losses. The first came against the Golden Eagles. The second loss was back on Sept. 16 against Rock Canyon. Cherry Creek evened the score against Rocky Mountain in the Legend Tournament on Oct. 28.
The Bruins and the Lobos will play Saturday morning and a win by Creek means advancement to the semifinals.
“Rocky Mountain is a very good team, too,” Moos said. “We’ll do the same thing, we’ll battle back and forth.”
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Other upsets shake up the pools
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Denver East continued 5A’s upset trend in the third match of day when the No. 11-seeded Angels swept No. 2 Fossil Ridge, the defending champions.
The Angels, who are now 21-6 this season, swept the Sabercats 25-23, 25-22, 25-20.
“They stuck to the gameplan,” Denver East coach Tarah Olmstead said after the match. “They ran outside their comfort zone, which is what we are supposed to do every single day. We watch film on everybody here. We know what everybody does before we even know our own rotations. And they called it, they stayed on top.”
Denver East last advanced to the state tournament two years ago, but only two players remain from that team.
“What’s really tough is we have a ton of people who have never been here before,” Olmstead said. “We only have two people who have been here. And their eyes, when they’re walking in, are all over the place. So in order to keep them present, I said, ‘Look around, Snapchat, I don’t care what you have to do, do it right now. But the second we get in there, you are present and you are with each other, because that’s what everybody came to watch.’”
The Angels will have the chance to win their pool and advance to the semifinals by beating Chatfield on Saturday.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
And with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds already the victims of upsets, No. 10 Rock Canyon was looking to make it a hat trick against No. 3 Castle View.
The Jaguars fell behind 2-0 early, though both sets they lost were close. They battled back in the third to avoid the sweep and and evened things up after the fourth set.
With momentum on their side, they went into the fifth and deciding set believing they could get the win.
The Sabercats jumped out in front and seemingly had control with a 10-6 lead. But Rock Canyon had battled back to tie up the overall match, so coming back to tie the final set seemed like child’s play.
Down 14-11, the Jaguars rode a couple of key kills from Keeley Davis to pull even. Davis made the final kill to give the Jags a 16-14 win in the deciding set of the match.
“(Early on) it was just the nerves at state,” Davis said. “We have a lot of new people who are here in this big coliseum. I think once we set those nerves off and we started getting excited and being happy about things, we started getting less nervous.”
Rock Canyon will play Coronado Saturday morning and can advance to the 5A semifinals by winning that match.
In 1A, No. 9 Holly knocked off No. 4 McClave 3-2 to start the day, including 15-3 in the fifth set.
In 2A‘s first match of the day, No. 9 Denver Christian upset No. 4 Hoehne, 3-1.
Simla threw a second wrench into the 2A tourney when the No. 11 Cubs upset No. 2 Swink with a 25-16, 25-19, 25-15 sweep.
No. 5 Otis over No. 4 McClave in 1A, 3-1.
2A No. 6 Lyons beat No. 3 Dayspring Christian 3-1.
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Notables
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Buena Vista had probably the largest, and loudest, crowd of the day. The students at Buena Vista took a field trip to the Denver Coliseum on Friday. The school picked up the tab to get as many students as possible to support the Demons at state.
Kit Carson’s incredible run of not losing a set continued on Friday. The Wildcats swept Weldon Valley and Briggsdale, and have now won all 72 sets they’ve played this season.
Lewis-Palmer, the defending champion and No. 1 seed in 4A, extended its match winning streak to 56 with sweeps of Mullen and Roosevelt. The Rangers are ranked No. 5 nationally by MaxPreps.
Eaton is in search of a fifth-straight championship in 3A. The Reds opened their tournament with a 25-18, 25-20, 25-10 sweep of Platte Valley, and then swept Lamar in the evening.
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Semifinal berths clinched
Yuma won 2A’s Pool I with wins over Dolores and Rangely.
Niwot captured 4A’s Pool IV. The Cougars beat Discovery Canyon and Palmer Ridge.
Chaparral won Pool IV in 5A with wins over Fort Collins and Fruita Monument.
Kit Carson, after its two sweeps, clinched Pool I in 1A.
University won 3A’s Pool IV following wins over Middle Park and Resurrection Christian.
Lewis-Palmer will meet Niwot in the 4A semifinals after winning Pool I.
Fleming topped Genoa-Hugo and Springfield to win Pool II in 1A.
Eaton is back in the 3A semifinals following sweeps over Platte Valley and Lamar.
La Veta got wins over Sangre de Cristo and Wiley to win 1A’s Pool III.
Lutheran beat Sterling and Bennett in winning Pool II in 2A.
Valor Christian beat Cheyenne Mountain and Pueblo West as it won 4A’s Pool II.
Holy Family topped Ponderosa and D’Evelyn in winning Pool III in 4A.
Faith Christian beat Buena Vista and Valley is it won Pool III in 3A.
This Bennett volleyball team is forging its own path, taking footsteps where no Tiger has ever been before.
The 2017 Tigers fought and clawed their way to a regional championship last weekend, coming back to win a tiebreaker after dropping their first match. It clinched a berth to this weekend’s Class 3A state volleyball tournament — the first-ever trip to state for the program.
“People had been telling me that they didn’t think they’d ever gone before, which made me a little nervous because we hadn’t even played the regional yet,” said Bennett coach Larry Deffenbaugh, who is also the school’s athletic director. “Since we hadn’t ever gone before, I figured, well, maybe the odds are improving.
“I’ve talked to Board members, I’ve looked through all the yearbooks, I talked to the former athletic director,” Deffenbaugh continued. “There is no record of us ever going to state; not a trophy, not a plaque.”
Bennett entered the regional round as the No. 9 seed following a 19-4 regular season. But the Tigers dropped their first match of the regional, which they were hosting, to No. 28 Cedaredge, 3-2 (25-21, 19-25, 25-16, 9-25, 16-14). Their dreams of state seemed to be dashed.
“We just struggled, and I think we were uptight, and we wanted to go (to state) so bad, and we were nervous,” Deffenbaugh said. “I take nothing away from Cedaredge, they were good.”
But then No. 16 Eagle Ridge Academy beat Cedaredge in the second match of the region, meaning that if Bennett beat Eagle Ridge the three teams would be in a tiebreaking scenario.
Bennett followed through with a sweep of Eagle Ridge, 25-22, 25-21, 25-13.
“To catch a break and have Eagle Ridge beat Cedaredge, it gave us new life,” Deffenbaugh said. “We played some of our best ball of the year the rest of the day.”
In the tiebreak, Eagle Ridge and Cedaredge played first because Bennett had won a higher percentage of sets. Eagle Ridge beat Cedaredge, 25-21.
Once again, Bennett had to beat Eagle Ridge. Only this time, if the Tigers won, they would do something no other team from Bennett had ever done in the 42-year history of the sport.
They won, 25-13.
“I’ve never seen a group of girls so excited,” Deffenbaugh said. “They literally jumped three feet in the air.”
The Tigers have been led by a mix of experience and youth throughout the season. That continued during regionals.
Nakita Swingle had 33 kills and 44 digs in the nine sets the Tigers played last Saturday, Olivia Bonstead added 33 kills, and Isabelle Babi had 63 digs. All three girls are seniors.
Freshman Karissa Alsdorf had 44 assists and 24 digs during regionals, and had four aces in the tiebreaker. Sophomore Raena Schledwitz had 45 assists and 25 digs throughout the day.
Now, Bennett will head to the Denver Coliseum on Friday for their first matches. They are the No. 7 seed at state, in a pool with No. 2 Lutheran and No. 11 Sterling.
“They’ve been to the Coliseum, they know what it looks like,” Deffenbaugh said. “They’re going to have to handle it like anybody else, and we’re hoping that we perform well.
“I just hope that they take in the whole experience, from getting off the bus and going in the gate entrance, to walking underneath the Coliseum and up the stairs and out into the arena, and just soak in that arena, and just really relish the moment and take it all in even before we play,” the coach added. “Just really try and gather those memories in — and get some pictures! I mean, gosh, what do we have this technology for?”
As for their pool opponents, Lutheran and Sterling?
“Lutheran and Sterling are two very good teams steeped in tradition,” Deffenbaugh said. “We’re clearly the underdog, but we’re going to go out there and try not to be overwhelmed by the new scenery.”
