THORNTON — Erie’s Payten Irwin fully intends on defending her 2019 state championships in the Class 3A 50-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly.
To do it, she’ll have to repeat her performance from a year ago in more ways than one. In both events, Irwin claimed gold but did it from outside the prime starting position of the fifth lane.
Caitlin Cairns from St. Mary’s entered the finals with the best time in prelims and that will be the case again this year. Cairns clocked 26.62 seconds in prelims on Thursday to once again take the top seed in the event. Irwin will start in lane six after finishing the race in 24.56 seconds.
It’s the same story in the 100 butterfly as Cairns will start the race in lane five with Irwin right next to her lane six. The battle between the Erie and St. Mary’s standouts will be a fun storyline to watch when finals begin at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Defending team champion Evergreen reminded everyone why they are the team to beat in the event as the Cougars started the day best all other teams in the 200 medley relay. Remi Gucker took the first leg of that race before coming right back to take the top time in the 200 freestyle at 1:56.84. She won the event last year and is looking to add a second gold medal while also helping the Cougars become the first back-to-back champion in 3A history.
Gucker helped her team take the top spot at the meet’s big distance relay races with a time of five minutes, 13.45 seconds in the 500 freestyle relay and 3:42.65 in the 400 freestyle relay.
Salida took a couple of top times through day as Elise Mishmash swam the 100 freestyle in 53.95 seconds. Mishmash won the event last year. She also anchored the 200 freestyle relay team in its top race of 1:42.76.
A neck-and-neck race in the 200 freestyle saw Kent Denver’s Jolie Kim touch the wall in 2:13.24, less than a 10th of a second faster than Aspen’s Lilly Huggard.
St. Mary’s Academy’s Sidney Silver will swim in lane four in the 100 backstroke after a prelim time of 55.27. Thomas Jefferson’s Caitlin Beery dropped nearly two seconds off her qualifying time in the 100 breaststroke and took the top time in the event at 1:07.51.
The 3A meet will continue first thing Saturday morning with diving prelims . Swimming and diving finals are scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton.
Seven new teams joined this week’s boys basketball rankings: Cherry Creek (5A), Valor Christian (5A), Boulder (5A), Glenwood Springs (4A), Thomas Jefferson (4A), Manitou Springs (3A) and Sanford (2A).
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
ARVADA — This is the time of year that Jefferson wrestling coach Oscar Fonseca really loves.
“It’s a lot of fun to watch these kids’ hard work come to fruition,” Fonseca said during the finals of the Ron Granieri Memorial Invitational at Arvada West High School on Saturday. “Watching them climb that mountain and hopefully we are peaking at regionals and state. I love watching the progress from the beginning. This is really when it picks up for us.”
Grandview junior Frankie Sanchez flexes after winning the 106-pound title Saturday at the Ron Granieri Memorial Invitational at Arvada West High School. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
It really picked up for three of the Saints’ top wrestlers during the two-day tournament. Sophomore Angelo Lozado (113 pounds), along with seniors Zander Condit (145 pounds) and Nick Gallegos (152 pound) worked their way into the finals Saturday afternoon. Lozado, Condit and Gallegos all faced No. 1 ranked wrestlers in either Class 5A or 4A in the championship matches.
While Lozado (Class 3A state champion at 113 last year) and Condit (three-time state placer) came up short in their title matches, Gallegos pulled off one of the more dramatic wins in the title bouts.
“That was really big,” Gallegos said. “Having a good match like that makes me feel pretty good.”
Gallegos trailed Thomas Jefferson junior Isaisa Estrado — ranked No. 1 at 152 pounds in Class 4A — 1-0 in the final seconds of the third period. Gallegos was able to snatch Estrado’s leg and get a 2-point takedown with 20 seconds remaining.
“For him to stay calm, get his setups going and get it done at the very end was fantastic,” Fonseca said of Gallegos pulling off the 2-1 win.
Jefferson ended up placing third in one of the tougher tournament heading toward regionals coming up next month. The Saints have been ranked No. 1 in the 3A team rankings by On The Mat for the majority of the season, but slipped behind Alamosa and Valley this week.
Jefferson senior Nick Gallegos, left, went 4-0 at the Ron Granieri Memorial Invitational on Friday and Saturday to capture the 152-pound title. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“We want to win the state (team) title, but we want to get better as well,” Gallegos said. “We just want to get better. If we get better that gives us better odds of winning that state title.”
Jefferson has never won a state wrestling team title. The school’s last team state title was back in 1968 when the Saints won a state baseball title.
“The team goal is always there, but we focus more on the work ethic,” Fonseca said. “The work ethic is going to prepare us for that end goal.”
The combination of Lozado, Condit, Gallegos, along with the return of senior Jimmy Ramirez III give the Saints a shot to make history at Pepsi Center coming up in late February. Ramirez hasn’t wrestled since his freshman season due to a pair of season-ending knee injuries.
Lozado’s 7-4 loss to Brighton junior Kenny Sailas — No. 1 in 5A 113-pound rankings — didn’t discourage the sophomore.
“I’m just going to go back in the (wrestling) room and keep working hard,” said Lozado, who added he doesn’t feel extra pressure being a defending state champion and is more confident on the mat this season then he was as a freshman.
Pueblo East ran away with the team title Saturday. The Eagles posted 243 team points with four individual champions.
The favorite to win the 5A team title this season — Pomona — was at Arvada West on Saturday, but a lot of the Panthers’ top wrestlers didn’t compete. Because Pomona goes to some out-of-state tournaments during the season they have to make sure wrestlers don’t go over the match limit set by the Colorado High School Activities Association.
A big difference for the tournament this season was a name change. The annual wrestling tournament that A-West have hosted for decades was changed to the Ron Granieri Memorial Invitational in honor of the former wrestling coach. Granieri coached the Wildcats to 5A team state titles in 2014 and 2015. The longtime coach, who also spent time at Standley Lake, passed away last year after the wrestling season.
Jefferson senior Zander Condit, bottom, does everything in his power to escape Pueblo East senior Aaden Valdez during the 145-pound final Saturday. Valdez took a 16-1 technical fall in the battle between the No. 1 ranked wrestlers in Class 4A and 3A at 145 pounds. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
The 2019 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 from the results of the coaches’ vote.
