COLORADO SPRINGS — Bethany Michalak took a quick glance at her watch as she neared the finish line at the Norris Penrose Event Center.
Yet, the announcement of her time still came as shock. At 17 minutes, 27.5 seconds, she had blitzed the field on the first day of the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede cross country meet.
She crossed the line with her hand over mouth, trying to process what had just happened.
“I was not expecting that at all,” she said. “I’ve run a 17:36 on a flat course so my goal today was to be at 18:30 or lower.”
She erred on the side of lower. Not since the days of Katie Rainsberger has an Air Academy runner been so dominant at Norris Penrose.
Her general running strategy has even benefitted her at the same venue where she’s hoping to capture state gold. She’s familiar with the course, having seen it several times before stepping in the door of Air Academy High School. All it took was putting plan to action and it turned out better than she could have hoped for.
“I like to go really fast to create some distance and get my speed going,” she said. “Ive trained on this course a lot, so that second mile area I know really well. I just give it my all.”
The Stampede serves as the pre-state meet and although it’s typically held earlier in the season, it will be a vital glimpse of the State course ahead of October’s championship run.
Friday’s races featured the top Colorado Springs Class 4A boys and girls runners. They went a day ahead so that the meet could comply with COVID-19 mandates and still have a full meet on Saturday.
Cheyenne Mountain’s Erik Le Roux won the boys race, crossing the finish line in 15:48, 41 seconds faster than Palmer Ridge Colby Schultz.
But the star of the day was Michalak who is quickly emerging as one of the top freshmen not just in Colorado, but the entire country.
Her win at Norris Penrose gave her plenty of confidence not just in her ability to run the course at a winning speed, but also maintain a pace that keeps other competitors at a comfortable distance behind her.
She’s looking forward to running the trail again next month.
“I would love to hit that time, if not faster, at state,” she said. “I was not expecting that at all today so I’m just hoping I can be right there.”
The Cheyenne Mountain Stampede continues on Saturday as teams across the state will get their preview of how the course will be laid out in October. Saturday’s slate will kick off at 9:45 a.m. with the 4A boys run.
Five new teams hopped into the softball rankings this week: Grand Junction Central, Cherokee Trail, Ponderosa, Mesa Ridge, and La Junta.
The polls, voted upon by head coaches around the state, will serve as part of the seeding criteria in softball this season. Polls are released each Monday during the regular season.
Castle View 23, Columbine 23, Rocky Mountain 21, Cherry Creek 18, Brighton 13, Douglas County 10, Hinkley 10, Arvada West 7, Highlands Ranch 7, Horizon 6, Fountain-Fort Carson 5, Mountain Range 5, Chaparral 4, Eaglecrest 3, Fort Collins 3, Rampart 2, Arapahoe 1, Ralston Valley 1, ThunderRidge 1, Valor Christian 1.
Dropped out
Columbine (8), Cherry Creek (9).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
1
Mead (12)
7-0-0
164
1
2
Wheat Ridge (5)
5-0-0
150
2
3
Holy Family (1)
3-2-0
112
3
4
Erie
4-2-0
79
4
5
Riverdale Ridge
5-1-0
56
10
6
Frederick
5-1-0
52
5
7
Silver Creek
2-4-0
35
6
8
Air Academy
4-1-0
33
7
9
Ponderosa
2-0-0
29
–
10
Mesa Ridge
5-0-0
23
–
Others receiving votes:
Pueblo South 21, Pueblo West 21, Windsor 20, Conifer 17, Pueblo Central 16, Northfield 16, Pueblo Centennial 12, Discovery Canyon 11, Roosevelt 11, Mountain View 9, Mullen 8, Berthoud 7, Coronado 5, Bear Creek 4, Pueblo County 4, Golden 3, Severance 3, Durango 1, Elizabeth 1, Evergreen 1, Niwot 1, Palisade 1, Standley Lake 1.
Dropped out
Pueblo South (8), Windsor (9).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
1
University (8)
5-1-0
106
1
2
Eaton (1)
5-1-0
90
2
3
Rocky Ford (1)
5-0-0
80
3
4
Limon
5-1-0
54
4
5
Lyons
3-2-0
46
7
6
Sterling
4-2-0
45
10
7
Brush
3-3-0
42
6
8
Strasburg
4-3-0
40
5
9
Lutheran (1)
5-1-0
35
9
10
La Junta
2-1-0
20
–
Others receiving votes:
Lamar 16, Peak to Peak 11, Basalt 8, Cedaredge 5, Fort Lupton 3, Montezuma-Cortez 3, Weld Central 1.
Mead softball, off to a 6-0 start, is now the No. 1 team in Class 4A after moving up from No. 9 last week.
The polls, voted upon by head coaches around the state, will serve as part of the seeding criteria in softball this season. Polls are released each Monday during the regular season.
Rock Canyon has moved up to the No. 1 spot in this week’s Class 5A softball rankings
Each poll was released on Monday.
The polls, voted upon by head coaches around the state, will serve as part of the seeding criteria in softball this season. Polls are released each Monday during the regular season.
Arvada West 21, Ralston Valley 19, Cherokee Trail 15, Mountain Vista 13, Grand Junction Central 12, Valor Christian 12, Cherry Creek 11, Eaglecrest 11, Brighton 10, Hinkley 10, Castle View 9, Fort Collins 8, Pomona 8, Vista Ridge 6, Fairview 5, Arapahoe 3, Douglas County 1, Fruita Monument 1, ThunderRidge 1.
Dropped out
Ralston Valley (10).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holy Family (10)
2-0-0
106
1
2-0-0
2
Erie
0-1-0
69
2
0-1-0
3
Wheat Ridge
2-0-0
65
5
2-0-0
4
Silver Creek
0-1-0
58
3
0-1-0
5
Pueblo South
1-1-0
47
4
1-1-0
6
Riverdale Ridge
2-0-0
36
–
2-0-0
7
Pueblo West
1-0-0
30
–
1-0-0
8
Frederick
3-0-0
24
–
3-0-0
9
Mead
2-0-0
23
6
2-0-0
10
Air Academy
1-0-0
19
–
1-0-0
Others receiving votes:
Mullen 16, Pueblo County 15, Pueblo Central 10, Pueblo East 10, Roosevelt 10, Discovery Canyon 8, Bear Creek 7, Conifer 7, Elizabeth 7, Mountain View 7, Windsor 7, Golden 5, Mesa Ridge 4, Pueblo Centennial 4, Berthoud 3, Longmont 3, D’Evelyn 2, Evergreen 2, Rifle 1.
Dropped out
Mountain View (7), Golden (8), Pueblo County (9), Mullen (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
University (10)
1-0-0
124
1
1-0-0
2
Eaton (1)
2-0-0
106
2
2-0-0
3
Strasburg (1)
1-1-0
76
3
1-1-0
4
Sterling
2-0-0
67
6
2-0-0
5
Rocky Ford
1-0-0
62
7
1-0-0
6
Brush
1-1-0
45
4
1-1-0
7
Limon
1-0-0
40
5
1-0-0
8
Lutheran (1)
4-0-0
38
–
4-0-0
9
Lamar
1-0-0
28
–
1-0-0
10
La Junta
0-1-0
23
10
0-1-0
Others receiving votes:
Montezuma-Cortez 19, Basalt 17, Lyons 15, Fort Lupton 12, Peak to Peak 11, Resurrection Christian 7, The Academy 7, Weld Central 6, Alamosa 4, Faith Christian 4, Burlington 2, Cedaredge 1, The Classical Academy 1.
Air Academy softball got its season started off on a high note.
The Kadets, led by a pair of juniors, picked up a big 2-0 upset win over No. 4 Pueblo South on Thursday.
Brina Baysinger was dominant in the circle, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out 15 over seven innings. It was her third career shutout, and the 15 strikeouts were a career high.
With the game scoreless in the top of the sixth inning, Air Academy’s Abby Litchfield hit a two-run home run. She was 2-for-3, accounting for two of the Kadets’ three hits in the game. It was Litchfield’s second career home run.
Pueblo South pitcher Emily Abraham also had an excellent game, matching Baysinger with 15 strikeouts over seven innings.
Air Academy reached the 4A regionals last season, while Pueblo South advanced to the state tournament.
(Photo courtesy of Blue Anderson/Air Academy High School)
Air Academy freshman Bethany Michalak wasted no time introducing herself to the cross country landscape.
At this last weekend’s Doherty Early Bird Open, Michalak competed in her first race as a high school runner and also grabbed her first win. She logged a time of 17 minutes, 36.24 seconds besting the rest of the field by nearly two minutes.
Her teammate, Ella Chura, finished second at 19:31.29 but by then Michalak had already caught her breath. The Kadets came away with the team win in the four-team race beginning what they hope is a very successful 2020 season.
Palmer’s Adele Havlick had the best finish for the Terrors at 20:21.48. Doherty junior Kendall Windsor was the top Spartan at 21:46.6 and Coronado junior Allie Leisher was the best Cougar at 22:26.69.
But the performance of the day clearly went to Michalak. Although the course makeup will be vastly different should she run at state, her sub-18 time is faster than what the state championship time was at Norris Penrose last fall.
The boys cross country teams for these same schools were also in action over the weekend. Palmer’s Scott Prieve finished first at 16:07.5.
Coronado junior Zinabu Engstrom finished second while Air Academy’s Alex Maline took third. Like in the girls race it was Air Academy coming away with the top team score. The Kadets had five runners finish in the top 10.
Avery Whitesell posted the best time for Doherty at 18:32.8.
Prieve is looking for a special year of his own. He finished ninth in the Class 5A race at the state cross country meet last year. He was the second Terror across the finish line at Norris Penrose as Gus McIntyre was about 27 seconds faster.
The early-season race at Monument Valley is a long way from the atmosphere that state will provide, but the lesson from the weekend is that there are several kids setting big goals for themselves in 2020.
Air Academy senior Thad Dewing was named Colorado’s boys soccer player of the year by Gatorade on Monday.
Dewing, who also won the award last season, becomes the first two-time winner since former Smoky Hill goalkeeper Miguel Rosales (2005-06, 2006-07), and just the third two-time boys soccer winner from Colorado.
A forward, Dewing had 29 goals and 16 assists last fall as he helped Air Academy reach the Class 4A state championship game. After the season, he was named the 4A player of the year as part of the all-state teams.
Dewing has volunteered on behalf of a local anti-bullying campaign at his school, and has also served as a youth soccer and basketball coach.
“Thad is definitely a remarkable player,” said Pine Creek coach Ben Corley. “He is one of those rare physical athletes that is hard to match up with. That pure physicality [always] gave Air Academy a chance.”
Dewing had a 4.21 GPA. He is committed to play soccer at Air Force.
This is the seventh time Air Academy has had an athlete honored by the Gatorade program.
When Theresa Scott and her husband, AJ, lived on the grounds of the United State Air Force Academy, they were housed right near Air Academy High School.
They had just two kids then: Josh and Jordan.
Several years and three kids later, the Scott family no longer lives on the Academy grounds, but Theresa will be a regular around Air Academy once again.
The Kadets named Scott as their new girls basketball coach on Thursday. She takes over for Phil Roiko, who retired at the conclusion of the 2019-20 season.
She has several years of coaching experience in her past, but spent the majority of her time in recent years watching her sons compete in high school athletics. Four of the five boys played basketball at Lewis-Palmer High School, each winning a state title.
All four continued their playing careers in college.
And now Scott wants to get back into the coaching world and is excited to jump on at Air Academy and continue the program’s trend of successful seasons.
“A lot of the girls are soccer players and they’re smart players,” Scott said. “I can’t wait to get to work with them. They have a lot of heart. I’ve watched film and they have a ton of heart and that’s something that’s harder to train into them than skills.”
The Kadets won their only girls basketball title in 2012 and advanced to the Class 4A Final 4 in 2019. In 2020-21, they’ll play in the combined 5A/4A PPAC league.
There has been a bit of a layoff since Scott has sat on a coaching bench (including varsity assistant stops at Lewis-Palmer and The Classical Academy) but she’s not overly concerned especially considering that her family has deep basketball roots.
When asked if she was likely to get unsolicited advice from her boys, she laughed it off and said any suggestions she takes from them she will likely reach out for.
“They’ve all asked me different questions about what I thought I would do,” Scott said. “In fact, one of them was asking last night. I’ve already told them I thought it would be fun to see what their take on it would be. As I remind myself of drills and stuff, there’s a lot I can ask them about. I really respect my boys’ level of basketball IQ.”
It has to be hereditary. Scott played basketball at the Air Force Academy and then raised a family that never looked out of place on the court. With them all out of the house, she’s embarking on a new journey of educating kids about a game her family has always loved.
