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.
Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 17 are below.
Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 9 are below.
Doherty’s Haleigh Washington, left, with coach Tara Hittle. (Courtesy @DHSAthletics on Twitter)
The 2013 all-state volleyball teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These team were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues and coaches, and then a vote of coaches. Find more information here.
The players who received the most votes in their classification were selected as the player of the year in their class.
Scroll down to see the teams, or use the menu below to navigate to the class of your choosing.
Regis Jesuit begins 2013-14 atop the 5A girls basketball poll. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Regis Jesuit is the unanimous No. 1 selection in CHSAANow.com’s preseason girls basketball ranking in 5A.
The poll, released on Monday, featured 18 first-place votes. The Raiders received each one. And it makes sense: Regis Jesuit did not graduate any players from last year’s team which won the title. The squad also has six seniors committed to Division I schools, including Diani Akigbogun (Texas) and Justine Hall (Purdue).
Highlands Ranch, last season’s 5A runner-up, is No. 2 in the preseason ranking. Arapahoe is third, Grandview is fourth and Rock Canyon rounds out the top-5.
Monarch, with coach Gail Hook returning from a one-year hiatus, is sixth. Castle View is seventh, ThunderRidge is eighth, Cherry Creek is ninth and Poudre is tenth.
Holy Family is ranked No. 1 in 3A girls basketball. Broomfield is No. 1 in 4A. (Pam Wagner)
In 4A, Broomfield heads the preseason poll. The Eagles reached last year’s semifinals, where they lost to eventual champion Pueblo South by three points. Pueblo South begins the season ranked No. 2.
Holy Family is on top of the 3A ranking. The Tigers won last year’s championship.
The 2A poll is headed by Yuma, even though the Indians received three first-place votes to Akron’s four. Akron beat Yuma in last season’s title game, and is ranked second.
Caliche is the preseason No. 1 team in 1A. The Buffaloes lost in last season’s quarterfinals. Defending champion Wiley is unranked to begin the season.
Silver Creek 16, Windsor 15, Mullen 14, Valor Christian 14, Elizabeth 12, Pueblo County 9, Centaurus 8, Golden 5, Rifle 5, Evergreen 4, Greeley Central 4, Glenwood Springs 3, Thompson Valley 2, Berthoud 1, Conifer 1.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Holy Family (14)
0-0
140
2
Pagosa Springs
0-0
107
3
Denver Science & Tech
0-0
101
4
Lamar
0-0
70
5
Centauri
0-0
68
6
St. Mary’s
0-0
63
7
Eaton
0-0
42
8
Valley
0-0
35
9
Peak to Peak
0-0
30
10
Sterling
0-0
26
Others receiving votes:
Bishop Machebeuf 21, Kent Denver 15, Manitou Springs 11, Olathe 8, Coal Ridge 7, Grand Valley 7, Clear Creek 6, Platte Valley 4, Salida 3, Trinidad 3, Moffat County 2, Buena Vista 1.
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Yuma (3)
0-0
82
2
Akron (4)
0-0
74
3
Lutheran (2)
0-0
67
4
Peyton
0-0
66
5
Sangre de Cristo
0-0
33
6
Holyoke
0-0
27
7
Paonia
0-0
26
8
Rye
0-0
18
9
The Vanguard
0-0
17
10
Meeker
0-0
16
Others receiving votes:
Ignacio 11, Del Norte 9, Hoehne 9, Simla 8, Las Animas 5, Liberty Common 5, Swink 5, Limon 4, Sanford 4, Burlington 3, Calhan 3, Heritage Christian 2, Springfield 2, Center 1, Highland 1.
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Caliche (4)
0-0
57
2
Eads
0-0
56
3
Stratton
0-0
40
4
Idalia
0-0
39
5
Norwood (2)
0-0
35
6
Kit Carson
0-0
31
7
Hi-Plains
0-0
30
8
Kim
0-0
23
9
Pawnee
0-0
19
10
Walsh (1)
0-0
18
Others receiving votes:
Dove Creek 13, Wiley 9, Belleview Christian 4, Prairie 4, Cheraw 3, Otis 3, McClave 2, Jim Elliot Christian 1.
Fairview is the No. 1 seed in 5A. (Courtesy photo)
The groundwork, as is so often the case, was laid four years ago. Tom McCartney saw it in his freshmen then. Those freshmen are now seniors, and that group has Fairview seeded No. 1 overall in the Class 5A football playoffs.
“We knew that it was a special group,” McCartney, Fairview’s coach, said Sunday morning. “We also knew that for them to do the things and reach some of the goals they’ve set, you’ve got to have junior compliments. You want to know that your juniors are also part of that.
“We’ve been kind of waiting on this group of seniors for a while, and a lot of them have gotten a lot of playing time as sophomores and juniors,” he continued. “When you get in those kinds of battles against teams like Pomona and Ralston Valley, and Legacy and Arvada West and Boulder — and Grandview in the playoffs last year, and Regis the year before — all of those experiences help. So, yes, to be honest with you, we’ve seen this coming from this particular group. We knew this was a talented group.”
The Knights were the lone 5A team to finish the regular season unbeaten (9-0). They were ranked No. 2 in the CHSAANow.com football poll in recent weeks, but were No. 1 in Wild Card points during that stretch, and finished atop the final Wild Card standings released Sunday morning.
And so, when the 5A bracket was unveiled, it was Fairview in the No. 1 spot. (See the full bracket.)
“It feels awesome,” McCartney said. “It’s playoff football. We’re just going to prepare. We understand that if you win you move on, and if you don’t you’re done. We want to keep playing. The best way to keep playing is to be prepared and to improve.”
Fairview draws No. 32 Mountain Vista (3-6) in the first round. The two teams played in 2010 and 2011, both Mountain Vista wins.
“Our seniors, when they were freshmen, played them. And so we know a little bit about them,” McCartney said. “We’ve got a ton of respect for coach (Ric) Cash. His teams are always prepared. They’re always hard-nosed.”
Rounding out the top-5 seeds in 5A were No. 2 Valor Christian, No. 3 Cherry Creek, No. 4 Regis Jesuit and No. 5 ThunderRidge.
The top 16 seeds host in the first round, meaning No. 6 Cherokee Trail, No. 7 Columbine, No. 8 Pomona, No. 9 Chatfield, No. 10 Grand Junction, No. 11 Mountain Range, No. 12 Doherty, No. 13 Prairie View, No. 14 Rangeview, No. 15 Ralston Valley and No. 16 Douglas County will get home games.
The 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man brackets were also released on Sunday.
Brush is 2A’s top seed. As the top-8 host in the first round, No. 2 Manitou Springs, No. 3 Platte Valley, No. 4 Faith Christian, No. 5 Gunnison, No. 6 Bennett, No. 7 Kent Denver and No. 8 Florence will all get home games.
Also qualifying in 2A were No. 9 Strasburg, No. 10 Lamar, No. 11 Olathe, No. 12 Fort Lupton, No. 13 Aspen, No. 14 Ridge View Academy, No. 15 Jefferson and No. 16 The Academy.
In 1A, Buena Vista got the top seed. No. 2 Limon, No. 3 Centauri, No. 4 Paonia, No. 5 Monte Vista, No. 6 Hotchkiss, No. 7 Yuma and No. 8 Platte Canyon will also host first-round games.
Additional 1A qualifiers were No. 9 Resurrection Christian, No. 10 Rye, No. 11 Burlington, No. 12 Cedaredge, No. 13 Colorado Springs Christian, No. 14 Wray, No. 15 Lyons and No. 16 Front Range Christian.
Hoehne is 8-man’s top seed. Also hosting in the first round will be No. 2 Dayspring Christian, No. 3 Norwood, No. 4 Simla, No. 5 Caliche, No. 6 Kiowa, No. 7 Sargent and No. 8 Dove Creek. Also qualifying were No. 9 Sanford, No. 10 Vail Christian, No. 11 Merino, No. 12 Walsh, No. 13 Akron, No. 14 West Grand, No. 15 Fowler and No. 16 Granada.
Liberty/Stratton grabbed 6-man’s top seed. Also qualifying were No. 2 Hi-Plains, No. 3 Eads, No. 4 Prairie, No. 5 Otis, No. 6 Peetz, No. 7 Hanover and No. 8 Flagler
Mountain Range is ranked 10th this week. (Pam Wagner)
Mountain Range, 7-1 this season, has joined this week’s CHSAANow.com football poll in Class 5A.
The Mustangs, ranked No. 10, are riding a four-game winning streak, including a 22-16 decision against Rocky Mountain last week. Their lone loss this season came at Grand Junction on Sept. 20.
Valor Christian remained atop the 5A ranking with 19 of the 22 first-place votes. Fairview, which got the other three first-place votes, stayed in the No. 2 spot following its big win over Pomona, and continued to be followed by No. 3 Regis Jesuit, No. 4 Cherry Creek and No. 5 ThunderRidge.
Columbine stayed in sixth this week, while Cherokee Trail bumped up two spots to seventh. Pomona remained in eighth and Grand Junction moved up to ninth after beating 4A No. 1 Montrose.
Despite the loss, Montrose remained atop the 4A ranking. Pine Creek moved up to No. 2, jumping Monarch, which fell to No. 3.
Coronado is now atop the 3A poll after Palisade’s loss to Delta. Discovery Canyon is second and Palisade dropped to third.
Delta joined the ranking at No. 7, as did Roosevelt (No. 9) following its win over then-No. 3 Silver Creek. Silver Creek dropped to No. 8 this week.
