Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
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.
AURORA — Alexis Rayburn has never pitched a more difficult inning than the seventh of her afternoon game on Saturday.
Strasburg was up by eight, but she was trying to close out the school’s fourth state championship. With two outs, the batter at the plate – and opposing pitcher – Hailey Unrein popped a ball up foul. She now had two strikes on her and Rayburn’s teammates gathered to give her some final words of encouragement.
“Everybody was telling me that they believed in me and they loved me no matter what,” Rayburn said.
They had every right to. She struck out Unrein. The Indians won 10-2 and came away with their fourth Class 3A softball title in six years. Not a bad reward after battling through an inning where she retired the side, striking out two in the process.
“I had to stay composed in that last inning,” she said. “It was probably the hardest inning I’ve ever had to pitch.”
Her performance on Saturday was nothing short of championship worthy. She struck out nine hitters while surrendering just five hits and walking one. Both runs she gave up were earned.
The second wasn’t as damaging because the Indians were up nine runs. The first, however wasn’t ideal. Brooklyn Cox, the Beetdiggers’ leadoff hitter, was able to get around and score to get Brush a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Strasburg had only managed to get two runners on base in the first three innings. But with one out in the fourth, Dakota Stotyn blasted a home run to left field that wasn’t going to be affected by the wind that was blowing directly in.
“I thought about hitting that on the ground and not playing the wind,” Stotyn said. “I just wanted a base hit. But I’ll take that any day.”
And that was the offensive spark that the Indians needed. They took the lead later in the inning when Ashlyn Richardson scored on a fielding error.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
And then they caught fire in the sixth. Rayburn led the inning off with a double and was driven home on a single from Ashland Baca. That was the first of seven runs the Indians scored in the inning.
“When I started hitting the ball and we collectively as a team started hitting the ball, and made solid contact and put pressure on the defense, I knew we had it,” Rayburn said.
Strasburg last won a state softball title in 2015 with a 7-5 win over Eaton. The Indians beat the Reds in the semifinal on Saturday to advance to the title game.
Also in that game, the Indians had to come from behind to get the win. It was a group of girls that wasn’t going to quit when faced with adversity.
“They trust each other,” coach Michelle Woodard said. “They have heart and they don’t give up. They haven’t all year.”
The closeness of the team is something that stood out to Woodard. Her seniors were sophomores the last time the Indians won the 3A title and the bond that they created in between championship wins is something that made this season stand out.
“It’s something that a lot of people didn’t expect of us this season,” Woodard said. “I think we were overlooked a bit so they took that to heart.”
AURORA — A year ago, Eaton’s season came to an end at the hands of eventual state champion Rocky Ford.
This year, the Reds got to return the favor.
Junior Lauren Frink threw a complete-game shutout and got plenty of run support as Eaton beat the Meloneers 8-0 to advance to the Class 3A softball semifinal. Frink struck out five Rocky Ford hitters through the game.
“It’s pretty special to know that you can bounce back and beat a team that you have history with,” Frink said. “We still have the confidence in us as a team that we would be able to do that.”
The Reds got off to a quick start as Remington Ross and Jennifer Jarnigan started the game with back-to-back singles. Ross had stolen second and third, so she came home on Jarnigan’s hit to put Eaton on the scoreboard. Allie Hobbs added one of her own two hitters later then Melanie Frye drove in two to make it a quick 3-0 lead for Eaton.
“The help of our offense is always a great asset,” Frink said. “It’s so much easier to go out and pitch when your team offensively and defensively have your back.”
They added three more in the third and two in the fourth to push the lead to 8-0. But the Meloneers weren’t going to let a mercy rule come into play.
The Eaton side was retired in order in the fifth and sixth innings, but the Meloneers weren’t able to get any runners
Rocky Ford advanced to the quarters with a 7-6 comeback win over Meeker. The quarterfinal matchup was a rematch of last year semifinal, a game that Rocky Ford won 12-5.
A win over the Meloneers may have massaged some bruises for the past, but the Reds would much rather focus on the task of moving forward and claiming the school’s first state softball title.
“We don’t want to get too lost in those kind of thoughts,” coach Dale Hughes said. “We just want to keep our thought process moving forward.”
So forward they will move as they are set to take on Strasburg. The Indians kept their hopes of returning to the championship game alive with a 2-0 win over La Junta in the quarterfinals.
The other semifinal game will pit Brush against Faith Christian. The Beetdiggers beat Patriot League rival University 8-4 in the quarterfinals while Faith Christian held off a seventh-inning comeback attempt from Sterling.
