It might be too early to say that Cheyenne Mountain is back at a championship level, but a 11-0 start to the season has certainly gotten the attention of voters across the state.
Fresh off a win over Falcon on Thursday and Canon City on Saturday, the Indians are the new No. 1 in the Class 4A CHSAANow.com baseball rankings.
The Indians only broke into the poll a week ago and after leaping over Northridge, Windsor and Ponderosa, they are looking closer and closer to being in championship contention once again.
Valor Christian made a decent jump this week, gaining three spots to land No. 4.
Silver Creek is the only team to join the poll, coming in at No. 9
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Lamar regains the top spot in the 3A poll after being overtaken by league rival La Junta last week.
University gains some ground to come in at No. 3 as does Manitou Springs who jumps a spot to land at No. 5.
Eaton rejoins the top 10 this week, rounding out the 3A at No. 10.
In 5A, Rock Canyon holds on to the top spot in the poll. Mountain Range, however, made a four-spot jump to come in at No. 2.
Cherry Creek gets back into the top three, getting a few first-place votes in the process.
Fruita Monument (No. 8) and Legacy (No. 9) are the two newcomers to the 5A rankings.
Paonia held on to the top spot in the 2A poll, as did the top four overall teams from last week’s rankings.
Rocky Ford is two spots better this week at No. 7.
Lyons is the only new team in the 2A poll, coming at No. 9 this week.
Holly also held on to its No. 1 ranking, hanging on to the top spot in the 1A poll. Eads (No. 2) and Fleming (No. 3) also held on to their positions from a week ago.
At No. 8, Kiowa is new to this week’s top 10, as is Granada who rounds out the poll at No. 10.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association.
During the regular season, new polls are released each Monday.
Broomfield 15, Douglas County 9, Regis Jesuit 9, ThunderRidge 8, Bear Creek 5, Cherokee Trail 5, Pine Creek 4, Grand Junction Central 3, Brighton 2, Highlands Ranch 1.
Dropped out:
Grand Junction Central (8), Broomfield (9).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Cheyenne Mountain (7)
11-0
86
4
3-0
2
Ponderosa (1)
9-2
70
3
2-1
3
Windsor
9-1
65
1
2-1
4
Valor Christian (2)
9-3
63
7
3-0
5
Green Mountain
10-1
59
5
2-1
6
Denver North
12-0
52
6
3-0
7
Mountain View
11-3
33
8
3-0
8
Northridge
10-3
29
2
0-2
9
Silver Creek
10-5
23
–
2-0
10
Fort Morgan
9-2
18
10
2-0
Others receiving votes:
Summit 16, Wheat Ridge 9, Holy Family 8, Air Academy 7, Falcon 6, Pueblo West 6.
To say that there was some shakeup in the CHSAANow.com baseball rankings would be a gross understatement of what happened since the last set of rankings were released two weeks ago.
And if there is a prime example, one should look no further than the Class 4A rankings.
Windsor jumped a staggering eight spots to take over the No. 1 spot in that poll.
The four teams sitting right behind the Wizards? Well, they were all previously unranked. Northridge, Ponderosa, Cheyenne Mountain and Green Mountain all join the rankings this week.
Wheat Ridge (No. 9) and Fort Morgan (No. 10) are also newcomers. Denver North, Valor Christian and Mountain View remain in the rankings at No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 respectively.
The 5A rankings also saw a significant shakeup, though not as extreme as 4A. Rock Canyon takes over the No. 1 spot, replacing Rocky Mountain who falls to No. 3. Legend jumps to No. 2 while Mountain Vista climbs to No. 4.
Mountain Range (No. 6), Eaglecrest (No. 7), Grand Junction Central (No. 8) and Heritage (No. 10) all broke into the top 10.
While 3A saw the most consistency in terms of who was ranked, the overall placement of the ranked teams certainly saw changes.
La Junta jumped to the No. 1 spot, taking over for Lamar.
Manitou Springs jumps a couple of spots to No. 6 while Valley leapt up to No. 7. At No. 9, Gunnison is the only new team in the 3A rankings.
Paonia hangs on to the No. 1 spot in 2A, but Peyton climbs to No. 2 and Holyoke jumps seven spots to No. 3.
County Line, Yuma and Sanford all join the 2A poll this week.
Holly remains the No. 1 team in 1A and Eads holds on to its spot at No. 2.
Caliche, Petz and Antonito are the three newcomers to the 1A poll.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association.
During the regular season, new polls are released each Monday.
Dawson 8, Front Range Christian 8, Lyons 8, Dayspring Christian 7, Burlington 6, Denver Christian 6, Dolores Huerta 6, Limon 6, Evangelical Christian 4, Calhan 3, Dolores 3, Meeker 1.
Dropped out:
Front Range Christian (2), Dawson (4), Calhan (9).
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holly (7)
5-1
88
1
3-0
2
Eads (2)
5-0
71
2
4-0
3
Fleming
5-1
66
4
5-0
4
Cheyenne Wells
2-1
53
6
1-1
5
Nucla
5-5
46
3
3-2
6
Caliche
4-5
35
–
2-3
7
Cotopaxi
5-2
25
8
2-1
8
Stratton/Liberty
1-3
22
9
0-1
9
Peetz
4-2
17
–
2-0
10
Antonito
2-0
15
–
1-0
Others receiving votes:
Denver Jewish Day 12, Granada 12, Kiowa 10, Rocky Mountain Lutheran 6, Otis 5, Community Christian 4, Manzanola 3, Idalia 2, Mile High Academy 2, Elbert 1.
Valor Christian is No. 1 in 5A’s preseason poll. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
As is tradition, the defending state football champions have a way of finding themselves atop the initial set of CHSAANow.com football rankings.
Of the seven teams that came away with titles in their respective classes, six will come into the 2016 season with a No. 1 ranking.
With 12 first place votes in Class 5A, Valor Christian comes in as the top dog in the states highest classification. They return MaxPrep All-American quarterback Dylan McCaffrey and emerging running back Josiah Davis on the offensive side of the ball.
Defensively, Noah Elliss leads a front seven that could rank as one of the top in the state. With balance on both sides of the ball, the Eagles will look for their seventh title in eight seasons.
State runner-up Pomona takes the No. 2 spot in the polls and are looking to bounce back after a tough loss to Valor in the 5A title game.
Mullen slides in at No. 3, while Cherry Creek and Grandview round out the top five teams.
Windsor is No. 1 in 4A. (Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com)
In 4A, defending champion Windsor is riding high after playing its way to the fourth football title in team history. The Wizards sit atop the rankings with Pine Creek nipping closely at their heels.
The Eagles had a string of back-to-back title reigns ended last season and are looking rebound from an unexpected exit in the 4A semifinals.
With two consecutive titles in hand, Pueblo East starts the season as the top team in the 3A polls, taking seven first place votes.
The Eagles went through Fort Morgan in the 3A semifinals last year and topped Roosevelt in the title game. Those two teams follow Pueblo East in the rankings with the Roughriders sitting at No. 2 and the Mustangs coming in at No. 3.
As a newcomer to 3A, Longmont comes in at No. 4 despite receiving six first place votes.
The 2A poll starts with the most distribution among voters in the class. Bayfield comes in at No. 1 with three first place votes. Delta, a team dropping down to 2A with the new football classification cutoff numbers, received the most first place votes with five, but the Panthers come in at No. 4 to start the year.
The Classical Academy — another newcomer to 2A for this cycle — lands at No. 5.
Buena Vista is No. 1 in 1A. (Bill Cronin)
Just as they ended last season duking it out with each other, Buena Vista and Paonia battled for the top spot in the 1A polls with the Demons coming away with the top spot.
They received 12 votes for the No. 1 spot while the Panthers snagged four.
Burlington (No. 3) and Crowley County (No. 4) also received high rankings after making playoff runs last year.
Other quarterfinal teams that made the top 10 this season are Limon (No. 5) and Meeker (No. 10).
Like in the 1A polls, the 8-man state champ and runner-up come in as the top two teams this preseason. Sedgwick County and Akron take the No. 1 and No. 2 spots respectively with Sargent coming in at No. 3 and Norwood coming in at No. 4.
Overall, seven of the eight quarterfinal teams in the 8-man playoffs come into the season ranked in the top 10.
Fleming comes in as the only No. 1 team who does not have championship hardware from a year ago. The Wildcats lost in last year’s 6-man semifinals to eventual champion Eads, but come in this year as the preseason favorite to take the state title.
After coming away with the state title, Eads comes in at No. 2 despite receiving the majority of the first place votes.
State runner-up Arickaree/Woodlin comes in at No. 4.
Kit Carson (No. 3) and Pawnee (No. 5) round out the top five teams in the 6-man poll.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday during the regular season.
Chatfield 25, Pueblo South 25, Fruita Monument 20, Monarch 17, Fort Collins 10, Montrose 10, Grand Junction 5, Greeley West 5, Pueblo Centennial 4, Pueblo West 4, Rampart 4.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Pueblo East (7)
0-0
126
2
Roosevelt
0-0
100
3
Fort Morgan (1)
0-0
89
4
Longmont (6)
0-0
75
5
Discovery Canyon
0-0
71
6
Palisade
0-0
65
7
Rifle
0-0
40
8
Evergreen
0-0
37
9
Holy Family
0-0
30
10
Thompson Valley
0-0
26
Others receiving votes:
Mead 23, Durango 16, Lutheran 10, Pueblo County 9, Eagle Valley 8, Lewis-Palmer 8, Silver Creek 8, Vista Peak 8, Palmer Ridge 7, Mitchell 6, Alameda 5, Conifer 1, Pueblo Central 1, Woodland Park 1.
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Bayfield (3)
0-0
104
2
Kent Denver (1)
0-0
97
3
Platte Valley (2)
0-0
90
4
Delta (5)
0-0
78
5
The Classical Academy
0-0
68
6
D’Evelyn (3)
0-0
67
7
La Junta (1)
0-0
62
8
Resurrection Christian
0-0
58
9
Sterling
0-0
47
10
Brush
0-0
38
Others receiving votes:
Eaton 33, Faith Christian 20, Bishop Machbeuf 9, Manitou Springs 8, Moffat County 8, Elizabeth 7, Cortez 6, Fort Lupton 5, Steamboat Springs 5, Arvada 4, The Academy 4, Gunnison 3, Basalt 2, Weld Central 2.
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Buena Vista (12)
0-0
149
2
Paonia (4)
0-0
146
3
Burlington
0-0
83
4
Crowley County
0-0
76
5
Limon
0-0
71
6
Strasburg
0-0
52
7
Bennett
0-0
50
8
Platte Canyon
0-0
41
9
Monte Vista
0-0
35
10
Meeker
0-0
34
Others receiving votes:
Rye 33, Cedaredge 24, Centauri 24, Dolores 16, Ellicott 15, Wiggins 14, Center 8, Dolores Huerta 8, Holyoke 8, Vail Christian 8, Colorado Springs Christian 6, Olathe 6, Rocky Ford 6, Grand Valley 5, Byers 4, Highland 4, Peyton 3, Trinidad 3, Hotchkiss 2, Front Range Christian 1.
8-man
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Sedgwick County (8)
0-0
96
2
Akron
0-0
87
3
Sargent
0-0
80
4
Norwood (2)
0-0
73
5
Dayspring Christian
0-0
61
6
Hoehne (1)
0-0
60
7
Merino
0-0
31
8
Granada
0-0
26
9
Caliche (1)
0-0
23
10
Dove Creek
0-0
20
Others receiving votes:
West Grand 15, Sangre de Cristo 14, Holly 12, Springfield 12, Sanford 10, Las Animas 9, Mancos 9, Miami-Yoder 6, Haxtun 5, Plateau Valley 3, Del Norte 2, Hayden 2, Soroco 2, Gilpin County 1, McClave 1.
Rock Canyon leads the 5A volleyball preseason poll. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
After a wild finish at the 2015 state volleyball tournament, it looks like the fun is going to continue in 2016.
Three defending champions sit at No. 1 in the CHSAANow.com volleyball rankings while two other squads are coming into the year with heavy expectations being placed on their shoulders.
After cruising through pool play only to fall in the semifinals, Rock Canyon comes in at No. 1 in the Class 5A volleyball rankings to start the year.
The Jaguars lost two seniors from last year’s team, but outside hitter Keeley Davis and libero Kendall Hanak both return.
Defending state champion, Cherokee Trail comes in at No. 5 to start the year with Fairview, Chatfield and Denver East filling the spots in between.
After being the first team in Colorado to take down two-time defending champion, Lewis-Palmer, Cheyenne Mountain claims the top spot in the 4A rankings. The Indians received 12 of 13 first place votes as the Rangers took the other one. That helped them take the No. 2 spot behind their league rivals.
Evergreen and Ponderosa take the next two spots in the poll after each team advanced to last year’s semifinals.
At No. 10, Pueblo West comes in as the only ranked 4A team that did not make last year’s state tournament.
Eaton leads the 3A poll. (Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com)
In 3A, someone is going to have to knock off Eaton before anyone will be convinced the Reds should not be the No. 1 team in the state.
Eaton has rattled off three straight state titles and have not lost a match since Sept. 14, 2014. The No. 1 ranking is a clear message to the 3A field: to be the champ, you have to beat the champ.
The 3A rankings are also filled with a lot of familiar names over the last few seasons. Valley (No. 2), University (No. 3), Colorado Springs Christian (No. 4), Platte Valley (No. 6) and Manitou Springs (No. 8) all carried over success from last season into this year’s rankings.
After beating Resurrection Christian (a 3A team from here on out) in last year’s state title match, Yuma comes in as the top team in the 2A rankings.
The Indians have played for the 2A title for the last two seasons and by taking six of 11 first place votes, they come in as a favorite to advance to the title match for the third-straight year.
With Resurrection Christian now out of 2A, Paonia (No. 2) and Lyons (No. 3) now become the most likely to contend with Yuma for the 2A title.
At No. 10, Byers is the only ranked team in 2A that did not make last year’s state tournament.
After making the semifinals but failing to advance to the title match, Fleming comes in as the No. 1 team in 1A.
Defending champion Otis will come in slightly under the radar to start this year, sitting at No. 7, with state runner-up Idalia sitting right behind the Bulldogs at No. 8.
Briggsdale (No. 5) and Caliche (No. 9) are the two teams ranked in the preseason that did not make last year’s state tournament.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
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.
Mead 18, Valor Christian 11, Palmer Ridge 7, Air Academy 6, Battle Mountain 6, Silver Creek 6, Erie 4, Steamboat Springs 3, The Classical Academy 3, Mullen 2, Niwot 2.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Eaton (11)
0-0
110
2
Valley
0-0
87
3
University
0-0
66
4
Colorado Springs Christian
0-0
64
5
Lutheran
0-0
49
6
Platte Valley
0-0
43
7
Coal Ridge
0-0
34
8
Manitou Springs
0-0
30
9
Resurrection Christian
0-0
25
10
St. Mary’s
0-0
21
Others receiving votes:
Alamosa 14, Delta 14, Pagosa Springs 12, Faith Christian 7, Middle Park 7, Sterling 6, Grand Valley 4, Bishop Machebeuf 3, La Junta 2, Salida 2, Skyview Academy 2, Bennett 1, Centauri 1, Jefferson Academy 1.
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Yuma (6)
0-0
100
2
Paonia (4)
0-0
95
3
Lyons (1)
0-0
84
4
Limon
0-0
51
5
Union Colony
0-0
48
6
Fowler
0-0
38
7
Colorado Springs School
0-0
35
8
Dayspring Christian
0-0
34
9
Ridgway
0-0
32
10
Byers
0-0
18
Others receiving votes:
Sargent 14, West Grand 14, Highland 8, Simla 8, Akron 5, Hoehne 5, Merino 4, Vail Christian 3, Clear Creek 2, Soroco 2, Custer County 1, Front Range Christian 1, Haxtun 1, Meeker 1, Wiggins 1.
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Fleming (7)
0-0
79
2
Prairie (1)
0-0
60
3
Kit Carson
0-0
57
4
La Veta
0-0
48
5
Briggsdale
0-0
30
6
Springfield
0-0
28
7
Otis
0-0
25
8
Idalia
0-0
18
9
Caliche
0-0
17
10
Flagler
0-0
16
Others receiving votes:
McClave 14, Heritage Christian 7, Sangre De Cristo 7, Cheyenne Wells 6, Genoa Hugo/Karval 6, Nucla 6, Eads 5, Holly 5, Weldon Valley 4, Jim Elliott 2.
The seven titles are the most since Regis Jesuit and Cheyenne Mountain each won seven in 2010-11.
Five teams tied for second place in the state with three team championships this season: Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Academy, Kent Denver, Pomona and Regis Jesuit.
Colorado Academy and Valor Christian each had a state-best three girls championships, while Valor’s four titles were the most on the boys’ side.
In all, 67 different teams won a team championship in 2015-16, including 16 teams which won multiple championships.
A breakdown of team championships is below.
Rank
Team
Girls
Boys
Co-Ed
Total
1
Valor Christian
3
4
0
7
2
Cheyenne Mountain
2
1
0
3
2
Colorado Academy
3
0
0
3
2
Kent Denver
1
2
0
3
2
Pomona
1
2
0
3
2
Regis Jesuit
0
3
0
3
7
Broomfield
1
1
0
2
7
Cherokee Trail
1
1
0
2
7
Cherry Creek
1
1
0
2
7
Eaton
2
0
0
2
7
Fairview
2
0
0
2
7
Grandview
2
0
0
2
7
Heritage Christian
1
1
0
2
7
Lutheran
1
1
0
2
7
Mountain Vista
1
1
0
2
7
Yuma
2
0
0
2
17
Air Academy
1
0
0
1
17
Alamosa
0
1
0
1
17
Aspen
1
0
0
1
17
Battle Mountain
0
1
0
1
17
Bayfield
0
1
0
1
17
Bennett
1
0
0
1
17
Buena Vista
0
1
0
1
17
Castle View
0
0
1
1
17
Cedaredge
0
1
0
1
17
Cheyenne Wells
1
0
0
1
17
Colorado Springs Christian
0
1
0
1
17
Dawson School
0
1
0
1
17
Durango
0
1
0
1
17
Eads
0
1
0
1
17
Eaglecrest
1
0
0
1
17
Evergreen
0
1
0
1
17
Faith Christian
0
1
0
1
17
Fleming
0
1
0
1
17
Fort Collins
1
0
0
1
17
Fossil Ridge
0
1
0
1
17
Holly
0
1
0
1
17
Idalia
1
0
0
1
17
Lewis-Palmer
1
0
0
1
17
Lyons
0
1
0
1
17
Meeker
0
1
0
1
17
Monarch
1
0
0
1
17
Mountain Range
1
0
0
1
17
Mountain View
0
1
0
1
17
Niwot
1
0
0
1
17
Otis
1
0
0
1
17
Overland
0
1
0
1
17
Palmer Ridge
1
0
0
1
17
Paonia
1
0
0
1
17
Peak to Peak
0
1
0
1
17
Ponderosa
1
0
0
1
17
Pueblo County
0
1
0
1
17
Pueblo East
0
1
0
1
17
Pueblo West
0
1
0
1
17
Salida
1
0
0
1
17
Sanford
0
1
0
1
17
Sedgwick County
0
1
0
1
17
St. Mary’s
0
0
1
1
17
Strasburg
1
0
0
1
17
Telluride
1
0
0
1
17
The Classical Academy
1
0
0
1
17
ThunderRidge
1
0
0
1
17
University
1
0
0
1
17
Vail Christian
1
0
0
1
17
Vail Mountain
1
0
0
1
17
Valley
0
1
0
1
17
Windsor
0
1
0
1
[divider]
Individual Championships
Cheyenne Mountain had a state-best 11 individual champions in 2015-16. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Cheyenne Mountain also had an outstanding year in terms of individual titles, leading the state with 11 championships. The program was well balanced: Six championships came from its girls teams, and five came from the boys.
Lutheran’s 10 individual championships were the second-most in the state, including a state-best nine boys titles. Regis Jesuit was third with nine individual titles, and Air Academy and Pomona tied for fourth with eight apiece.
A total of 135 schools had at least one individual champion, and 82 had multiple champions. Of those, 21 schools had at least five individual champions.
The 2015 football players of the year. From left: Dylan Dixon of Eads; Keegan Wentz of Buena Vista; JoJo Domann of Pine Creek; Dylan McCaffrey of Valor Christian; Daniel Martin of Pueblo East; Kelton McCoy of Bayfield; Trey Walter of Sedgwick County. (Photos: Jack Eberhard/JacksActoinShots.com; Bill Cronin; Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com; Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com; Jeff Tucker; and Sedgwick County HS)
The 2015 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 coaches.
The 2015 volleyball players of the year. From left: Antonya Schaffert, Otis; Bethany Cullity, Cheyenne Mountain; Shannon Webb, Cherokee Trail; Tara Traphagan, Yuma; Caiden Rexius, Eaton. (Photos: Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com; Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com; Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
The 2015 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 then a vote of coaches.
Scroll down to see the teams, or use the menu below to navigate to the class of your choosing.
