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Thanks for the memories, Part II
  
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Vista returns to 5A diamond finals
Four seasons ago, Mountain Vista baseball made its way to the state championship finals but lost its claim to state fame to Columbine. This past season, the Golden Eagles’ newly gelled team, with their second-year head coach Mark Goldsberry, made another exciting run to the Class 5A diamond finals.
Having claimed its district’s bragging rights, Vista came into the 5A regional/state tournament this season as the No. 4 seed and managed to hand both No. 1 Rampart and No. 2 Cherry Creek, where Goldsberry was the junior varsity coach for years, an upset in the double-elimination dance. Eventually, they met up in the finals against defending champs Rocky Mountain, who handed the Eagles their first loss earlier in the tournament. The Lobos would walk away the title holders once again.
In the Eagles’ thrilling 6-2 win over Cherry Creek in the semifinals, starting pitcher Eric Anderson held the Bruins to three hits, one of Vista’s top guns on the mound, along with Tucker Cross.
“We were young [last year], and we returned most of our team,” Goldsberry said. “We spent the whole summer together, playing about 60 games and a lot of experience playing together. ... That makes a big difference with our kids and their confidence. You could just see it [against Cherry Creek]. They believed in themselves.”
Tandem track titles for Littleton
The Class 5A high school track and field championship meet was all about the Littleton Lions. Both the boys and girls teams from Littleton High School took the team championships after three days of event May 14-16 at Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood, and they did it despite being the smallest 5A school in contention.
The boys 1,600-meter relay team of Marco Carpenter, Kumar Pinkney, Kyle MacIntosh and Kevin Scheuerman won the gold medal. MacIntosh also took first in the 300 high hurdles. Nate Guthals took gold in the 800 run.
The girls team edged out second-place Cherry Creek after junior Jenna Adams won the pole vault event and junior Brooke Jackson took the discus gold.
The girls 1,600 relay also took gold with Grace Brittan, Aleah Meade, Emily Pirnack and freshman Dana Gaetani.
“You can tell both the girls and boys really wanted it,” Gaetani said. “With coach [Brian] Kula leaving this year, I know we all wanted to do it for him.”
Cats girls soccer makes school history
Although Sabercats softball’s first win over Douglas County in extra innings last year could have easily made this list, the school’s most exciting claim was getting to play host to its first playoff game. It was Castle View’s girls soccer team who made that happen after earning the No. 15 seed in the Class 4A state championship playoffs with a notable 10-3-1 record.
The Cats played host to No. 18 Pueblo West, which ended up in an intense battle on both ends until the second overtime period when sophomore Morgan Layton had a breakaway goal for a 1-0 final.
“I saw a pass go through, and I knew that we only had so much time left, so I dribbled it up ... and popped it low in the corner,” Layton said of her game winner.
Sabercats coach Andy Liddle said the Cats were in trouble early with varsity girls out on the bench. Natasha Jones, a freshman midfielder, broke her wrist during warms up and had to get it cast, the coach said. Five players were called up from the junior varsity roster for the playoffs opener. Junior Taylor Davis, also in the midfield, has been out all year, and West was her first game back. She played about 60 minutes.
Three Sisters tie for trophy
Although the Three Sisters Trophy game has always been close over the years, it can’t get any closer than the final minute and a half of this year’s match up. After being down earlier in the game, Arapahoe High School girls lacrosse managed to catch up to cross-town rivals Heritage-Littleton May 4 at Littleton Public Schools Stadium.
The game, tied at 13, came down to which team would get the final draw with 1 minute, 30 seconds remaining. The Warriors won the draw, but the Gryphons’ defense and goaltender Jenna Pauline kept them out of the cage until the end of regulation. Unfortunately, there would be no overtime period to determine a victor, because this season Arapahoe moved into a different league, making the Three Sisters match-up a non-conference game.
“No matter how the teams come into this season, it’s always even playing field went it comes to this game,” Arapahoe’s Megan O’Donnell said after the game. “It becomes more of a mental game at this point.”
The year prior, the two teams met each other in a double-overtime finale. Although both teams and spectators would liked to have seen a decided winner, players appeared to be accepting of the outcome.
“Even though the outcome would have been so much more exciting, that’s fine.” the Gryphons’ Liz Datino said. “That’s how things turn out. We know how to expect it and move forward.”
Chaparral’s 180 football turnaround
One of the most talked-about teams in preps football last year was Chaparral. Having taken many a game on the chin in their 2007 campaign, saying the Wolverines’ second outing under head coach John Vogt was a vast improvement would be a severe understatement. The Wolverines, in their final season of the Class 5A Continental League, posted a dismal 2-8 overall record and finished second from last in the conference. Only winless Gateway had a worse season.
In 2008, however, the Wolverines started to create a widely respected showing not just in Parker but in the state. Since the second week of the gridiron season, when the Wolverines beat 2007’s state runner-up Douglas County in overtime, Chaparral was regarded as being nowhere near the same team as the year before.
With senior quarterback Jerry Slota and a sea of talented legs in the backfield and hands downfield, Chaparral finished the season second in the newly formed Southern League, behind undefeated ThunderRidge. Momentum was high for the Wolverines going into the playoffs, but a chance at the state title fell short in the second round with a loss to eventual state champion Mullen. Regardless, Chaparral’s turnaround season ended with an 8-3 overall record and commands eyes from preps football fans next season.
“The kids played their guts out, and I’m really proud of them,” Vogt said. “We had a great year. The kids have so much character and class. It was a blast. ... Everything will be the same. We’ll just get better.”
Aqua Bruins smash their own state record for fifth title
Cherry Creek girls swim and dive capped off a record season with its fifth consecutive state championship. Having a full entry in the Class 5A state swim and dive championships at the EPIC Center in Fort Collins for the first time in school history, Cherry Creek High School’s girls program brought home the team title once again.
With a 369-point win, it was the highest amount of points Creek has earned at state since its 1998 team acquired 392.5. Creek coach Eric Craven said beating 392.5 at state was one of the team’s goals that season. The aqua Bruins earned state bragging rights in six events, including two of the three relays. Bonnie Brandon, Christine Wixted, Kelly and Katie Naze, one of four sets of sisters on the varsity championship squad this year, won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 43.75 seconds. Their time was good enough to set a new state record in the event, a record set by Creek in 1998.
“In all the years we’ve been [at state], we’ve come close, but we never had a qualifier in each event,” said Bruins coach Eric Craven, in his 18th year as head coach of the Cherry Creek girls swim team. “This is the year it finally happened.”
Scott Kaniewski, Louis Zoldy and Courtney Johnson contributed to this report
Four seasons ago, Mountain Vista baseball made its way to the state championship finals but lost its claim to state fame to Columbine. This past season, the Golden Eagles’ newly gelled team, with their second-year head coach Mark Goldsberry, made another exciting run to the Class 5A diamond finals.
Having claimed its district’s bragging rights, Vista came into the 5A regional/state tournament this season as the No. 4 seed and managed to hand both No. 1 Rampart and No. 2 Cherry Creek, where Goldsberry was the junior varsity coach for years, an upset in the double-elimination dance. Eventually, they met up in the finals against defending champs Rocky Mountain, who handed the Eagles their first loss earlier in the tournament. The Lobos would walk away the title holders once again.
In the Eagles’ thrilling 6-2 win over Cherry Creek in the semifinals, starting pitcher Eric Anderson held the Bruins to three hits, one of Vista’s top guns on the mound, along with Tucker Cross.
“We were young [last year], and we returned most of our team,” Goldsberry said. “We spent the whole summer together, playing about 60 games and a lot of experience playing together. ... That makes a big difference with our kids and their confidence. You could just see it [against Cherry Creek]. They believed in themselves.”
Tandem track titles for Littleton
The Class 5A high school track and field championship meet was all about the Littleton Lions. Both the boys and girls teams from Littleton High School took the team championships after three days of event May 14-16 at Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood, and they did it despite being the smallest 5A school in contention.
The boys 1,600-meter relay team of Marco Carpenter, Kumar Pinkney, Kyle MacIntosh and Kevin Scheuerman won the gold medal. MacIntosh also took first in the 300 high hurdles. Nate Guthals took gold in the 800 run.
The girls team edged out second-place Cherry Creek after junior Jenna Adams won the pole vault event and junior Brooke Jackson took the discus gold.
The girls 1,600 relay also took gold with Grace Brittan, Aleah Meade, Emily Pirnack and freshman Dana Gaetani.
“You can tell both the girls and boys really wanted it,” Gaetani said. “With coach [Brian] Kula leaving this year, I know we all wanted to do it for him.”
Cats girls soccer makes school history
Although Sabercats softball’s first win over Douglas County in extra innings last year could have easily made this list, the school’s most exciting claim was getting to play host to its first playoff game. It was Castle View’s girls soccer team who made that happen after earning the No. 15 seed in the Class 4A state championship playoffs with a notable 10-3-1 record.
The Cats played host to No. 18 Pueblo West, which ended up in an intense battle on both ends until the second overtime period when sophomore Morgan Layton had a breakaway goal for a 1-0 final.
“I saw a pass go through, and I knew that we only had so much time left, so I dribbled it up ... and popped it low in the corner,” Layton said of her game winner.
Sabercats coach Andy Liddle said the Cats were in trouble early with varsity girls out on the bench. Natasha Jones, a freshman midfielder, broke her wrist during warms up and had to get it cast, the coach said. Five players were called up from the junior varsity roster for the playoffs opener. Junior Taylor Davis, also in the midfield, has been out all year, and West was her first game back. She played about 60 minutes.
Three Sisters tie for trophy
Although the Three Sisters Trophy game has always been close over the years, it can’t get any closer than the final minute and a half of this year’s match up. After being down earlier in the game, Arapahoe High School girls lacrosse managed to catch up to cross-town rivals Heritage-Littleton May 4 at Littleton Public Schools Stadium.
The game, tied at 13, came down to which team would get the final draw with 1 minute, 30 seconds remaining. The Warriors won the draw, but the Gryphons’ defense and goaltender Jenna Pauline kept them out of the cage until the end of regulation. Unfortunately, there would be no overtime period to determine a victor, because this season Arapahoe moved into a different league, making the Three Sisters match-up a non-conference game.
“No matter how the teams come into this season, it’s always even playing field went it comes to this game,” Arapahoe’s Megan O’Donnell said after the game. “It becomes more of a mental game at this point.”
The year prior, the two teams met each other in a double-overtime finale. Although both teams and spectators would liked to have seen a decided winner, players appeared to be accepting of the outcome.
“Even though the outcome would have been so much more exciting, that’s fine.” the Gryphons’ Liz Datino said. “That’s how things turn out. We know how to expect it and move forward.”
Chaparral’s 180 football turnaround
One of the most talked-about teams in preps football last year was Chaparral. Having taken many a game on the chin in their 2007 campaign, saying the Wolverines’ second outing under head coach John Vogt was a vast improvement would be a severe understatement. The Wolverines, in their final season of the Class 5A Continental League, posted a dismal 2-8 overall record and finished second from last in the conference. Only winless Gateway had a worse season.
In 2008, however, the Wolverines started to create a widely respected showing not just in Parker but in the state. Since the second week of the gridiron season, when the Wolverines beat 2007’s state runner-up Douglas County in overtime, Chaparral was regarded as being nowhere near the same team as the year before.
With senior quarterback Jerry Slota and a sea of talented legs in the backfield and hands downfield, Chaparral finished the season second in the newly formed Southern League, behind undefeated ThunderRidge. Momentum was high for the Wolverines going into the playoffs, but a chance at the state title fell short in the second round with a loss to eventual state champion Mullen. Regardless, Chaparral’s turnaround season ended with an 8-3 overall record and commands eyes from preps football fans next season.
“The kids played their guts out, and I’m really proud of them,” Vogt said. “We had a great year. The kids have so much character and class. It was a blast. ... Everything will be the same. We’ll just get better.”
Aqua Bruins smash their own state record for fifth title
Cherry Creek girls swim and dive capped off a record season with its fifth consecutive state championship. Having a full entry in the Class 5A state swim and dive championships at the EPIC Center in Fort Collins for the first time in school history, Cherry Creek High School’s girls program brought home the team title once again.
With a 369-point win, it was the highest amount of points Creek has earned at state since its 1998 team acquired 392.5. Creek coach Eric Craven said beating 392.5 at state was one of the team’s goals that season. The aqua Bruins earned state bragging rights in six events, including two of the three relays. Bonnie Brandon, Christine Wixted, Kelly and Katie Naze, one of four sets of sisters on the varsity championship squad this year, won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 43.75 seconds. Their time was good enough to set a new state record in the event, a record set by Creek in 1998.
“In all the years we’ve been [at state], we’ve come close, but we never had a qualifier in each event,” said Bruins coach Eric Craven, in his 18th year as head coach of the Cherry Creek girls swim team. “This is the year it finally happened.”
Scott Kaniewski, Louis Zoldy and Courtney Johnson contributed to this report
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