High School Roundup Jan. 6-10

Jan. 6 Palmer Ridge 40 Wasson 35

Jan. 7 Discovery Canyon 69 The Vanguard School 19

Jan. 8 Lewis-Palmer 71 Woodland Park 34

Jan. 9 Doherty 77 Pine Creek 40

Jan. 9 Palmer Ridge 65 Falcon 19

Jan. 10 Lewis-Palmer 61 Wasson 40

Jan. 10 University Schools 53 Palmer Ridge 36

 

Jan. 6 Air Academy 64 Pine Creek 42

Jan. 7 Pine Creek 49 Liberty 35

Jan. 7 Discovery Canyon 47 The Vanguard School 33

Jan. 7 Rye 53 Palmer Ridge 20

Jan. 8 Lewis-Palmer 61 Woodland Park 24

Jan. 9 Pine Creek 39 Doherty 36

Jan. 9 Falcon 50 Palmer Ridge 48

Jan. 10 University Schools 55 Palmer Ridge 48

Jan. 10 Lewis-Palmer 52 Wasson 16

 

Jan. 7 Palmer 4 Pine Creek 1

Jan. 9 Regis-Jesuit 2 Lewis-Palmer 1

Jan. 10 Pine Creek 6 Valor Christian 0

Jan. 7 Pine Creek 56 Rampart 18

Jan. 7 Mesa Ridge 43 Lewis-Palmer 27

Jan. 8 Discovery Canyon 64 Palmer Ridge 17

 

Jan. 6 Rampart 164 Lewis-Palmer 148

Jan. 6 Pine Creek 123 Liberty 63

 

            The No. 3-ranked Eagles returned from break on Jan. 7, picking up right where they left off as they dominated Rampart on the mats 56-18. Led by pins by Josh Martinez, Mike Sikorski, Bryant Tanstrum, Cody Castello, Greg Leube and Ryan Lockwood PC took 10 out of 13 matches from the Rams and added one win by forfeit. Also coming out victorious for Pine Creek was Ben Molina and Marshal Brandt by way of major decision and Garrett Day and Connor Stevens by decision.

            The Eagles returned to action on Jan. 10 when they hosted the PCHS duals, entertaining Lewis-Palmer, Cherokee Trail, Vista Ridge and Pueblo East. In order to give more wrestlers a chance to perform, the Eagles split their squad and competed two teams with seven varsity and seven JV wrestlers on each team. Both teams made it to the final round, where they faced each other. Josh Martinez, Connor Stevens, Ryan Lockwood and Mike Sikorski all went undefeated on the day.

            Air Academy dropped the Eagles to 3-2 on the season on Jan. 6, as the Kadets beat Pine Creek 64-42 at Air Academy. Bri Favatella led the Eagles with 14 points and Allie Sojourner added 10, and despite a strong second half effort Pine Creek was unable to overcome a 38-18 halftime deficit as it slipped to 1-1 in the 5A Metro League.

            The Eagles turned things around the next night with a 49-35 league win over Liberty. Head coach Kelley Stewart credit Pine Creek’s solid defense for the victory as nine out of 12 players scored for PC. Shannon Rousseau led the way with 13 points, while Favatella chipped in 7.

            The Eagles were back at it on Jan. 9 as they traveled to Doherty for their third league game in four days. Pine Creek used a 12-5 fourth quarter to pull ahead late as it defeated the Spartans 39-36 to improve to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in league play.

 

            Pine Creek took a 26-21 lead into halftime over Air Academy on Jan. 6 at PCHS, but the Kadets used a 16-5 advantage in the third quarter to overcome the Eagles and then pulled away in the fourth for a 57-49 victory, dropping Pine Creek to 1-6 on the season and 0-1 in the 5A Metro League.

            Things definitely didn’t get easier for Pine Creek on Jan. 9 as it traveled to Doherty to face the 6-3 Spartans in the Eagles second league contest of the season. After falling behind 24-2 to start the game there was not much hope for the Eagles and Doherty ran away with a 77-40 victory.

            Devin Kastrup led the Eagles with 10 points in the loss.

 

            In its lone meet of the week, the Pine Creek girls swim and dive team headed south to take on league rival Liberty on Jan.6. The Eagles, who took first in all but two events, defeated the Lancers handily 123-63.

            Carley Schumate (200 free and 100 butterfly) and Nicole Heffington (100 back and 50 free) each led the Eagles with two firsts, as well both girls swam together on the first place 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams. Alyce Sauve (200 IM), Krystin Guetierrez (100 breast) and Ashley Martinez (500 free) also recorded first-place performances for Pine Creek.

 

            Samantha Kenney tied things up at 1-1 9:59 into the second period for the Eagles, but Pine Creek was no match for Palmer on Jan. 7 as the Terrors outshot the Eagles 33-12 en route to a 4-1 victory, dropping PCHS to 0-7 on the season.

            Things went much smoother for the Eagles on Jan. 10 at Valor Christian however, as PC picked up its first victory of the year 6-0. Luke Grignano, Jonathan Stickle and Michael Madrid all scored two goals apiece and Chris Dylewski stopped all 14 shots he faced as the Eagles got a much needed win.

 

            After what seemed like forever and a day the Rangers were happy to finally get to play a game at home on Jan. 8—and it showed. LP used a 19-2 early run to pull ahead of the visiting Panthers of Woodland Park 27-9 and never looked back from there.

            Kyle Englehardt led all scorers with 29 points and Jordan Ververs and Tommy Snyder each chipped in 11 as the Rangers cruised to a 71-34 home-opening victory, moving to 6-2 on the season and 1-0 in Metro League play.

            “It was a nice start for us both at home and for our first conference game,” said head coach Russ McKinstry afterwards. “I thought the intensity level was really good for a first night out. It was a total team effort from top to bottom and we had contributions from everyone.”

            McKinstry was especially pleased with the number of turnovers his team caused as well as their overall defensive effort.

            “Tonight was our best defensive transition game, which is what we have been working towards all season,” Englehardt added. “We’ve been so anxious to play at home too. We started back in October getting ready and then three months in finally we get to get home and play in front of our home crowd. It was a lot of fun.”

            Englehardt and the Rangers got another chance to shine at home on Jan. 10 when they hosted Wasson in their second league contest of the season and it wasn’t much closer.

            After an 11-11 first quarter, LP used a pair of dominant middle frames to pull ahead 53-32 late in the third en route to a 61-40 win over the Thunderbirds. Englehardt led all scorers with 22 points, while Ververs added 12.

            The Rangers used strong pressure defense to build an early lead, then pulled away late as they defeated Woodland Park on the road 61-24 on Jan. 8.

            Kara Gramlich led all scorers with 16 points, while Elle Hiester had 11 and Jackie Sharpe and Jennifer Rodriguez each added 9.

            The story though was the Ranger defense. LP allowed just four points in the first quarter and two in the fourth. The two fourth quarter points were scored with 34 seconds remaining in the game.

            “I don’t know if we’re going to be able to play like that every time out, but we’ve really been working on our defense since we got back from the break,” said Ranger head coach Katie Vaughn.

            With the win the Rangers move to 7-2 on the season and 1-0 in the Metro League, while the Panthers fell to 2-5 and 0-1 respectively.

            LP managed to turn up the defensive intensity up even more when it traveled to Wasson on Jan. 10. The Rangers, improving to 2-0 in league play, ran away with their second big victory of the week, shooting down the Thunderbirds 52-16.

            Kai Brown and Jackie Sharp paced the Rangers with 10 points apiece in the victory.

            The No. 2-ranked Rangers headed north on Jan. 9 to face No. 1 Regis-Jesuit in a rematch of last year’s semifinals. The showdown between the state’s top two teams managed to live up to its billing as the teams skated to a scoreless tie following two periods of play.

            Travis Lachner found the back of the net one minute, 18 seconds into the third to break the deadlock but Regis answered shorthanded just 1:20 later and then Connor Hayes put the defending state champion Raiders ahead for good with 3:43 remaining as Regis finished off LP by a score of 2-1, dropping the Rangers to 6-1 on the season.

            In a battle of two of the area’s top girls swim and dive teams, Lewis-Palmer was unable to hand Rampart its first league loss in three years when the Rangers hit the road to face the Rams Jan. 6.

            Carina Watson, who was one of the bright spots for the Rangers, who fell 164-148, qualified for state with her first-place performance in the 100 butterfly, swimming in a time of 1:04.97. Watson also qualified in the 100 back, despite finishing third behind teammate Alex Claude (2^nd) and Rampart’s Jenna Gregoire (1^st).

            Claude also qualified in the 100 free with a third-place finish as did Jackie Cromer, who finished first in the 100 free with a time of 54.02. Cromer finished second in her other event, the 200 IM, also with a qualifying time, although she had already qualified for state in that event.

            Other qualifiers for LP included Laura Day, who finished first in the 100 breast with a time of 1:14.45 and Kira Alger, who took second in the 50 free with a 26.85. Corey Bangs and Sadie Wells also finished first and second respectively as both qualified for state in diving.

            On Jan. 10 LP went to the Mountain View Invite where they swam to a second-place finish out of the 10 4A schools that were present, finishing third overall out of a total of 14 schools, with 5A Cherry Creek winning the Invite. Head coach Terre Christensen called it a good day at the pool for the Rangers and said that the team turned in personal bests in over half the entries.

            With the pressure of qualifying for state off her back, Sadie Wells recorded her best performance on the board, finishing second in diving, while Bangs took fourth. Jackie Cromer placed second in both the 50 free and 100 back, and Emily Dean qualified for state in the 500 free beating her previous best time by 10 seconds.

 

            In their first dual since before Christmas the Ranger grapplers fell at Mesa Ridge 43-27 on Jan. 7. Leading the way for LP by way of pins were Grant Gann, Chad Stich, Sean Stoneham and Dan Barringer, while Mike Hartling won by an 8-1 decision.

            The Rangers returned to action on Jan. 10 when they participated in the Pine Creek duals. LP thumped both Vista Ridge and Pueblo East, but fell to Cherokee Trail as well as both split squad Pine Creek teams to finish 2-3 on the day, taking fourth place out of the six teams present.

            Chad Stich (160) and Dan Barringer (152) were both a perfect 5-0 for the Rangers and Sean Stoneham (135) went 4-1.

 

            The Bears trailed Wasson 13-8 after one quarter of play at PRHS on Jan. 6, but used a 14-1 second quarter to pull ahead of the Thunderbirds. Palmer Ridge didn’t look back the rest of the way as the Bears moved to 7-2 on the season with a 40-35 victory over their Metro League opponents. Brandon Schow was solid on both ends of the floor for the Bears, and led the Ridge with a career high 17 points.  

            The Bears returned to action on Jan. 9 ousting Falcon 65-19 in a makeup game from an early-season snowday. Collin Babcock returned to the lineup after being out with a broken wrist at led the Ridge with 14 points and Forrest Dyer added 11 for the Bears.

            Things got a bit tougher for the Bears on Jan. 10 as they hit the road to Greeley to face a University Schools squad that had won three straight. The Bulldogs got out early on Palmer Ridge and never looked back as they sent the Bears home with a 53-36 defeat.

            Up next for Palmer Ridge is a Jan. 13 trip to The Classical Academy and then it will return home for its league opener on Jan. 16, when the Bears will host Vista Ridge at 7 p.m. Anyone wearing Palmer Ridge or Bears clothing will get in for half price as will anyone who mentions they read about “pack the house night” in The Tribune.

 

            The Bears slipped to 2-8 on Jan. 7 with a 53-20 loss at Rye. Down 15-0 early, Palmer Ridge was unable to recover.

            “We’ve had a tough schedule early on,” said head coach Matt Siebert. “The girls are working hard and doing fine in practice, but are tightening up once they get into the games. Once we get that straightened out I think we’ll be ok.”

            Siebert said he has a lot of confidence in the girls, but that they need to work on increasing their confidence in themselves when it comes to game time.

            After a talk with the girls about just that on Jan. 8, the Bears bounced back a night later and came within 2 points of defeating a tough Falcon team on the road on Jan. 9. The two teams were deadlocked at 34 after three quarters of play, but the Falcons (6-3) pulled ahead in the fourth to win 50-48.

            Brooke Tominello led the way for the Bears with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals, while Amber Turner added 10 points and 5 steals and Julia Gramlich chipped in 9 points, 5 boards and 6 steals.

            The Bears remained competitive once again the following night as they fought back from down 15 at the half to give University a run for its money at PRHS, falling 55-48. Tominello led the Bears with 14 points in defeat and Izzy LiVigni added 13.

 

            Following a 24-0 outburst in the second quarter that gave the Thunder a whopping 49-6 lead at the half, Discovery Canyon cruised to a 69-19 victory over The Vanguard School from Colorado Springs. DCC improved to 6-2 with the win.

            Josh Scott led all players with 21 points and 9 rebounds for Discovery Canyon and Stone Hood chipped in 9 points.

            “Overall I thought we did a good job of getting out on them early and not letting up,” said head coach JP Geniesse. “We were very patient offensively, and defensively we had great energy for most of the game.”

            DCC will be back in action on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. when it hosts a tough Vista Ridge team to open Pioneer League play.

 

            In their last game before the start of league play, the Thunder picked up their second straight win, improving to 3-4 on the season with a 47-33 victory over The Vanguard School on Jan. 7. Nicole Rosas led the way with 12 points and 9 rebounds, while Autumn Surage added 9 points and 9 boards, to go with her 6 steals.

 

            The Thunder got their week started off with a 64-17 victory over Palmer Ridge on Jan. 8. Nine of the 11 DCC victories in the dual came off of pins with the other two coming by a forfeit and a decision.

            Next up for DCC was the Bennett Invitational on Jan. 10. The Thunder roared to a fourth place finish out of 14 schools as Nick Adams came in first, Garrett Adams and Mike Ellsworth placed second, Collin Bennett and Mike Baker placed fourth and Josh Boesseler placed fifth.

 

3A- 130 lbs. No. 3 Nick Adams, Discovery Canyon

4A- 103 lbs. No. 11 Kevin King, Lewis-Palmer

4A- 140 lbs. No. 11 Sean Stoneham, Lewis-Palmer

4A- 152 lbs. No. 4 Dan Barringer, Lewis-Palmer

5A- 103 lbs. No. 2 Josh Martinez, Pine Creek

5A- 112 lbs. No. 2 Mike Sikorski, Pine Creek

5A- 119 lbs. No. 8 Bryant Tanstrum, Pine Creek

5A- 140 lbs. No. 15 Ben Molina, Pine Creek

5A- 145 lbs. No. 9 Mike Ulen, Pine Creek

5A- 189 lbs. No. 7 Connor Stevens, Pine Creek

5A- 215 lbs. No. 4 Ryan Lockwood, Pine Creek