High-stakes rematch

CHEROKEE TRAIL, EAGLECREST BOYS VOLLEYBALL TEAMS KNOW EACH OTHER

WELL AND WILL BATTLE RIGHT AWAY TO OPEN STATE TOURNAMENT AT

Just two Aurora programs made the boys volleyball state tournament and they will face each other right way.

Second-seeded Cherokee Trail and seventh-seeded Eaglecrest earned spots in the May 11-13 state tournament — which will be played at Overland High School for a second straight year — and the two local rivals drew each other in the opening round.

Overland

Cherokee Trail swept through the Region 2 tournament on its home floor May 5 with a 2520, 25-12, 25-17 victory over Cheyenne Mountain followed by a 24-26, 25-16, 25-19, 25-17 win over Regis Jesuit in an all-Aurora matchup. It was another challenge from the Raiders — who stretched Cherokee Trail to five sets just a few days earlier — but the Cougars prevailed.

Eaglecrest has a five-match winning streak working and its only loss in the last eight matches came to Valor Christian in the semifinals of the Centennial League Challenge.

The Raptors have an experienced roster as well, which is led by senior outside hitter Ayden Shaw, who ranks third in the state in total kills on the season. Senior Dennis Ancheta is an experienced libero who ranks in the top 10 in the state in digs despite missing time due to injury.

BY COURTNEY OAKES Sports Editor

When the Cougars and Raptors launch the first serve at 5 p.m. May 11, it will be the fourth meeting of the season between the two programs, both of which have fairly veteran lineups and who know each other quite well. The winning side will get off to a good start in the double-elimination tournament, while the loser will have its back against the wall as it hopes to survive.

Cherokee Trail finished 1-2 at last season’s state tournament, but coach Mike Thomsen’s team is zeroed in on a much bigger performance this time.

The Cougars come into the tournament with a sparkling 22-3 record (including a current 11-match win streak) and all three of their losses came to teams in the state tournament (No. 1 Discovery Canyon, No. 3 Valor Christian and No. 4 Legend). They evened the season series with the Titans and Eagles, who they defeated in five sets to win the Centennial League Challenge to end the regular season.

The region showed a balanced effort from a team that has a top-end talent in junior John Clinton — who racked up an astonishing 32 kills in the five-set regular season win over Regis Jesuit and averages 3.7 kills per set — while junior Chase Jensen and sophomore Jaeden Barnes were effective as well.

Cherokee Trail has plenty of experience on the floor from Clinton —who has started since he was a freshman — plus seniors Daniel and Rocky Xiao, Owen Collitt, Jaime Coronel and Rohith Thomas.

Eaglecrest, meanwhile, pulled off one of just two upsets across all regional play as the Raptors defeated No. 7 Poudre School District in five sets, just like they had in the regular season. Castle View, the 11th seed, had the other upset at regionals when it defeated No. 6 Thornton.

Coach Chad Bond’s Eaglecrest team comes into the state tournament with a 17-8 record and seven of its losses have come to teams in the tournament (three to Cherokee Trail, two to Valor Christian and one apiece to Bear Creek and Castle View). The Raptors own a win over the Sabercats.

Sophomore Jackson Shaw has come to play a huge role this season offensively, while senior Logan Taylor and sophomore Matthew Dye have taken on bigger roles in the middle, where both starters from last season graduated.

Cherokee Trail won the three previous matchups between the teams, including two-set meetings at tournaments at Eaglecrest (25-20, 25-17) and Legend (28-26, 25-22), while they took the Centennial League matchup 25-23, 26-24, 2927, though both sides were without some key personnel due to injury.

Four of the seven sets between the teams needed extra points to decide, so the opening round matchup could be one of the most competitive of the four (the others are No. 8 Castle View vs. No. 1 Discovery Canyon, No. 5 Douglas County vs. No. 4 Legend and No. 6 Bear Creek vs. No. 3 Valor Christian).

The loser of the Cherokee Trail-Eaglecrest first round matches turns around for a 7 p.m. matchup against the loser of the Discovery Canyon-Castle View match in the first set of elimination matches, while the winner advances to a 5 p.m. May 12 championship bracket match state champion) against the other winner.

Preps

Girls Tennis

Freshman Johnson gives Vista PEAK first state tennis qualifier

Freshman Francesca Johnson made history for the Vista PEAK girls tennis program by becoming its first state tournament qualifier.

Johnson earned her way into the championship match at the Class 4A Region 2 tournament May 5 at Kent Denver and despite a loss Lila Moldenhauer of the host Sun Devis, earned the region’s second spot in the May 11-13 individual state tournament at Pueblo City Park.

On top of that, she is the first state tennis qualifier for an Aurora Public Schools program since 2011, when Rangeview — coached by current Vista PEAK coach Simon Morwood — had the No. 3 doubles team of Christiana Dedi and Melissa Kolanek and the No. 4 doubles team of Hannah and Rachel Carnes make it to the 5A state tournament.

Breaking the 21-year drought for the district, Johnson will face Longmont senior Lauren Pavot May 11 in a 4A state opening round match scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

Johnson came into Region 2 as the No. 3 seed and opened play with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Aurora Central’s Ruby Rodriguez, the No. 7 seed. That put Johnson up against second-seeded Olivia Carter of Denver South in the semifinals and she prevailed 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 to qualify for the title match. Moldenhauer didn’t drop a game in either of her first two regional matches and she also topped Johnson 6-0, 6-0, but Johnson avoided a playback when Carter won the third-place match over Littleton’s Luci Brendlinger, who could have challenged Johnson had she won.

GIRLS TENNIS Regis Jesuit takes full team to 5A state individual tournament

The Regis Jesuit girls tennis team may no longer be in the Class 5A team state tournament, but all three of its singles players and four doubles teams earned a chance to win individual hardware.

The Raiders — who recently lost to top-seeded Cherry Creek in the quarterfinals of the inaugural 5A state team tournament — will be whole for the May 11-13 5A individual state tournament at Denver’s City Park after they made it through in a variety of ways from the Region 6 tournament at the APEX Tennis Center.

First-year Regis Jesuit coach Jennifer Armstrong had all seven positions make it into championship matches May 4 and all came against host Ralston Valley, which won five of the seven matchups. The No. 1 doubles team of senior Quinn Binaxas and junior Mary Clare Watts and the No. 4 duo of sophomores Cait Carolan and Lily Beebe both won three-set matches to take regional titles for the Raiders.

The regional championships yielded better position in the brackets for Regis Jesuit’s two doubles teams. Binaxas and Watts could have an interesting second round matchup in the form of Cherry Creek’s Riley Loehr and Sabrina Sharma, who they defeated to give Regis Jesuit its lone win in the 6-1 team state loss. Carolan and Beebe lost to the Bruins’ Julia Karlberg and Zoey Hao in the team dual and could get a rematch if both teams make it to the semifinals.

All three Regis Jesuit singles players — senior Madison Wei at No. 1, senior Paige Wolf at No. 2 and junior Lucia Filippini at No. 3 — lost in regional championship matches, but none faced playbacks as they had defeated the third-place finisher. Wei — a returning state qualifier along with Filippini and Watts — and Wolf both ended up with possible rematches with Cherry Creek, while Filippini is on the oppo- site side of the bracket at No. 3.

The No. 2 doubles team of junior Brenna Radebaugh and sophomore Ebba Svard and the No. 3 tandem of junior Elise Holt and freshman Otilya Martino each had to go the long way to make it into the state tournament, which they did via playbacks.

First round matches begin at 9 a.m. May 11 and play start at the same time May 12 and May 13 for championship and third-place matches.

TRACK & FIELD Barnes wins twice at Continental League meet

D’Andre Barnes tuned up for the Class 5A state track meet with two top performances at the Continental League Championship meet May 4-6 at EchoPark Stadium.

Barnes won the 5A 200 meter dash state championship in 2021 and

TOP: Regis Jesuit senior D’Andre Barnes won the championships of the boys 100 and 200 meter dashes during the Continental League Championship track & field meet that concluded May 6 at EchoPark Stadium. LEFT: Vista PEAK freshman No. 1 singles player Francesca Johnson serves during her opening round match at the Class 4A Region 2 girls tennis tournament May 4 at Kent Denver. Johnson made it to the regional final and became the programs’ first-ever state qualifier in the process. ABOVE: Cherokee Trail junior Kyla Bieker (35) scores one of her six goals to help the Cougars to a 15-12 win over Denver North in a Class 4A girls lacrosse first round state playoff game on May 9 at Legacy Stadium. (Photos by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado) he took that event at the league meet with a time of 21.72 seconds, while he also claimed the 100 as he crossed the finish line in 10.75 seconds.

The Regis Jesuit boys also took the 4x100 meter relay crown on their way to a runner-up finish. Coach Quinn Pack’s team earned 109.5 points, which was behind runaway winner ThunderRidge, which earned 199.5.

The Regis Jesuit girls accrued 59.5 points to finish ninth in the team standings. They had no champions, but Dorothy Freeman finished as the runner-up in the high jump.

Girls Lacrosse

Cherokee Trail earns win to open 4A playoffs

The Cherokee Trail girls lacrosse team picked up a win to open the Class 4A state playoffs for a second straight season as the 14th-seeded Cougars defeated 19th-seeded Denver North 15-12 May 9 at Legacy Stadium.

Junior Kyla Bieker scored six goals and juniors Aubrey Benton and Kyra Shipp added three apiece for Cherokee Trail, which improved to 9-7 on the season. The Cougars move into the second round, where they will visit third-seeded Evergreen at 6 p.m. May 11. The Cougars had a bye in the opening round.

Against a Denver North team playing its first playoff game, Cherokee Trail came out and scored the first four goals of the game from four different players before the Norse steading the ship and got to within 8-7 at halftime. The Cougars saw their lead shrink to 13-11 with just over eight minutes left, but Bieker scored and Kylee Hayes fed Sage Sorrells for a score for some breathing room.

›› See PREPS, 22

PREPS, from 21

GIRLS SOCCER

Grandview, Cherokee Trail, Regis Jesuit fall in Class 5A playoffs

Defending champ Grandview, plus Cherokee Trail and Regis Jesuit were part of the 32-team field for the Class 5A girls state soccer tournament, but all made first round exits May 9.

The Wolves received the No. 15 seed and got a first round home game against No. 19 Chatfield in a game that stretched deep into the night at Legacy Stadium and ended with the Chargers winning on penalty kicks.

Coach Brian Wood’s Grandview team fell behind by two goals, then tied it up on scores by freshman Lexi Yi and junior Madalyn Hopkins as the game went to halftime at 2-2. Sophomore Isabelle Rogers scored in the first minute of the second half to give the Wolves their first lead, but that lasted just seven minutes before Chatfield got the equalizer.

Nobody scored in the final 32 minutes of regulation or in either of the 15-minute overtime periods, which sent the game to penalty kicks. The Chargers converted all of their chances and one of the Wolves’ tries was saved and the game ended.

Grandview finished the season 9-6 and fell short of advancing to face Broomfield in what would have been a rematch of last season’s state title game.

Cherokee Trail, the No. 22 seed, traveled to French Field in Fort Collins to play 11th-seeded Rocky Mountain.

In a game that was halted at one point due to lightning, the Lobos came away with a 2-1 victory, which ended a 10-5 season for coach Jose Rosales’ Cougars.

No. 25 Regis Jesuit took on eighth-seeded Ralston Valley at the North Area Athletic Complex and coach Will Cropper’s team trailed just 1-0 at halftime.

Sophomore Brooke Metcalfe scored in the second half, but Regis Jesuit ceded three goals in a 4-1 loss that ended its season at 7-9.

Boys Lacrosse

Cherokee Trail opens 5A playoffs, while Regis Jesuit has bye

Two Aurora teams qualified for the Class 5A boys lacrosse playoffs, but only one of them had to play in the opening round May 10.

By virtue of its No. 14 seed, Cherokee Trail got to play its first round game at home and was scheduled to welcome No. 19 Chatfield to Legacy Stadium. Coach Matt Cawley’s Cougars finished 8-7 in the regular season, while the Chargers are 7-8.

The Cherokee Trail-Chatfield winner moves on to the second round, where Regis Jesuit — the No. 3 overall seed — awaits. Coach Jim Soran’s Raiders received a first round bye.

BASEBALL Grandview makes Centennial League Challenge final

In dramatic fashion, the Grandview baseball team made it to the championship of the Centennial

League Challenge, where it will rematch with Cherry Creek.

The Wolves — the league’s regular season champ — rallied from one-run deficits three times in the final three innings and scored twice in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 6-5 victory over rival Cherokee Trail.

Junior Tony Crow ground ball on the infield brought home senior Spenser Smock to give Grandview a walk-off win and a spot in the May 13 final against Cherry Creek, which defeated Mullen 9-3 in the other championship semifinal. The Wolves topped the Bruins 4-2 in the regular season meeting of the teams.

On the consolation side of the bracket, Eaglecrest got two home runs from Brayden Harbin and a grand slam from Braylen Bell as it went on to defeat Smoky Hill 14-2.

Week Past

The week past in Aurora prep sports

MONDAY, MAY 8: The Vista PEAK baseball team blanked Aurora Central 15-0 behind Abel Salinas, who allowed four hits in four innings with seven strikeouts. Anthony Porras had three hits and four RBI and Steven Reaux drove in three. ...The Gateway baseball team doubled up Skyview Academy for a 12-6 win. Samuel Alvarez had three RBI for the Olys. ...SATURDAY, MAY 6: The Grandview boys volleyball team ended its season on a win with a fiveset defeat of Fountain-Fort Carson, but a 1-1 finish in the Region 3 tournament at Valor Christian wasn’t enough for the Wolves to advance to the state tournament. Grandview

LEFT: Grandview senior Tanner Pachorek (5) races through the outfield with the ‘W’ flag the Wolves hoist after a victory following Grandview’s 6-5 walk-off win over Cherokee Trail May 9. The victory pushed the Wolves into the Centennial League Challenge title game. BELOW

LEFT:Eaglecrest sophomore Meagan Jimenez (19) pops her jersey after she scored the goal that stood up to give the Raptors a 1-0 girls soccer win over Smoky Hill May 4 at Stutler Bowl. TOP RIGHT: Vista PEAK senior Syh Estrada (1) sets a ball as senior Reece Kloberdanz, back, and sophomore Zachary Babers, below, watch during the Bison’s three-set loss to Coronado in a Region 5 boys volleyball match May 6 at Douglas County High School. BOTTOM RIGHT: Grandview’s Eric Stepina, right, receives a serve during the second set of the Wolves’ five-set win over Fountain-Fort Carson in a Region 3 boys volleyball match played May 6 at Valor Christian High School. (Photos by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado) lost to host Valor Christian 25-18, 2519, 25-20 in the opening match, then outlasted Fountain-Fort Carson 2522, 25-20, 19-25, 20-25, 15-7 to finish 14-11. ...The Vista PEAK boys volleyball team dropped both of its matches in Region 5 at Douglas County to finish the season 18-7, which was a marked improvement from the previous season when it had 10. The Bison fell to the host Huskies 25-13, 25-18, 25-18 in the opener and then 25-21, 25-21, 25-23 to Coronado despite Tristan Rowley’s 10 kills. ...The

Cherokee Trail boys track team earned the championship of the Cherry Creek Invitational at Stutler Bowl, while Grandview edged Cherokee Trail by five points for for second place on the girls side. ...The Regis Jesuit girls lacrosse team fell to undefeated and top-ranked Colorado Academy 12-8 despite four goals from Maddy Jokerst and two from Ava Rogala FRIDAY, MAY 5: Fletcher Sullivan scored five goals and the Regis Je-

›› PREPS, suit boys lacrosse team dealt Cherry Creek its first loss of the season with a 13-12 victory to end the regular season. Jamie Rosenzweig had two goals and two assists as well for the Raiders, who got single goals from seven players. ...The Regis Jesuit baseball team picked up two wins with a 16-9 victory over ThunderRidge in a game that was resumed from earlier followed by a 7-2 win over Legend. Hudson Alpert picked up the win in both games and pitched 5 2/3 effective innings against the Titans. Andrew Bell connected on two- and three-run home runs for the Raiders, while Brody Chyr and Trevor Nordstrom drove in the other runs. ...The Eaglecrest boys and girls track teams earned the championships of the Denver North Viking Invitational at All-City Stadium as they both finished atop fields of 20 teams. The Eaglecrest boys won the 4x100 meter relay in a time of 41,91 seconds, which is tops in 5A this season, while Peyton Taylor won the high jump and Kael Weatherby took the shot put. Fourthplace Vista PEAK took the 4x400 relay and had Nathan Hunholz lead the way in the discus. The Eaglecrest girls — who won by 40.5 points — took five event championships, including two relays (800 sprint medley and 4x100 meters), while Jaylynn Wilson topped the 200 meters, Rachel Carlsen claimed the 300 meter hurdles and Blythe Cayko took the shot put. Vista PEAK finished fifth behind Avery Williams’ 100 meter dash title and Kendall McCoy’s crown in the 100 meter hurdles plus a 4x400 relay victory. Sixth-place Regis Jesuit excelled in the field with Dorothy Freeman winning the high jump and Reilly Mohr the pole vault. ...THURSDAY, MAY 4: Heber Almeida pitched five strong innings and also had two hits and scored twice to help the Gateway baseball team to a 13-1 victory over Thornton. Christopher Delatoree drove in two runs. ...The Smoky Hill baseball team held off Overland 5-3. Meagan Jimenez ran onto a pass from Annika Boex and put it into the

Rangeview’s Shylin Collins (13) rises above several Overland players to win the ball after a faceoff during the second half of the Raiders’ 12-5 girls lacrosse win against Overland May 3 at Rangeview High School. TOP RIGHT: Regis Jesuit junior Andrew Bell (13) jumps in the air with teammates after belting a two-run home run in the Raiders’ matchup with Legend May 5. Bell homered twice and drove in five runs in a 7-2 win. ABOVE LEFT: Regis Jesuit’s Sean Sullivan, right, defends against Cherry Creek’s Dylan Reif during the first half of the Raiders’ 13-12 win over the previous undefeated Bruins May 5 at Lou Kellogg Stadium ABOVE RIGHT: Vista PEAK freshman Sophia Capua watches her tee shot on the second hole at Aurora Hills G.C. during the City League girls golf tournament May 3. Capua made four birdies and won the tournament by 14 strokes. (Photos by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado) SPRING PHOTO GALLERIES AT COURTNEYOAKES.SMUGMUG.COM midway through the second half to give the Eaglecrest girls soccer team a 1-0 win over Smoky Hill at Stutler Bowl. ...Madalyn Hopkins and Isabelle Rogers had two goals apiece as the Grandview girls soccer team defeated Colorado Academy 5-1. ...Kayley O’Toole scored twice for the Regis Jesuit girls soccer team in a 3-1 Continental League victory over Douglas County. ...The Cherokee Trail girls lacrosse team had a big first half and defeated Mullen 19-8. ...Natali Marshall and Isabella Mestas of the Eaglecrest girls tennis team placed fourth at Nos. 1 and 3 singles, respectively, at theClass 5A Region 1 tournament at Cherry Creek High School.

Rangeview’s Victoria Arma and Free Htoo placed fourth at No. 2 doubles as well. ...The Centennial League girls golf tournament at Meadow Hills G.C. got cut to nine holes due to weather and that left Smoky Hill’s Sophia Stiwich atop the leaderboard with a 1-under 35. Grandview’s Caroline Ryan shot 40 and Cherokee Trail’s Kaleigh Babineaux 41 to finish tied for third and fifth, respectively. ... WEDNES-

DAY, MAY 3: Andrew Bell homered and scored three runs, Evan Di Tanna and Brody Chyr drove in three runs apiece and the Regis Jesuit baseball team held off Mountain Vista 13-11 in Continental League play. Jack Carey picked up the win with 5 2/3 effective innings. ...Edith Cardoza and Karen Peprah each scored goals and Tania Ramirez Cardenas stopped all seven shots she faced as the Hinkley girls soccer team blanked Regis Groff 2-0. ...The Regis Jesuit boys lacrosse team scored in all four quarters on its way to a 6-3 victory over Legend at EchoPark Stadium. Reed Foltz scored three goals and had an assist and Fletcher Sullivan scored twice for the Raiders, who got a 15-save effort from Spencer Day Maddy Jokerst had four goals and Ava Rogala and Delaney Sitzmann had two apiece for the Regis Jesuit girls lacrosse team, which dropped a 9-8 contest with rival Cherry Creek at Stutler Bowl. The Raiders saw a twogoal halftime lead disappear and fell behind by as many as three goals until they got back within one in the final minute. ...Shylin Collins notched seven goals and Alyssa Dozier and Victoria Yancey contributed two apiece for the Rangeview girls lacrosse team a 12-5 home win against Overland. ...Freshman Sophia Capua of Vista PEAK posted a significant victory in the City League girls golf tournament held at Aurora Hills G.C. Capua made two birdies on the front side and back side of her round to finish with a 1-under-par 71, which put her 14 strokes clear of the second-place finisher and gave her a second league tournament victory. ...The Regis Jesuit girls golf team finished in sixth place among nine scoring teams at the Continental League tournament at Meadow Hills G.C. as Georgia Meysman-Sharpe shot 86 to tie for 10th individually. ...TUESDAY, MAY 2: Nick Martensen allowed just a single hit and a single run and struck out eight over six innings to lead the Grandview baseball team to an 11-1 win over Smoky Hill Tanner Pachorek drove in three runs and Wyatt Walters two for the Wolves, who finished undefeated in Centennial League play. Hudson

Roth’s double was the only hit for the Buffs. ...Despite Conner Angelini’s two-run home run in the first inning, the Vista PEAK baseball team fell to Northfield 12-2. ...The Gateway girls soccer team played to a scoreless tie in two overtimes with Skyview. ..Kiley Hyde made four saves for the Cherokee Trail girls soccer team, but the Cougars fell to Rock Canyon 2-0 in non-league play. ...Nick Safray piled up 16 kills and 13 digs, while Nathan Bidlingmaier dished out 38 assists as the Grandview boys volleyball team topped Rock Canyon 25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 26-24. ...Mal Sawm and Samuel Addai-Opoku had 12 kills apiece and the HInkley boys volleyball team downed Denver West 27-25, 2517, 25-10. ... Tristan Rowley racked up 11 kills and Reece Kloberdanz added eight as the Vista PEAK boys volleyball team defeated Lincoln 25-14, 25-15, 25-22. ...Maddie Dossey and Ahnija Dawson of the Gateway girls golf team finished second and third, respectively, in the Colorado League minor tournament held at Buffalo Run G.C. Dossey shot 113 and Dawson 135.