Colorado Preps Weekly

April saw lots of cancellations due to high winds and the first week of May looks like it will be impacted by another force of nature ... rain. With the extreme drought conditions in many areas, that's a welcomed disruption.

Girls regional tennis takes place this week, with Greeley hosting Region 4. Lafayette (Dawson School) welcomes the teams from Region 5 and the Region 7 field will converge upon Pueblo. Brush, Fort Morgan and La Junta, the three area programs, have struggled this season. They have combined for two wins.

Class 1A baseball begins its postseason this week, with districts getting underway on Tuesday. Holly earned the top seed in District 4 and the defending state champions began play against #8 Manzanola. The Wildcats handled Manzanola 17-2 during the regular season.

Awaiting the winner of that contest in the semifinals on Saturday will be either #4 Stratton or #5 Eads. Stratton had a six-game winning streak going into last week, but losses to Burlington and Simla sandwiched around a lopsided win over La Veta have the Eagles entering postseason play on unsteady footing. Eads dropped its last two games of the regular season, falling to Simla and Otis on Saturday. Stratton won the regular season meeting between the two squads of Eagles, 8-4.

The bottom half of that bracket has third-seeded Cheyenne Wells hosting #6 Springfield, with the Tigers looking to add another win over the Longhorns after taking two during the season, 6-4 and 26-6. The winner advances to face either #2 Granada or #7 La Veta. Granada won the two regular season meetings, 18-0 and 9-6. If the two hosts advance it would set up a rematch of two classics from last Saturday.

Cheyenne Wells scored a run in the top of the fourth inning in game one to tie the contest at 4 heading into the bottom of the frame. With two outs, Brandon Gonzales reached on a single, and then scored the winning run on Maddox Coleman's walk-off double. Blake Gilmore helped the Tigers earn a split in the doubleheader, pitching a complete game in the 2-1 victory. He struck out seven and didn't walk anyone. The lone run came on a solo shot by Dominic Coleman, who earned the win in game one with 11 strikeouts.

District 5 sees all of its action take place at NJC, with play beginning on Tuesday. Merino drew the top seed, with an opening round contest against Weldon Valley. They did not meet in the regular season.

The other match-up in that half of the bracket has #4 Caliche facing #5 Prairie, with the Buffs looking to win a third contest against the Mustangs this season. Caliche won 11-6 on the road early in the season, and then picked up a 14-7 win at home a couple weeks back.

Otis, who dropped six of seven before finishing the regular season with wins over Simla and Eads last Saturday, is the third seed and the Bulldogs face #6 Fleming in the opening round. They last played each other on the first weekend of the season. Otis won that one 15-0.

Haxtun and Briggsdale will be the last quarterfinal in that tournament. Briggsdale broke a three-game skid with a 17-9 win over Rocky Mountain Lutheran on Thursday. Haxtun enters having won three straight and six of its last seven. The Fightin' Bulldogs won the only meeting with Briggsdale, 18-3.

The bigger classes still have a couple weeks of regular season competition. Limon picked up a huge non-league win in Class 2A last week, as the Badgers beat Rye 13-2 on Monday. They blew things open with 10 runs in the third. Keon Bandy and Jordan Rockwell both drove in three runs to support Brady Rockwell on the hill. That win left Limon as the lone unbeaten in the class. They added wins over Rocky Ford (16-4) and Akron (11-1) and entered this week at 15-0.

Burlington bounced back from its doubleheader sweep at the hands of Peyton to pick up three wins last week. The Cougars, who began the week seventh in the RPI, shutout Stratton 9-0 on Tuesday and then followed that with wins over Front Range Christian (17-1) and Flatirons Academy (11-0) on Saturday. They had their doubleheader with Goodland canceled a second time by the weather on Monday.

For the first time in three weeks, Swink picked up consecutive wins on Friday. The Lions beat County Line 13-3 in the first game of their doubleheader and then pulled out a crazy 23-21 win in the nightcap. Swink scored nine in the bottom of the sixth to grab a 23-17 lead, and then had to hold on as the Rivals pushed four across the plate in the seventh. Nate Cabrera had a pair of doubles and six RBI in game two.

Of the four 3A teams in the area, Brush brings the longest winning streak into this week. The Beetdiggers have put four straight in the win column, with three coming last week. Brush blanked Resurrection Christian 8-0 and Valley 10-0, before drilling Valley 20-4 to complete the season sweep of the Vikings.

Sterling and Lamar both added two wins last week, with the Tigers sweeping Platte Valley, 18-3 and 12-2, and the Savages crushing Ellicott, 25-0 and 23-1. La Junta saw its four-game winning streak snapped by St. Mary's in the second game of their doubleheader, 9-8. La Junta visits Lamar on Wednesday for the first of their two rivalry games in less than a week. The Savages will travel to La Junta next Monday.

Thanks to a pair of 8-2 wins over Mountain View, Fort Morgan brings a two-game streak into this week. The Mustangs had not beaten Mountain View in five previous meetings.

This is the final week of the regular season in girls soccer and Lamar has a chance to make it a perfect run with a win over Woodland Park on Tuesday. Lamar has outscored its opponents 57-6 on the season and has not allowed a goal since April 14th against Rye. They are in line to be the top seed in Class 2A.

It was quite the weekend for Las Animas senior Markus Vigil, as he began things by tying the school record in the high jump by clearing six feet, two inches at the District 2 Invitational at Harrison High School. Then, he put pen to paper, signing to continue his education and athletic career at Hastings College.

Burlington celebrated in big fashion at the Rocky Ford Invitational on Friday, with the boys winning the team title and the girls finishing second. Rowdy Humrich picked up the lone individual championship for the Cougars, as the freshman claimed another win in the 100, clocking a time of 11.62 seconds. They also got the win in the 800 relay, while finishing top three in each of the other relays.

Burlington had the Cure in the girls 800 meters, as sisters Whitney and Sydney went 1-2 in the event. Younger sister, Whitney, also brought home a second place in the 1,600. The Cougars took first in the 1,600 and 3,200 relays.

Washington County took the top spot in their girls golf invitational last Friday in Akron, posting a team score of 285. That was eight shots better than both Brush and Burlington. Mary Dracon shot a 91 to win the individual title for the hosts, just edging out teammate Kendall Velder, who posted a 92.

Swink enjoyed a bit of home cooking earlier in the week, as the Lions won their own invitational on Tuesday. The Lions won with a scored of 305, beating Brush by 11 and La Junta by 13. Kinzie Ensor won the title with an 86, topping Rye's Emma Garcia by eight and La Junta's Morgan McReynolds by nine.

Ensor posted a season best 82 on Thursday to finish second in the Salida Invitational. She was four shots back of the leader from Salida. Swink was also second as a team.

One last note: Eve Richards, a senior from Hi-Plains who played softball for Burlington, signed to continue her educational and athletic career with Kansas Wesleyan next year. She is the third member of the program to sign for the next level over the last two seasons.