Colorado Preps Weekly

By this time next week, only a handful of titles will remain to be awarded in the 2021-22 athletic calendar. Hardware will find its way home this week for Class 1A baseball as well as all five classifications in track and field.

Only one of the five district champions in 1A baseball made it into the state semifinals, as upsets were the order of business over the weekend. Second-seeded Cheyenne Wells fell to Haxtun on Friday in one of the regional finals, 3-2. The Tigers had won their opener 11-1 over Prairie, while Haxtun overcame a 9-4 deficit in the bottom of the seventh to beat Stratton 9-8 in eight innings. The Fightin' Bulldogs got two solo home runs from Isaac Andersen in that victory. Ty Scheler pitched well in the finals loss, striking out 13, but all three Haxtun runs scored on errors.

Holly, the defending champion, got back to the semifinals by routing Caliche 10-0, and then defeating the regional host, Evangelical Christian, 12-8 in eight innings. ECA had reached the final by handing Eads a 13-2 loss.

Merino motored past Elbert, 11-0, in a regional semifinal on Saturday and then came from behind to beat Simla 17-7 to advance to state. Kaden Piel earned the win in both games for the Rams, who lost to Holly in the state semifinals last season. They were the only team to win their district title and a regional crown this season.

Otis nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback in its regional semifinal against Dove Creek. The Bulldogs trailed 10-3 after four innings but got ahead on a grand slam from Peyton Wells to make it 15-13 in the top of the sixth. Dove Creek would go on to earn a 16-15 walk-off victory. Nucla topped their league rivals to grab a return trip to State this week.

The semifinals and finals are Thursday at All Star Park in Lakewood. Merino meets Nucla in one semifinal, while Haxtun and Holly square off in the other one.

The brackets in the larger classes will be released later this week, but the area will be represented by a large number of teams. Limon, Rye and Burlington have all locked up regional hosting duties, as they sit one, three and five in the recent 2A RPI. Swink and Wiggins held the seventh and eighth spots in the poll on Monday and would host if they remain in those positions. Eleven more teams from the area were in the top 32 of the RPI at that time.

Sterling, Brush and Lamar were all looking like safe bets to make the 3A field as of Monday morning, with the trio sitting fourth, fifth and 12th, respectively. La Junta was 25th, which would most likely have the Tigers in the postseason, too.

It appears as if the body of work for Fort Morgan will get the Mustangs into the 4A field as a wildcard. The Mustangs are tied for third in the Longs Peak and just two games separate first from sixth in the league. After splitting with Severance last week and beating Frederick at home, the Mustangs were 14th in the RPI on Monday.

Heat sheets hadn't been released as of Monday morning, but there will be no shortage of storylines coming out of the state track and field meet this weekend. Last year's 1A female athlete of the year, Lone Star's Alivia Weathers returns to see if she can duplicate last season's feat of winning four individual titles. She and Cheyenne Wells sophomore Shaylee Scheler going head-to-head in the hurdles will garner a lot of attention. Arickaree junior, Jacob Jefferson, the reigning 1A male athlete of the year for track, will also be back to attempt to defend that title.

Yuma's Clay Robinson, the 2A male athlete of the year from the 2021 track season, qualified for all three sprints, including the top spot in the 200 and 400. His best time in the 100 this season is only .14 seconds back of the top qualifiers . He's also number one in the field in the long jump, making him a threat to win quadruple gold.

A lot of eyes will be focused on the throwers in 2A, both boys and girls. In boys, Mohamed Ibrahim from Wiggins and Bryant Schoenthal of Wray will conclude their long rivalry in the shot and discus, while the question in girls is if anyone can keep Holyoke's duo of Lauren Herman and Correy Koellner from going gold-silver in both events.

Lamar's Alee Tice is considered a favorite to sweep the throws in 3A, but she will be facing some stiff competition. That includes her teammate, Lauren Reyes, who qualified third in the shot.

Sticking with Lamar, their girls soccer team reached the 2A state semifinals by beating Rye (8-4) and Telluride (3-0) last week. The third-seed, Lamar faces Crested Butte on Saturday. Four players each recorded two goals in the win over Rye.

Girls golf is getting closer to its finale, with regionals set to be completed by next Wednesday. Swink's Kinzie Ensor will be one of the top individual challengers this year, as she currently sits 11th in the iWanamaker rankings.

Washington County's Kendall Velder and Mary Dracon have the Bullrams ranked 10th as a team, one spot ahead of Holyoke and three on top of Brush. Rye (15th), Burlington (16th) and Swink (17th) are also ranked in the top-20 as teams.

Fort Morgan is the top local team in 4A, with the Mustangs sitting 19th in the iWanamaker rankings. Lexys Siebrands leads the squad with a 24th place individual ranking. Jaci Sanders recently tied for 13th in the Longs Peak League Mountain View tournament last week.