14ers

Silas Koelewijn, sr., Woodland Park, boys soccer – In the Panthers’ 3-1 playoff win against Basalt, Koelewijn left his stamp all over the pitch.

He scored a goal for Woodland Park in the game giving the senior his 13th of the season and at least one goal in 10 of 13 games this year.

Koelewijn also assisted on his teammates’ goals to give him two for the game and four for the year.

Brinley Mezey, fr., The Classical Academy, flag football – The first-ever 4A title game didn’t sway in favor of the Titans, but the freshman had her way against Mountain View.

Mezey finished the game with four catches for 92 yards against the Mountain Lions. She also managed two long receptions for the Titans in the fourth quarter including a 51-yard catch, her longest of the season.

Ellie Wagner, so., Evangel Christian Academy, girls volleyball – In a sweep against Fountain Valley last week, Wagner had one of her best performances of the season.

On service, she notched a season-high seven aces for ECA which gave her 51 for the year. Wagner also had two blocks in the game, her first stops in more than three contests.

Alexia Gonzales, sr., Banning Lewis, girls cross country – Gonzales was one of two seniors in the top five for the 3A race and Gonzales had the best race of her career.

She ran a personal-best time of 19 minutes, 6.60 seconds to place fifth overall. In her final five races this season, Gonzales finished fifth or better at each event.

Colt Kugler, fr., Cheyenne Mountain, football – In the Red-Tailed Hawks’ season finale against Gateway, a 44-0 win, the freshman’s first varsity action proved exciting for Cheyenne Mountain, but not so much for Olympians.

Kugler hauled in four receptions for 115 yards and had a pair of touchdowns in the matchup. He also had a season-long reception of 73 yards for the Red-Tailed Hawks.

Aidan Teran, so., Air Academy, boys cross country – The Kadet was the first Air Academy runner to cross the finish line at Norris Penrose on Nov. 2 during the 5A race.

Teran ran a 16:10.30 to finish 27th in the race to help the Kadets score points. As a freshman, he missed the state meet after placing 35th at regionals opposed to this year where he finished ninth at regionals and set a personal best of 15:58.20 in the process.

Lucy Alvarado, fr., Thomas MacLaren, girls cross country – The pressure of the moment didn’t bother the Highlanders freshman as she ran her third-best time of the year during the 2A state race at Norris Penrose.

Alvarado paced Thomas MacLaren’s girls team and finished 21st with a time of 21:02.06, which was more than a minute faster than her finish during the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede on Aug. 23 to start the season.

Landry Roberts, so., Cheyenne Mountain, girls volleyball – The sophomore nearly notched double-figure kills in each match at the Cheyenne Mountain Invite and helped the Red-Tailed Hawks earn a 3-1 record at their tournament.

Roberts tallied 40 kills, eight aces and six blocks in four tournament games for the Red-Tailed Hawks and earned all-tournament honors.

Ashlyn Delaney, so., The Classical Academy, girls volleyball – In a 3-1 win against Holy Family on Nov. 2, Delaney registered 18 kills for the Titans, her second-best total of the season and added nine digs in the victory.

She also finished with a season-high six aces in a sweep of Elizabeth last week which brought her total to 31 for the season.

Braxton Oliver, so., Coronado, boys cross country – Oliver was one of three sophomores in the top 20 at the 4A state cross country race on Nov. 2 and he ran his second-best time of the season at the meet.

The Cougars runner placed 20th overall and clocked in at 16:23.71, just .32 off breaking his personal best of 16:23.40, which Oliver set in the second meet of the season at the Cherry Creek Steve Lohman on Sept. 7.

Riley Cochran, jr., Calhan, football – Cochran morphed from a Bulldog into a workhorse for his team in its regular-season finale.

He finished with 36 carries for 280 yards and three rushing touchdowns for Calhan in a 48-44 win over Elbert.

According to his MaxPreps profile, the game was Cochran’s first of the season. In eight games in 2023, he finished with 60 carries for 341 yards and four touchdowns.

Tallen Romig-Washington, sr., Doherty, football – The senior running back dominated the Gladiators in the regular season finale for the Spartans.

In a 52-0 win against Widefield, Romig-Washington finished with 18 carries for 193 yards and three touchdowns.

He also had a scamper of 42 yards, which served as his longest run of the season.

Gabe Gatti, jr., Peyton, boys cross country – Gatti was the first Panther to cross the finish line during the 2A state meet on Nov. 2 and the Peyton junior narrowly missed back-to-back top-10 finishes at the event.

He clocked in at 17:05.34 for 11th place, less than 2 seconds behind Rangely’s James Talbot, who finished 10th at 17:03.68.

As a sophomore, Gatti placed ninth at the race and did so in 17 minutes flat.

Delilah Cooley, jr., Lewis-Palmer, girls cross country – Cooley wrapped the season with her best two races of the year for the Rangers.

After setting a personal record at the regional race the week prior, she fell 10 seconds shy of doing so again and crossed the finish line first for the Rangers and finished 24th overall during the 4A state race.

Cooley’s time of 19:46.97 marked her fifth consecutive race under 20 minutes and nearly jumped 20 spots from her 43rd-place finish at Norris Penrose as a sophomore.

Compelling contests

Boys playoff soccer

Pine Creek 2, Cherokee Trail 0

Entering their match against No. 17 Cherokee Trail, the No. 16-seed Eagles had not lost a game since Oct. 3.

The seniors led the charge for Pine Creek in the first-round win as Connor Hurlbert finished the playoff game with a pair of assists and Lucas Colodny and Christopher Torres each scored goals for the Eagles.

Torres’ strike was his second of the year while Colodny earned his third goal of the season and his first since an 8-0 win against Pueblo West on Oct. 8.

Football

Lewis-Palmer 28, Pueblo South 26

The Colts had a five-game winning streak entering their matchup with the Rangers and were just outside of CHSAA’s top-10 rankings.

Lewis-Palmer didn’t care about any of that.

Three minutes into the second quarter, L-P built a 21-6 lead against the Colts and Pueblo South’s comeback attempt in the final frame fell shy as the Rangers earned their fourth win of the season and third victory in the last four games.

Volleyball

Cheyenne Mountain 3, Erie 0

Erie had a 16-match winning streak ahead of their tilt with the Red-Tailed Hawks at the Cheyenne Mountain Invitational.

The Red-Tailed Hawks proceeded to sweep the Tigers in a trio of close matches.

Makena Parthen (13) and Anna Blamires (11) led the Red-Tailed Hawks in kills against Erie and Brynn Ressler finished the match with four aces and 20 digs.

The Classical Academy 3, Colorado Academy 2

After a 25-22 victory in the first set, the Titans dropped the next two and needed to win by two, 27-25, in the fourth set to force the decisive fifth.

The Titans shut down Colorado Academy 15-9 in the finale and cruised to the victory, which allowed TCA to improve to 2-0 in five-set matches this season.

In their win against Colorado Academy, the Titans earned their seventh consecutive victory and after a pair of wins later in the week, now have a nine-match winning streak heading to regionals.

Trends to track

Morgan Holloman among state’s top hitters

The Pine Creek junior has a .441 hitting percentage through 73 sets played for the Eagles this season and has 151 kills.

Her hitting percentage is top 60 in the nation, first in 5A and sixth in Colorado. Holloman’s 59 total blocks also places her third in 5A Colorado Springs Metro League.

Pair of boys’ runners remain in nation’s top 50

Cheyenne Mountain’s Aiden Le Roux and Coronado’s Oliver Horton both scorched the field during their runs at the 4A state cross country meet at Norris Penrose Event Center on Nov. 2.

But their runs in September kept them among the nation’s top 50 times this season. Horton holds a slight edge over Le Roux and ranks 40th with a time of 14:45.10 after his run Sept. 27 at the Desert Twilight.

Le Roux is 41st at 14:45.47 after his run at the Warrior Lincoln Park Classic Mountain States race Sept. 20 for the Red-Tailed Hawks.

Though Horton holds a swifter time than Le Roux in the national ranks, the Cheyenne Mountain junior set a course record (15:01.09) at the state meet to win the 4A individual title. Horton placed third at the meet and crossed the finish line at 15:30.22.

Two area quarterbacks atop 1A, 3A passing ranks

Colorado Springs Christian School’s Jace Velasquez has scorched opposing defenses all season and leads 1A with 1,562 passing yards.

Velasquez’s total is nearly 200 yards better than second place, Sullivan Strange from Forge Christian.

Coronado’s Thomas Buckmiller has 1,963 yards for the Cougars this year and has helped lead his team to three victories, which is three more than they managed in 2023.