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Lakewood Sentinel 17 February 14, 2013
OUT OF BOUNDS
the $100 ral m.
BY THE NUMBERS
Points for Wheat Ridge senior Ryan Girtin in the Farmers 75-47 victory over Conifer. Girtin overcame what looked like an injury that looked like it would end his prep career.
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D’Evelyn’s Brenna Bushey competes in the 100 yard butterfly on Saturday at the Class 4A state swimming meet, which was held at the Veteran Memorial Athletic Center in Thornton. Bushey finished second in the event. Photo by Jonathan Maness
D’Evelyn swimming finishes 6th at state championships Evergreen lets state title slip away to Thompson Valley because of DQ By Daniel Williams
dwilliams@ourcoloradonews.com THORNTON - A pair of Jaguars turned into a pair of fish Saturday at the 4A Swimming State Championships in Thornton. D’Evelyn junior’s Brenna Bushey and Colleen Olson helped guide the Jaguars to a six place finish at the state tournament held at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center. D’Evelyn finished with 144 points, just two points shy of fifth place Pueblo South (146) and nine points shy of fourth place Broomfield (153). “We had a really good season, we have some talented girls who also worked really hard all season to keep getting better and keep shaving times,” D’Evelyn coach Josh Griffin said. Bushey and Olson were both very busy on
Saturday each competed in four events. Bushey finished second in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 56.43, mere moments away from Cheyenne Mountain junior Sydney Buckley’s winning time of 56.41. Olson took third in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 52.94. The pair also competed together in the 400 Freestyle Relay finishing in eighth. “I am really proud of the season my team had. All of us were just so committed to getting better and to the team. We just wanted to come out today and have a good showing,” Bushey said. Thompson Valley won the tournament and their fourth straight 4A state title with a score of an even 300. But it didn’t come without a little controversy. Evergreen, a league rival of D’Evelyn, was forced to forfeit 34 points in the 200 Medley Relay because of a disqualification. Those 34 points would have won a state championship for an Evergreen team that had to settle for third place with 266 points. Still, Evergreen senior Lexie Malazdrewicz dominated the tournament and capped
off her prep career with nine individual state titles. Malazdrewicz won the 50 Freestyle in 23.63, as well as the 100 Freestyle at 50.15 (both 4A state record times). Kent Denver senior Lauren Abruzzo was the only other multiple event winner taking the 100 IM in 2:04.25, and then winning the 500 Freestyle in 4:55.11. “It feels amazing,” Abruzzo said. “I wasn’t expecting that time in the 100 and I am so excited about how things went.” Other winners included Cheyenne Mountain in the 200 Medley Relay finishing at 1:45.89. Cheyenne Mountain sophomore Eryn Eddy won the 200 Freestyle at 1:48.34. St. Mary’s Academy junior Alexa Beckwith was the state’s best diver for the third straight year finishing with a final score of 491.30. Thompson Valley won the 200 Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:36.54. Pueblo South senior Mary Saiz won the 100 Backstroke in 56.49. Montrose senior Logan Morris won the 100 Breaststroke in 1:03.60. And Evergreen won the 400 Freestyle Relay in 3:29.02.
Demons sink Pirates in critical 4A Jeffco meeting Golden turns it on in second half and Alameda fails to respond By Daniel Williams
dwilliams@ourcoloradonews.com LAKEWOOD - Styles make fights and last Wednesday night’s meeting between Golden and Alameda was a matchup of two teams who do two very different things. Golden is a grind out, play-in-the-paint, physical-type team and Alameda, though they shoot the ball as well as any team in Jeffco, lives and dies by the three point shot. And with their playoff hopes already on life-support the Demons beat the Pirates 67-45 at Alameda High School. After a very tightly played first half, Golden’s offense erupted in the third quarter. Behind the hot hand of senior Austin Richard the Demons outscored Alameda 27-12 in the quarter, seemingly sucking the life out of the Pirates. Richard scored a game-high 22 points. “We struggled to score the ball sometimes we need to create as many extra possessions as possible with our physical de-
fense,” Golden coach John Anderson said. “We came out in the third quarter and got some easy buckets and never looked back.” In Alameda’s defense, the game could have gone either way. No team led by more than three points in first half as both teams traded punches. But Alameda was eventually knocked out by Golden’s physical play and the Pirates had no answers despite 14 points from senior Nyang Reat. “We lost it in the paint. We went away from what was working. We have to learn to understand when we fall behind to settle down and slow it down,” Alameda coach Rex Terry said. Alameda would try to regroup in the fourth quarter but they had dug themselves too big of a hole and now they will need a mini-miracle to make the playoffs. “We always start off slow and we need to learn to realize that we can’t take plays off and we need to play hard for all four quarters,” Reat said. Golden on the other hand is hitting on all cylinders and have turned into a force in 4A Jeffco. The Demons have now won eight of their last nine games. Moreover, they are one of the more physical teams in the league, they also shoot the
ball from the perimeter with seniors like Nolan Holmes, Tyler Olson, Even Hanggi, Cole Finnegan and Scott Lubkeman. “We have continued to get better and better as the season has gone on, and we are still getting better,” Holmes said. “We feel like we can beat you in a lot of different ways.” Slowly but surely Golden has turned into the hottest team in Jeffco - no offense D’Evelyn. On the other hand, despite their strong start to the season the Pirates have not been able to maintain their high level of play and have struggled since getting into league play. That is partially due to the quality of 4A Jeffco and partially because Alameda is a young team in transition. And while they will lose some quality players to graduation, next season might be the season when the Pirates become a force in their tough league. But at this point Alameda (7-12, 3-7) will have to win out if they expect to qualify for the playoffs, and even if they do win out it might not be enough. That challenge starts Friday night when they play at Wheat Ridge at 7 p.m. Golden (13-6, 8-2) will play at Evergreen Thursday at 7 p.m.
Those 75 points t h e Fa r m e r s scored was the highest point total of the season for a Wheat Ridge team that has won three of its past four games.
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Points that Evergreen lost after a DQ costing them a 4A swimming state championship.
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GAME OF THE WEEK WRESTLING
Regionals, various sites, Friday and Saturday Wrestlers take to the mat this weekend trying to earn a spot in next week’s state tournament. Region 1 in Class 5A, to be held at Smoky Hill High School on Saturday, is loaded and features topranked Pomona, along with perennial powers Ponderosa, Legacy and Cherry Creek. For a complete list of all the regions, go to chsaa.org.