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News-PressSPORTS
25 The News-Press
May 23, 2013
Local track athletes garner gold
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Valor Christian relay teams set state records By Jim Benton
newjbenton@ourcoloradonews.com and
Four track and field athletes from Douglas County schools captured individual rock,state titles and two Valor Christian relay teams set state records during the Colorado big-High School Activities Association’s state track meet, held May 16-18 at Jeffco Staginal,dium. Valor Christian senior MaryBeth Sant d andwon the Class 4A 100 and 200-meter dashes. The senior, who lives in Parker, was timed at ance11.57 seconds in defending her 100-meter title and she captured the 200-meter championship for the second consecutive year with a time of 23.61. Both times were off her ocia-personal bests. ys at Sant, who will compete for Oregon next outhyear, ran the lead-off leg of Valor’s state to 8champion 400-meter relay team, which Clas-set a state record of 47.38, breaking the old es. mark of 48.38 set by Niwot in 2003. The Eagles ran a 48.23 in the prelims to establish a new standard, which was bettered in the finals. In the 800-meter relay, Valor’s team of Christian McCaffrey, Bubba Watkins, Spencer Jamison and Greg Popylisen set an allclassification state record of 1:25.46 in the preliminaries. The Eagles won with a time of 1:26.39 in the finals. The previous state meet record was 1:26.03 set by Mullen in 2000 and George Washington had the previous all-classification best of 1:25.59 set in 2007. Valor Christian’s girls were fifth in the Class 4A team standings and the Eagles boys were second. “We had an awesome weekend,” said Valor coach Brian Kula. Castle View senior Tanner Townsend was on top of the podium for the Class 5A boys 400-meter dash with a winning time of 47.25. Townsend was second in the 100 with a
Castle View’s Tanner Townsend leads the field in the 200-meter dash preliminaries at the Class 5A state track meet May 16. He won his heat in a time of 21.69 seconds and would go on to finish second in the finals with a time of 21.33. Townsend also took first place in the 400-meter dash and second in the 100-meter dash. Photo by Tom Munds time of 10.66 and runner-up by a tenth of a second in the 200 meters with a 21.33 clocking. All three times by Townsend were Castle View school records. Townsend, who will play football and run track next season at Sioux Falls, was third in
the 100 meters at the 2012 state track meet and placed seventh in the 200-meter dash. Castle View finished fifth in the Class 5A boys team standings. Junior Connor Turnage of Highlands Ranch won the triple jump with a 48-8.5 effort and he was second in the Class 5A long
jump. Rock Canyon’s senior Kelsey Lindemann threw the shot put 40-10.25 to capture the girls Class 5A state title. Douglas County’s Trey Smith came in fourth in the 100 meters with a time of 10.77 seconds.
Mountain Vista, Rock Canyon play for soccer title Schools had only two losses between them
‘It did us good. It put us in a situation where we had to
By Jim Benton
jbenton@ourcoloradonews.com Top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Mountain Vista benefited from a close call, and part of Rock Canyon’s stretch surge has been keyed by a player who missed 11 games. Mountain Vista (18-1-0) and Rock Canyon (16-1-1) made for an All-Continental League Class 5A girls state championship soccer game May 22 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City. Results of the game were not available at press time. Go to ourcoloradonews.com for game coverage. Both teams had revenge on their mind entering the title game. Mountain Vista beat Rock Canyon 2-0 in a Continental League match April 12, but the Jaguars upset the top-seeded Golden Eagles in a quarterfinal shootout during last season’s state playoffs. The Golden Eagles’ only loss this season was a 1-0 setback to Pine Creek the night after the victory over Rock Canyon. It was the third game in three nights and Mountain Vista didn’t play several regulars. It was the closest game for coach Theresa Echtermeyer’s team until a 3-2 quarterfinal victory over Fort Collins May 15 at Shea Stadium.
find the courage in ourselves and in each other.’ Gabbi Miranda
Rock Canyon’s Erin Webb (16) has five goals and two assists in six games since returning from an ankle injury. Photo by Jim Benton Megan Massey scored twice for Mountain Vista against Fort Collins, but it took Gabbi Miranda’s goal on a penalty kick with 7:35 remaining in the game for the Golden Eagles to escape. Katy Couperus, the Lambkins’ leading scorer, was the keeper on the penalty kick as she briefly replaced starting goalie Jordan Le-
one, who was forced to leave the game with an injury. “It did us good,” said Miranda of the narrow win. “It put us in a situation where we had to find the courage in ourselves and in each other. It was a game where we were tested and it was the first game where it was back and forth. It gave us a nice wake-up call. Not
every game is a walk in the park.” In a semifinal game against Fossil Ridge May 18 at Denver’s All-City Stadium, Mountain Vista found itself behind 1-0 after only 101 seconds, but the Golden Eagles responded with three goals in 6:10 and advanced to the championship game with a 6-2 win over the Sabercats.
Mountain Vista, which has made the state playoffs nine consecutive seasons, won the state championship in 2005 and 2011 and used two goals from freshman Mallory Pugh to help usher the Golden Eagles into another title match. Massey also had a goal in the semifinal win. “Mallory is a special player,” said Echtermeyer. “She hadn’t had a goal in a while and I sort of predicted that she was going to unleash. The Fort Collins game put us through some tough times and that was good for us. That lit a fire for us. “We definitely would have been disappointed not to make it to the championship game but Soccer continues on Page 26