It's a busy stretch in Colorado high school sports, as the state's swimmers will finish their season, wrestlers will compete in state-qualifying regional meets and basketball players enter the final two weeks of the regular season.
More games were postponed than were played this past weekend because of the big snowstorm, but there were a few items worthy of attention:
Bob Marken experienced what had to be the thrill of a lifetime on Super Bowl Sunday. Marken, the former longtime football coach and athletic director at Buena Vista, was in Indianapolis to watch the big game.
He did so, too, as a guest of one of his former players, Nate Solder. Solder was an all-state tight end for Marken and the Demons before developing into an All-American offensive lineman at the University of Colorado. Solder, a rookie and first-round draft choice, started at right tackle for the New England Patriots.
Marken took a good-natured ribbing on the Facebook page of the Colorado High School Coaches Association, as he missed the CHSCA board of directors meeting this weekend to attend the game. Joked the Facebook post: "Boy, some people will do anything to get out of making a committee report."
* There was some great sportsmanship displayed Saturday during the girls basketball game between Dakota Ridge (Littleton) and
Chatfield (Littleton). Chatfield honored its five seniors before its final home game, which included
Brittany Bame.
Bame was the Chargers' leading scorer this season before tearing both her anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in her knee in mid-January. The injury ended her high school playing career, but Bame gingerly took to the court Saturday with her teammates one more time, wearing a knee brace.
The opening tip was directed at Bame, and officials whistled the play dead as soon she caught the basketball. An emotional Bame headed to the bench to a standing ovation from Chatfield coaches and teammates and an appreciative crowd.
* The wintry weather didn't deter the state's swimmers. Only the East Metro Athletic Conference didn't complete its league championship meet Saturday and instead will finish Monday. The state meets will take place Friday and Saturday, with 5A overtaking the Edora Pool Ice Center in Fort Collins and 4A the Veteran's Memorial Aquatics Center in Thornton. As anticipated, because of the presence of world record-holder
Missy Franklin of Regis Jesuit, the 5A meet is sold out. Only limited individual session tickets remain.
*
Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs) ice hockey had forged perhaps the best streak in state history. The Indians had qualified for the postseason in each of their 65 years, according to
The Gazette. That string will end this season, though, after Cheyenne Mountain lost to Air Academy on Feb. 2. Only eight teams qualify from the each of the Foothills and Peak leagues.
"There's always a record that's not going to happen, like not going to the final four for the first time," first-year Cheyenne Mountain coach Erik Austin told the newspaper. "Not to diminish those 65 years at all, but this just shows how much better high school hockey has gotten in the last few years."
* One of the most respected high school baseball coaches in the state is taking his game to another level, as longtime
Arvada West coach Jim Capra has been selected the new coach at Adams State College in Alamosa. Adams State is reviving its baseball program after a 35-year hiatus. Adams State, a Division II program, will play a partial schedule next school year, and will be a full-fledged member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference for the 2014 season. Capra will still lead the Wildcats this season, according to Dennis Pleuss of Mile High Newspapers.
* The MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard will be at
Columbine (Littleton) on Friday, honoring the state championship football team. The presentation will take place during halftime of the boys basketball game between the Rebels and Ralston Valley.