When it comes to winning, there’s no need for several Aurora winter sports teams to make New Year’s resolutions.
Through the first three weeks of the 2015-16 season into the winter break, the city is full of a striking number of undefeated teams in a variety of sports.
Four of the five unbeaten boys basketball teams in Class 5A (Eaglecrest, Overland Rangeview and Regis Jesuit) call Aurora home, as does 5A’s lone undefeated girls basketball team (Grandview). The Cherry Creek co-op ice hockey team — with several Aurora players — and Regis Jesuit are both undefeated. The Cherokee Trail wrestling team also has not been beaten yet.
Among the undefeated teams, the Overland boys basketball team has made the biggest splash thus far thanks to winning the Platinum Division of the loaded Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas.
Coach Danny Fisher’s team beat host Bishop Gorman 58-56 in the Dec. 19 championship game to win a bracket that included quality teams from California, Florida, Utah and other states. The win boosted Overland to the No. 7 spot in MaxPreps’ national rankings.
The Trailblazers revised their goals after winning the title.
“After the national tournament, they set themselves a goal to possibly be 28-0,” Fisher said. “That’s not inside my head, but they have a goal to be historic. Coming off a state championship and national tournament, they have to shoot for the stars to keep themselves pushing.”
Senior Jervae Robinson set Vegas abuzz with his MVP performance, in which he averaged nearly 20 points per game and finished with 16 in the title game.
Indiana-bound senior De’Ron Davis scored the winning basket in the final seconds of the championship game and posted nine or more rebounds in every contest.
“We’re still not the team we’re going to be yet,” Davis said.
Rangeview is 7-0 at the break after rallying for a big 65-63 win at Cherry Creek on Dec. 17.
Junior Elijah Blake’s layup provided the winning margin for the Raiders, who won a closer game just one night after piling up 90 points against Smoky Hill.
Blake and seniors EJ Reed and Tyrei Randall have been special in the early going for Rangeview, which won the Fort Collins/Poudre Tip-Off Invitational as part of the fast start.
Raiders coach Shawn Palmer isn’t surprised that Aurora has so many undefeated teams, though that will change in the coming weeks when they begin to play each other.
“There’s been a lot of good basketball in Aurora for the last few years,” Palmer said. “We’re on pace to face each other after break, so the first week or two will be crazy.”
Indeed Rangeview plays the only non-Aurora undefeated team — ThunderRidge — in the first game out of the break, followed by 6-1 Cherokee Trail and currently 6-0 Regis Jesuit, while Overland faces Regis Jesuit immediately on Jan. 5 in an unbeaten battle.
Regis Jesuit coach Ken Shaw saw his team navigate a tough test from visiting Doherty in a 62-59 win Dec. 21 to preserve its undefeated status.
Shaw hopes the winter break won’t disrupt the Raiders’ “rhythm,” which has been great to start the season, including a 3-0 run at the Duel in the Desert in Arizona against as talented a field as Regis Jesuit has seen in several trips to the tournament.
Despite losing nine seniors to graduation, Regis Jesuit hasn’t missed a beat. Senior Geoff Kelly has been fantastic and a cohesive unit that played together on junior varsity and in a very successful summer has kept the Raiders in place among the state’s elite.
Eaglecrest also graduated significant talent, but coach John Olander’s 8-0 team — which played just one of its games before break at home — remains impressive.
The Raptors’ early season resume includes a 26-point win over Rock Canyon and a 16-point victory at Boulder.
Olander knew that junior Colbey Ross would be the key figure for Eaglecrest and he has been — leading the team in scoring average, rebounding and assists — but he said that Ross has throughly exceeded his expectations as a leader.
Eaglecrest has had pleasant surprises in the play of junior Ikenna Ozor (10.9 ppg) and sophomore Victor Garnes (10.6 ppg) and Olander insists that his team’s level of play doesn’t dip when he goes to the bench, making this one of the deepest teams he’s ever fielded.
The Grandview girls basketball team enters break after winning the Dakota Ridge Tournament as well as their own invite.
The Wolves — who sit No. 10 in MaxPreps’ national rankings — are 6-0, making them the only undefeated team in 5A girls basketball. ThunderRidge, ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press’ 5A media poll, is one of eight teams with one loss.
Junior star Michaela Onyenwere continues to get better and new size and athleticism has bolstered coach Josh Ulitzky’s team.
Both the Cherry Creek co-op team and Regis Jesuit ice hockey teams skate into break unbeaten at 5-0 and 4-0, respectively, with their best games ahead seemingly.
“We’re pleased that we’re undefeated, but we only had one game that we played exceptionally in my opinion,” Raiders coach Dan Woodley said, referring to a 7-1 win over Resurrection Christian Dec. 11. “That gave us something to aim for I think, but we had some letdowns in other games.”
Regis Jesuit has a significant string of games it expects to win heading out of break before a back-loaded stretch in the final weeks of the regular season.
Coach Jeff Mielnicki’s defending state champion Bruins have completely reloaded, yet still appear elite to start the new year.
Cherokee Trail’s wrestling team handled Arapahoe and Cherry Creek in its two Centennial League duals and won both of its tournaments, the La Costa Canyon Classic in California and its own Holiday Duals.
Ranked No. 8 in 5A by On The Mat, coach Jeff Buck’s Cougars beat No. 7 Monarch in the championship dual Dec. 19. Senior 170-pounder Seth Bogulski and junior 220-pounder Max Gonzales are unbeaten in Colorado so far.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
