Thirteen recently-graduated senior athletes from Aurora high schools in five different sports are set to compete in the Colorado High School Coaches Association (CHSCA) All-State Games June 11-14 at Colorado State Pueblo.
More than half of the local contingent will be on display on the wrestling mats in competition on June 14, as five Aurora-area boys wrestlers (Eaglecrest’s Adonias Cantu and Ethan Diaz, Cherokee Trail’s Jay Everhart and Kyle Stevens and Smoky Hill’s Zach Brophy) and three girls wrestlers (Eaglecrest’s Gianna Falise and Chasey Karabell and Smoky Hill’s Maddie Patterson) will take part. Also onhand will be Eaglecrest girls wrestling coach Horacio Vialpando.
All of the Aurora wrestlers that were selected competed in the state tournament at Ball Arena in February and Falise (a Grandview student who wrestled with the Eaglecrest co-op team) won the 190-pound girls state championship. Cantu wrestled for the Class 5A boys 113-pound state title and is a two-time state finalist.
Basketball is first in the schedule of competition on June 11 and the set of two boys basketball semifinals will have an Aurora presence, as Rangeview guard Mareon Chapman is on the roster of the Blue Team. CHSCA boys basketball semifinals take place at 6:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. at Massari Arena, while the finals will be played June 12.
Also on June 12 is the CHSCA All-State Softball Game, which will pit the Blue Team — which includes Grandview’s Kristin Gallego — against the Red Team, which includes Eaglecrest’s Jac Smith.
The June 13 girls soccer contest at the Art & Lorraine Gonzales Soccer/Lacrosse Complex has Cherokee Trail defender Peyton Waterman on the Blue Team roster, while Rangeview goalkeeper Jazlyn Yomona is part of the Red Team.
The CHSCA All-State Games wrap up on June 14 with the wrestling competition at 11 a.m. at Massari Arena, followed by volleyball championship matches and the all-state football game at 7:30 p.m.
— Sports Editor Courtney Oakes
