The Eaglecrest High School Athletics & Activities Hall of Fame is set to turn a decade old with a new class of inductees.
The school will again honor some of the best and brightest figures from its past in athletics, the theater and many other extracurricular arenas for their contribution, including an entire team for the first time.
The Class of 2024 is made up of two individual athletes in Colbey Ross (basketball) and Kailey Wilson (softball), along with a volunteer in Dave Howshar and the entire 2006 girls volleyball team in recognition of its historic, undefeated season.
The Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony is set for Nov. 21 at Heritage Eagle Bend and will include a 5:30 p.m. cocktail hour, followed by a dinner at 6:30 p.m. Contact the Eaglecrest athletic department for more information. Tickets cost $30 per person and can be purchased online here: https://cherrycreek.revtrak.net/high-schools/ehs/ehs-hall-of-fame-/
Those eligible for the Athletic and Activities Hall of Fame must be graduated from Eaglecrest for at least five years and be nominated by a member of the community. Honorees are selected by a committee of school administrators, members of the community and local media.
Brief bios of the inductees in the 10th class:
COLBEY ROSS, CLASS OF 2017
In a program that has deep tradition, Ross stands out as clearly one of its top all-time talents as he is one of only two Eaglecrest boys basketball players to earn Colorado’s Gatorade Player of the Year award, which he earned captured in 2016 and 2017. While playing for coach John Olander, the versatile guard — the younger brother of another Eaglecrest HOF inductee in Elijah Ross (Class of 2021) — was a key contributor for four varsity seasons (during which the Raptors went 89-20) and helped the Raptors reach the Class 5A state championship game as both a junior and senior. In his final prep campaign, Ross was the driving force behind Eaglecrest’s state championship victory in the 2016-17 season, as he won Centennial League Player of the Year honors and led his team in scoring (18.4 points per game), assists (5.0 assists per game), rebounds (4.9 rebounds per game) and steals (2.4 steals per game). In the 5A state championship game, Ross hit a pivotal 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter and he finished with a game-high 15 points in a 53-47 victory over George Washington at the Denver Coliseum, which landed Olander a title in his final game. Ross finished his career with an average 14.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in 101 contests and he amassed 1,493 total points. He went on to a standout Division I career at Pepperdine University, played in the NBA Summer League for the Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers and is currently in the midst of a highly successful career playing basketball overseas.
KAILEY WILSON, CLASS OF 2018
Wilson was an absolute force in the three seasons that she played in the softball program for coach Yvette Hendrian, as she was a key part of a team that finished 71-24 in that span and twice made it to the Class 5A state semifinals. The slugging, left-handed first baseman’s numbers and contributions likely would have been even larger had she not missed the 2016 season due to torn knee ligament suffered while she played club softball in the summer. Wilson hit a combined .519 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI in her first two varsity seasons, then capped her career with a senior season in which she had a ridiculous .738 batting average and hammered 12 home runs as part of a season in which 23 of her 45 hits were for extra bases and she drove in 53 runs. The Raptors lost just two games in the 2018 campaign in 24 tries and only one came to a Colorado team, which was a 20-16 slugfest in the Class 5A semifinals to Fossil Ridge. Wilson was a three-time All-Centennial League first team pick and Eaglecrest’s Female Athlete of the Year as a senior, while she also participated in basketball and orchestra. She went on to a stellar career at Creighton, during which she played in 187 games (171 of them starts during a career that spanned parts of five seasons) and hit .353 with 37 home runs and 125 RBI. Wilson was the Big East Player of the Year in 2022. She is currently a volunteer assistant coach with Millard North High School.
DAVE HOWSHAR, VOLUNTEER
For more than a decade, Howshar donated countless hours of his time to support all levels of Eaglecrest’s football, wrestling and lacrosse programs. He showed up to help produce the filming and video for all Raptor athletes and programs during that time period and his handling of all the equipment needs for many coaches over that time frame was invaluable. Howshar’s son, Michael, graduated from Eaglecrest in 2013. He now resides in Guernsey, Wyoming, and is a lab technician at Platte County Memorial Hospital.
2006 GIRLS VOLLEYBALL TEAM
For those that have followed athletics since the opening of Eaglecrest High School, no team stands out like the girls volleyball team that brought home the Class 5A state championship as part of a magical 2006 campaign under longtime coach Tanya Bond. The Raptors were seemingly not as talent-laden as some others in Colorado at the time — though there were two previous Eaglecrest HOF inductees — Courtney Karst (Class of 2017) and Sheila Olaechea (Class of 2021) — on the roster, but combined experience, grit, connectivity and depth to reach the top of the mountain during a 31-0 season that included four wins over rival Grandview. The clincher came with a 25-18, 26-28, 25-21, 23-25, 15-12 victory over the Wolves at the Denver Coliseum that cemented the team’s greatness as Karst (who had 21 kills and was the tournament’s Most Valuable Player) loomed large in the biggest moments of each set. The victory was only the second girls state athletic championship for Eaglecrest — following softball in 2005 — other than in spirit, a juggernaut with 12 state titles. Besides Karst and Olaechea, the roster also included Darcy Schwartzman, Jordan Kissman, Courtnee Pedone, Bri Steger, Alex Beard, Carly Sheridan, Kate Mara Luistro, Miranda Wooten, Miranda Christian, Katie McIlvain, Alyson Cookes and Morghan Dernocoeur, while the coaching staff under Bond was rounded out by her husband, Chad, Bob Poulter, Lisa Wood, Kimberly Rutt and Christen Wilton.
— Sports Editor Courtney Oakes
