The Colorado High School Activities Association had its annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony Tuesday night and it included some Aurora area greatness.
Former Smoky Hill High School girls cross country stars Megan Kaltenbach Burke and Katelyn Kaltenbach Conlon and former Aurora Central boys basketball coach Bob Caton were among the group of eight inductees honored at the Douglas County School District Legacy Campus.
Already a member of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, Kaltenbach Burke won the state cross country championship in all four of her varsity seasons and combined with track & field completed a dominant prep career with 15 team and individual state titles. She was also one of only two three-time winners of the Aurora City Championship meet since the meet began in 1981 and was the Colorado Gatorade Girls Track & Field Player of the Year in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Kaltenbach Burke went on to compete at the University of North Carolina, where she was a two-time NCAA champion, a two-time All-American, and a two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer.
“It was such a fun night walking down memory lane and doing it with our families and my sister, thinking about our great teammates and our coaches, how our parents helped us get where we are, reflecting on Colorado sports and Colorado girls and women’s sports,” Kaltenbach Burke said in a statement put out by CHSAA. “It’s such an important thing for young women and girls to play sports and build confidence. … And what an amazing group to be honored with!”
Her sister, Katelyn, followed her at Smoky Hill as part of an era in which the girls team — coached by Greg Weich — was elite locally and nationally.
Kaltenbach Conlon captured eight Colorado state championships between cross country and track & field, while her crowning achievement was a victory in the prestigious Foot Locker National Championship race in 2003 in San Diego. Like her sister, she went on to run for the University of North Carolina.
“It was truly an honor, especially being honored with my sister, who pretty much taught me everything I knew,” she told CHSAA. “So much goes into sports at the state level, and that’s where our careers started. It’s so great to be a small part of history in a state and a school, and a coach, and CHSAA that brought so much to us.”
Caton is a veteran of coaching stops in many areas, which included a four-season stint at Aurora Central during which he led the program to 90 victories. Coming on following a 1-19 season in 2003-04, he guided the Trojans to a 76-3 record over the next three seasons and took them to the 5A state championship game in the 2006-07 season where they lost to Denver East.
CHSAA records have Caton with a 556-236 career record, which puts him eighth all-time in Colorado history.
“High school sports have been my whole life, since sixth grade,” Caton told CHSAA. “To have it accumulate to this point, it’s pretty heart-felt. So many people have played a part in this journey, my parents, my coaches, my teammates, players, friends, it’s quite something.”
David Hall, Kevin Land, Darryl Miller, Nate Solder and Jessika Stratton Caldwell rounded out the Hall of Fame honorees.
— Sports Editor Courtney Oakes
