The Aurora prep sports scene was its usual dynamic self in 2024, which included a variety of significant events and performances worth noting.
There were personal and team triumphs and tragedy, unlikely outcomes, record setting and Cinderella stories, all of which combined to create another memorable year locally.
Sentinel Sports Editor Courtney Oakes takes a look back at some of the top stories of 2024 in Aurora prep sports:
Led by Peyton Sommers, Cherokee Trail tracks down another 5A boys state title
The Cherokee Trail boys track & field team faced the challenge of defending its Class 5A state championship from 2023 head on and did so with an impressive performance in 2024.
Coach Chris Faust’s Cougars again featured the dynamic talents of sprint star Peyton Sommers, who put on a show over three days at Jefferson County Stadium that was the ultimate exclamation point for a team that would have still won the title by 13 points without his contribution of 40.
But Sommers — who returned with a vengeance from an injury early in the season — was the unquestioned tone setter for a team that put up 111 points at the state meet, which was the most in the largest classification since Smoky Hill’s 126 in 2004.
Sommers won the 100, 200 and 400 meters and anchored a 4×200 meter relay team (which also included Kahari Wilbon, Jayden Hughes and Nick Hoffsetz) to a Colorado record. The Cougars time of 1 minute, 24.93 seconds, set an all-classification state record (besting the 2013 mark of 1:25.46 from Valor Christian, which featured NFL star Christian McCaffrey) and the 5A state meet record (topping George Washington’s 1:25.59 from 2007) in the process.
Overland’s Jarrius Ward sets Colorado record on way to winning 5A boys discus
Overland junior Jarrius Ward threw one of his attempts in the May 16 Class 5A boys state discus competition into the parking lot at the Jefferson County Stadium. One of those that landed in bounds, however, was the likes of which nobody in the classification had seen before.
Ward’s epic throw of 203 feet, 5 inches, shattered the previous 5A state meet record of 192-5, which had been recorded by Westminster’s Todd Austin back in 1977. It fell short of the all-classification Colorado record of former Buena Vista star Mason Finley, who threw 214-1 in 2009 and went on to make the U.S. Olympic Team a decade later. He went on finish second in the shot put competition as well.
Missy Franklin returns to Regis Jesuit as pool facility is named in her honor
For a school with tremendous swimming tradition, Regis Jesuit now has a facility named for one of its greatest alums.
The roughly year-old facility built on the school’s campus to the place the “Bubble” that had existed since the campus moved from Denver to Aurora in the 1990s is known as the “Missy Franklin Pool” in honor of Missy Franklin Johnson, a 2013 graduate and five-time Olympic swimming gold medal winner.
Franklin Johnson attended a ceremony at the venue with her parents Richard and D.A., husband Hayes Johnson and daughter, Sarah Caitlin, where she gave an address, posed for photographs in and outside of the venue and addressed the entire student body in a Q&A session in the Boys Division gymnasium.
In the summer between her junior and senior years at Regis Jesuit, Franklin Johnson earned four gold medals at the Olympic Games in London, then secured another as part of a relay team in the 2016 Games in Rio De Janiero.
“This was a no-brainer to name it after Missy, for all she’s done and the recognition she’s brought to the school,” longtime Regis Jesuit coach Nick Frasersmith said at the event.
Freshman Witt makes big state debut, helps Eaglecrest girls’ relays remain elite
Zenobia Witt’s arrival helped the Eaglecrest girls track & field team maintain its lofty standards in 2024. Witt won the first-ever event she competed in at the state meet and set the tone for three days at Jefferson County Stadium.
Witt captured the Class 5A girls long jump with a top effort of 19 feet, 9 1/2 inches, to upset friend and favorite Kaeli Powe of Cherokee Trail (who returned the favor in the triple jump), but she also bolstered the Raptors’ relay ranks.
Witt joined Tatum Gratrix, Anaya Ewing and Jaylynn Wilson (who came all the way back from a broken leg in the offseason) to win the Eaglecrest program’s third-straight 5A crown in the 4×200 relay. The same group also won the 4×100 title.
Grandview’s Charlie Herting pins way to state championship at 165 pounds
Charlie Herting spent a very short amount of time on the mats at Ball Arena over three days of the Class 5A boys wrestling state tournament, but earned the ultimate prize at 165 pounds. Herting sealed an impressive run through his bracket with a pin of Poudre’s Brett Lamb that also made him the Grandview program’s career leader in wins by fall.
Herting’s 38th pin of the season not only landed him a state championship and gave him an opportunity to become the Wolves’ second two-time champion with a win as a senior, but it sealed third place in 5A for coach Ryan Budd’s team.
Regis Jesuit ice hockey breaks championship drought with win over Valor for sixth title
Buoyed by the play of a freshman goaltender in his first state championship game, the Regis Jesuit ice hockey program added another state title to its impressive collection.
The Raiders earned a 3-1 victory over rival Valor Christian in the Class 5A state title game at Magness Arena, which gave them another championship to add to those captured in 2008 and 2009, 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2019. To defeat an Eagles team that played in its fifth straight state championship game, coach Terry Ott’s team got a strong performance in the goal from freshman Easton Sparks, who stuffed a penalty shot chance early and allowed only a score in the final minute.
Reece Peterson had Regis Jesuit’s first goal that looked like it might stand up until the end, but the empty-netter tallied by Parker Brinner ended up as the difference. Ian Beck scored another empty-netter in the close seconds to seal a 3-1 win.
“Monumental,” Ott said of the win, the first for the program since 2019 and his first since taking over for original coach Dan Woodley.
Grandview girls basketball team stopped in three-peat quest; Ulitzky gets career win No. 400
The Grandview girls basketball team came into the season in search of a third consecutive state championship following a Class 5A title in 2022 and 6A crown in 2023, but instead ended up without earning a trip to the Denver Coliseum (home of the final three rounds of the state tournament) for the first time since 2015.
The Wolves earned head coach Josh Ulitzky career victory No. 400 during the Centennial League Challenge with a win over Mullen, but it was the Mustangs who prevailed 49-45 in a 6A second round match at Grandview Feb. 23. Star post player Sienna Betts tallied 23 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Wolves’ season from ending before the quarterfinals for the first time in almost a decade.
Gianna Falise becomes Eaglecrest program’s second girls wrestling state champ
The contingent of state champions for the Eaglecrest girls wrestling program doubled with the addition of Gianna Falise, who captured the state championship at 190 pounds with a stunning victory at Ball Arena.
Falise hadn’t made the placing medal podium in two previous trips to the state tournament, but she earned a spot on the top step and finished a 48-6 season with a first-period pin of Douglas County’s Elizabeth Sandy, who she had lost to a week earlier at regionals. Falise won the title after a short stay at 190 pounds after starting the season at 170.
Falise (a Grandview student) joined 2022 winner Blythe Cayko — who was in attendance — as state winners for the Eaglecrest program.
Grandview’s Oliver Schimberg repeats as Class 5A boys state champion in 100 backstroke
The Grandview boys swim program has the first multiple-time state champion in program history in Oliver Schimberg, who successfully defended his Class 5A state championship from 2023 in the 100 yard backstroke.
Schimberg — who as a sophomore joined John Martens as event winners at the state meet in the quarter-century history of Grandview — recorded a personal best time of 47.49 seconds to edge Monarch’s Gavin Keogh in a nailbiter at the Veterans’ Memorial Aquatic Center. The University of Minnesota commit set the Cherry Creek High School and John Strain Memorial records earlier in the season in the event.
Schimberg also finished second in the state in the 100 butterfly and teamed with Alex Steinmetze and Evan Higgins and Ethan Finlay to earn second place for Grandview in the 200 medley relay. Over the summer, Schimberg became a five-time National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association All-American.
Regis Jesuit’s Reece wins all-Aurora matchup with Grandview’s Montes for 5A mat title
Garrett Reece of Regis Jesuit won 46 of the 47 matches he wrestled in the 2023-24 season, with the most important one coming at Ball Arena Feb. 17.
A year after he finished as the runner-up for an individual state title, Reece gained the glory he sought with victory by fall over Grandview’s Jonathan Montes Gonzales in an all-Aurora title match at 150 pounds.
Reece finished his season undefeated against Colorado wrestlers — as he suffered his lone loss at the Doc Buchanan tournament in California by two-point decision — with a 4-0 burst at state made up of two wins by fall and two by major decision. He set up the chance to become the fifth multi-time state champion in school history.
Cooper Mathews becomes Cherokee Trail’s first freshman to win state wrestling championship
Cooper Mathews began the path towards what could be the most decorated prep career of any in the Cherokee Trail boys wrestling program as he won a state championship in his freshman season.
The younger brother of Chance Mathews, a staple of the lineup for several years for coach Jeff Buck’s Cougars, Cooper Mathews posted four wins at the Class 5A state tournament at 106 pounds without allowing so much as a single takedown. He finished the season with 50 wins and became only the third Cherokee Trail wrestler to win a state title, as he joined Derek Glenn Jr. and Sam Hart, who both won titles in 2020.
OTHER 2024 NOTES: The Colorado High School Activities Association approved girls flag football to be sanctioned in April and the inaugural season happened in the fall. Eleven Aurora schools fielded teams and Grandview and Regis Jesuit qualified for the first playoffs. …State team runners-up in 2024 included Regis Jesuit (baseball, boys swimming, boys tennis, girls basketball, and girls swimming), Cherokee Trail (softball and boys golf) and Overland (gymnastics).
