AURORA | A look back at significant individual and team performances at Aurora Central High School for the 2024 spring prep athletic season:
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
AURORA CENTRAL (SPRING 2024)
BASEBALL: The most significant achievement of the spring for the athletic program at Aurora’s oldest high school came on the baseball diamond, where the Trojans captured the Colorado League championship and qualified for the Class 4A regional postseason (where they lost on the road to top-seeded Windsor). Aurora Central avenged two losses to Adams City with a 9-7 victory that earned coach Donald Gomez’s team an automatic postseason berth. The Trojans’ season ended at 11-10 (an improvement from a 7-14 2023) after which Gomez was hailed as the league’s Coach of the Year while four players — senior Aron Gardea, juniors Jorge De Los Santos and Jose Gomez, and sophomore Toby Sanchez — received All-Colorado League first team accolades. The all-league second team list included senior Sebastian Leyva and sophomore Alberto Avila.
GIRLS TENNIS: Aurora Central’s girls tennis team finished 7-2 overall in dual matches (plus placed second in the Colorado League tournament) and had two first team All-Colorado League performers in seniors Alexandra Flores and Kassandra Flores at Nos. 2 and 3 singles, respectively. The No. 2 doubles team of junior Juliana Marquez and freshman Tamia Grant and the No. 3 doubles team of junior America Castro and sophomore Angelina Estrada Lozano made the all-league second team. Coach Emma Jenkins’ Trojans did not have any individuals or doubles teams make it out of the Class 4A Region 2 tournament at Kent Denver.
GIRLS SOCCER: Coach Tim Walter’s Trojans finished 4-7-4 on the girls soccer pitch, which represented double the combined win total from 2022 and 2023 (1-13-1 each season). Aurora Central scored three more goals and allowed a whopping 35 fewer scores to opponents than last season in the same number of games. Junior Verenice Pulido led the team in goals with six and made the All-Colorado League first team along with freshman Ketzally Garcia Munoz, while senior Annabelle Castaneda-Gonzalez earned second team accolades.
TRACK & FIELD: Aurora Central did not have any state track & field qualifiers, but senior Jade King won the Colorado League championship in the girls 200 meter dash. The boys and girls teams each finished third in the standings at the league meet.
GIRLS GOLF: Junior Alexus Lopez secured All-Colorado League first team honors in girls golf, as she finished third at the league major tournament held at Legacy Ridge G.C. Her highest finish of the season was second at the Colorado League minor at Aurora Hills G.C.