AURORA | A look back at significant individual and team performances at Smoky Hill 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
SMOKY HILL (SPRING 2024)
BOYS SWIMMING: With a large senior class as the driving force, Smoky Hill racked up 198 points over two days at the Veterans’ Memorial Aquatic Center to place sixth at the Class 5A state meet as senior Daniel Yi (100 yard breaststroke) and junior Ian Noffsinger (500 yard freestyle) earned second place individual finishes. At the end of the meet, Yi — a University of Utah signee who had won the prestigious Hoyt Brawner Award as the state’s top swimmer/scholar/athlete earlier in the season — was chosen as the 5A Swimmer of the Year and Scott Cohen was voted 5A Swim Coach of the Year. A week earlier, Smoky Hill played host to the Centennial “A” League Championship meet and won its first league title since 1999. Yi (100 yard breaststroke with a league-record performance), Noffsinger (500 yard freestyle), senior Landon Brewer (50 yard freestyle) and the all-senior 200 yard medley relay of Benjamin Brewer, Yi, Patrick Adams and Landon Brewer all won league championships.
TRACK & FIELD: The girls track team excelled in the hurdles events and sophomore Kiyah Enoch and junior Aniya Sigars scored in 100 hurdles in sixth and eighth places, respectively (Enoch also made the 300 hurdles final and placed eighth) and teamed with junior Darian Smith and senior Danica Azumah on the sixth-place 4×400 meter relay to help coach Augustine Agyei’s Buffaloes tie for 23rd in the 5A girls team standings.
BOYS LACROSSE: Coach Logan Booth’s boys lacrosse team scored 35 more goals and allowed six fewer than the previous season in a 5-9 season, which marked an improvement from 4-11 in 2023. Senior midfielder Brady Smith, who finished second in Class 5A with 51 assists and became the program’s all-time leader in the category, made the All-League 1 first team. The Buffaloes also had all-league second teamers in seniors Alexander Lee and Miguel Sisneros and juniors Dylan Henning and Cody Scott.
GIRLS SOCCER: The girls soccer team ceded 11 fewer goals and scored four more than the prior season, but coach Dante Burks’ Buffaloes finished with an identical 4-11 record. Senior Brooke Roth (who had a team-best eight goals plus three assists) achieved All-Centennial League first team status and was 5A honorable mention all-state for the Colorado High School Activities Association, while junior Elyse Bailey (six goals, six assists) made the second team.
BASEBALL: Coach Eric Askew’s Smoky Hill team finished with a 5-18 record — one win less than the previous season — as senior Dash Deavers earned a spot on the All-Centennial League first team. Sophomore infielder Hudson Roth got voted onto the all-league second team, while seniors Boden Crever and Manny Reyes and junior pitcher Eric Aleman got honorable mention nods.
GIRLS TENNIS: The Buffaloes finished 2-7 in dual matches (with three of the losses coming in 4-3 decisions) and had some placers at the Class 5A Region 8 tournament at Lebsack Tennis Center, but coach Jeff Davis did not have any players that made it through to the individual state tournament.
NOTES: Sophia Stiwich finished second at the Class 5A girls golf state tournament as a freshman, but did not return this season. Those that played for the Buffaloes this season competed at the junior varsity level.
