AURORA | Regis Jesuit’s volleyball program is new hands, as the school has announced that highly successful coach Laura Dunston has retired.
Girls Division athletic director John Koslosky said in a statement Friday that Dunston — who guided the girls team from the Class 4A days into 5A and built it into a regular fixture at the state volleyball tournament — has stepped down from her job with the team, as well as with the boys club team, to spend more time with family and continue to grow her restaurant, The Rock.
Dunston led the girls program from the junior varsity level to the varsity level in the 2005 season (a 4-15 debut), which grew to 12 wins the next season and all the way to a 24-6 mark and a semifinal showing at the 4A state tournament in 2007. Regis Jesuit moved up to 5A in 2011 and made it to the semifinals, where it lost to eventual state champion Chaparral. The Raiders also fell to eventual state champion Grandview in the 2014 semifinals.
Unofficially, Dunston finished 172-100 at Regis Jesuit.
“I have two regrets about my coaching: one, that as hard as we worked on it, boys volleyball still is not sanctioned,” Dunston told the Sentinel.
“And two, that we never won a state championship on the girls side. Other than that it was a great run.”
Dunston added she had no plans to coach anywhere else and plans to continue to improve The Rock — which has become a popular place for students, coaches and faculty of schools near its location just on the west side of E-470 of Southlands — and also play golf, ski and watch her grandkids play their sports.
Notable Regis Jesuit players on the girls side during Dunston’s tenure included Janae Hall, a middle blocker who helped the University of Kansas to an NCAA Final Four bid this past season, plus Sarah Schmid (part of the Aurora contingent on the University of Denver’s recent rise) and Kristina Lavrisha, a Gonzaga signee who is the daughter of Regis University head coach Frank Lavrisha.
Ellen Miks, a former assistant coach at Columbine and Mountain Vista and a collegiate player at New Mexico State University as a libero and outside hitter, has been hired to guide the girls team, which finished 15-12 in the fall and made it to the 5A state tournament. The Raiders challenged eventual champion Cherokee Trail in pool play before falling in four sets.
Regis Jesuit graduates two key starters in outside hitters Taylor Smith and Mary Raitt, but expects to return setter Kassandra Sturges and a large front line that includes Alex Osredker, Noelle Cahill and Liz Koch.
Ryan Ammerman is the new coach of the Boys Division club team, which won six state championship in nine years under Dunston.
Ammerman is a former player at UC Irvine and member of Team USA men’s volleyball team.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
LAURA DUNSTON’S RECORD AT REGIS JESUIT GIRLS DIVISION
2015: 15-12 (4-6 in Continental League); 2014: 21-7 (lost in 5A semifinals) (8-2 in Continental League); 2013: 20-5 (11-0 in Continental League); 2012: 13-12 (6-5 in Continental League); 2011: 26-4 (lost in 5A semifinals) (10-1 in Continental League); 2010: 12-10 (7-4 in Continental League); 2009: 14-8 overall (7-4 in Continental League); 2008: 11-12 overall (5-6 in Continental League); 2007: 24-6 (lost in 4A semifinals) (8-4 in Continental League); 2006: 12-9 overall (5-7 in Continental League); 2005: 4-15 overall (2-9 in Continental League)
