YOUR AD HERE »

Sports briefs: Middle Park girls soccer crush Arrupe Jesuit

Senior girls Claire Luque (left) and Haley Weimer (right) represented Middle Park High School at this year's Frontier League All-Star basketball game. After the game the two ladies posed for a quick picture with Middle Park girls head basketball coach Mike Reigan. Weimer holds the Player of the Year Award she received this year in her hands. Weimer and another student athlete from The Academy were chosen as co-recipients of the award.
Courtesy photo |

Soccer girls crush Arrupe Jesuit Saturday

The lady Panthers soccer team of Middle Park High School came roaring back into form Saturday as the girls of East Grand crushed their opponents from Arrupe Jesuit in a stunning 9-1 victory.

It was the second match of the lady Panthers spring 2017 soccer season and followed a close loss last Wednesday against SkyView Academy that saw the girls fall to the Hawks 0-2. This weekend’s game against Arrupe Jesuit was the Panthers first league game of the season.



Last week’s match against the Arrupe Jesuit Generals was held Saturday night at the Regency Athletic Complex at Metro State University in downtown Denver. The match kicked off at 7 p.m.

The ladies got things going early on the pitch and racked up five goals in the first half alone. The Generals had no answer for the Panthers’ aggressive offense and the match was 5-nil at the half-time break. In the second half the girls got back to work and kept the ladies of Arrupe Jesuit backpedalling and on defense.



The Panthers scored four more goals in the second half. The Generals did manage to score one goal in the second half, preventing a shutout, but were no match for the East Grand squad.

Middle Park’s girls soccer team will soon face off against the Denver Science & Tech Stapleton High School Knights. The ladies will travel to Denver to take on the lady Knights at Stapleton High. That match is scheduled to begin Wednesday March 22 at 4 p.m. The lady Knights currently sport a 1-3 overall record and a 1-0 league record having defeated Aurora West College Prep Academy and losing to Colorado Academy, Kent Denver and Denver Christian.

Panthers split doubleheader in Aspen

The Middle Park High School baseball team got back into action last weekend for a pair of games held Saturday March 18.

The weekend’s game was a varsity doubleheader between the Panthers and the Aspen High School Skiers with games starting at 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. The men of Middle Park split the two games, dropping their first match against Aspen 3-8. The Panthers rallied in the second game though and sent the Skiers packing with a 7-6 victory.

The baseball boys struggled on offense for the first game, going six of seven innings without recording any runs. They found their batting form in the seventh though and recorded three runs with sophomore Aidan Roubidoux knocking in two RBI’s and freshman Jacob Smith notching one. Roubidoux went one-for-three in his at bats and finished the game with a .333 batting average.

Smith went one-for-two at the plate and finished the day with a .500 batting average. Also recording hits during the first game was sophomore Ben Kuhnel who went two-for-three at the plate with two hits and a .667 batting average. Out on the bases, sophomores Beale Smith and Ricky Bugos recorded stolen bases with Smith stealing one and Bugos stealing two.

Pitching for Middle Park’s first game Saturday were sophomore Ben Kuhnel and junior Kyger Mintken. Kuhnel spent most of the first game on the mound and threw out 74 pitches, striking out one hitter while giving up eight hits and six runs. Mintken closed out the game for the Panthers and recorded 34 pitches. He struck out three batters and gave up two hits and two runs.

The Panther boys second game of the day was better. Things got off to a slow start for both Aspen and Middle Park with both team scoreless after two innings. In the bottom of the third the Skiers came roaring out of the gates and tallied five runs before the Panthers could shut them down. The fourth inning saw no changes on the scoreboard for either team. The Skiers got back into it in the bottom of the fifth and racked up one additional point bringing the total score to 0-6 leading into the top of the sixth.

That was when the Panther bats got hot. Middle Park recorded three runs in the sixth and four in the seventh while shutting Aspen out and preventing an additional runs against. The Panthers took the win 7-6 with 13 hits and three errors.

Senior Colton Romero helped lead the charge during the second game going two-for-three at the plate and recording one RBI. Romero also pitched for the Panthers during game two, throwing out 84 pitches and recording seven strikeouts.

Sophomore Beale Smith had a perfect afternoon at the plate batting 1.000 and going one-for-one at the plate while knocking in three RBI’s. Freshman Vinny Trocolli also batted 1.000 during the second game, going one-for-one at the plate and scoring two runs.

The Panthers once again kept the opponents jumpy with three stolen bases. Senior Liam Fuqua took two of the stolen bases while Sam Colley, a junior, stole one base.

Seniors represent Middle Park at League All-Stars

The 2016-2017 Colorado State high school basketball season wrapped up recently with State Championships.

The Panther boys basketball season came to a close in the Frontier League District Quarterfinals with a loss to the Denver Science and Tech Stapleton High School. The lady Panthers season ended a few weeks later in early March with a loss to Faith Christian.

As every year after the formal season has drawn to a close a series of all-star games are held to recognized outstanding student athletes. The Frontier League All-Star basketball game was held Saturday March 18 at The Academy High School in Westminster. Middle Park High School sent four students to the League All-Start game this year, two boys and two girls.

The two ladies selected for the League All-Star team were seniors Claire Luque and Haley Weimer. Both ladies anchored the Panthers varsity team on the hardwood this year. On the boys’ side of things seniors Jordan Ehlert and Nojus Bilevicius were selected to represent East Grand on the boys Frontier League All-Star Team.

Athletes selected for the League All-Stars are put onto one of two teams for an All-Stars game. The team Weimer and Luque played on routed their All-Star opponents defeating the other girls All-Star team 58-32. The boys game featured a closer contest though with the team Ehlert and Bilevicius played on winning a hard fought contest 78-70.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

The Sky-Hi News strives to deliver powerful stories that spark emotion and focus on the place we live.

Over the past year, contributions from readers like you helped to fund some of our most important reporting, including coverage of the East Troublesome Fire.

If you value local journalism, consider making a contribution to our newsroom in support of the work we do.