Cherry Creek and Valor Christian won state championships for south metro teams during winter sports season and Ponderosa once again was a runner-up.
The Bruins girls swimming team won its third straight Class 5A state title and the boys of Valor’s hockey team were the state champs for the third time in the past four seasons.
However, for Ponderosa the frustration remained, as the Mustangs were the Class 5A runners-up for the third straight season.
Colorado Community Media has also made its Player of the Year selections for all the winter sports. Athletes from all Douglas County and Littleton Public schools were eligible plus players from Valor Christian, Cherry Creek, Lutheran and SkyView Academy high schools.
The Player of the Year selections were:
Girls swimming
Larson Ficken of Cherry Creek will be attending and swimming at Auburn next season but the senior finished her high school career by winning individual titles in the 50 and 100 freestyles at the state meet. She actually won four titles as she swam a leg on the 200 freestyle relay team, which set a state record of 1:30.81, and was also on the state championship 400 freestyle relay team.
Boys wrestling
Ponderosa junior Jacob Myers won his second straight title, this season at 132 pounds, with a pin in 35 seconds in the title match. He finished the season with a 37-5 record.
Hockey
Valor Christian 165-pound senior defenseman Aiden Owen was one of the state’s top blueliners. He had 10 goals and 21 assists for the state champion Eagles and led the team with 31 points and was the sixth leading scorer among all 5A players.
Owen was the quarterback on Valor’s power play and was a member of the penalty kill unit.
Girls basketball
Macey Huard of Valor Christian, a 6-foot-2 guard, averaged 22.1 points, two assists, 7.6 rebounds and 2.2 steals a game this season. The senior who will play for Montana next season had 32 points and 14 rebounds in her final high school game, which was a semifinal state tournament loss.
Boys basketball
Caden Stevens and Radek Homer led Mountain Vista into the state tournament semifinals and Gavin Hershberger was the spark plug for Rock Canyon’s team, but Stevens gets the nod as Player of the Year.
Stevens, a 6-9 senior who has a scholarship offer from Metro State, averaged 17.2 points a game this season, shot 64% from the field, grabbed 7.7 rebounds and had 4.4 blocked shots a game.
