CHSAA marks 80th year of sanctioning high school sports

CHSAA marks 80th year of sanctioning high school sports

Aug. 14, 2001

By Jim Thomas
Journal Sports Editor

The Colorado High School Activities Association is beginning its 80th year of sanctioning high school athletics in the state. With the official start of prep golf season on Monday, Aug. 13, and today, Aug. 14, the 2001-02 year of sports is under way.

"I love the sense of possibility which that the start of high school practice represents for young people throughout the state," Bob Ottewill, CHSAA commissioner, said.

Cloudy and cool weather greeted athletes Monday morning. It was raining in parts of the area as well.

Practices for all fall sports for boys and girls, with the exception of boys golf and boys tennis, formally started Monday. The first day of interscholastic competition in boys and girls cross-country, volleyball, softball, football, boys soccer, and spirit (cheerleading) start on Aug. 30. While the Panther golfers have now officially started their season, boys tennis will get under way on Aug. 17 when MCHS travels to the Grand Junction area.

Montezuma-Cortez High School will compete in boys and girls cross-country, football, softball, volleyball, boys tennis, boys soccer, boys golf and cheerleading. Dolores, Dolores County, and Mancos will compete in football, volleyball, and cheerleading. Mancos, though, will compete in cross-country.

Boys golf practice began informal workouts on Aug. 1 under new head coach Jack Jacobson and boys tennis informally started July 31 under the direction of new coach Jim Harkendorff. The Panther golfers will open the 2001 season with a three-day trip to the Grand Junction area. They opened the 2001 with play at Bookcliff on Monday and then will go to Tia Rado today, Aug. 14, and travel to Rifle on Wednesday, Aug. 15. The boys tennis players will open their season on Friday, Aug. 17, at Fruita-Monument and then play at Montrose on Friday, Aug. 18.

Football, volleyball, boys soccer, softball, boys and girls cross-country, and cheerleading officially got under way on Monday, Aug. 13. Boys and girls cross-country is expected to start today, Aug. 14 under new head coach in Amber Olson. She assisted with swimming last season. Football is led by second-year coach Karl McGee, softball by second-year coach Charlie Rosenbaugh, volleyball by veteran Lindy Mortensen, and boys soccer by Todd Starr.

Mancos will have a husband-wife coaching two of the three sports at Mancos High School. Mona Shepherd is starting her second year as volleyball coach while husband, Gordon, starts his first season as head football coach. Tim Dunham is back to guide the cross-country team.

Don Story begins his second season guiding the football program at Dolores while Joye McHenry is back as volleyball coach. Veteran Ken Soper will once again be on the sidelines leading Dolores County while the team has new volleyball coach in Sarah (Sutter) Glover.

Here are the dates for the state championships: Boys and girls cross-country Oct. 27; football (A) Nov. 24 and 3A Dec. 1; boys golf Oct. 1-2; boys soccer Nov. 6; softball Oct. 20; spirit Dec. 7-8; boys tennis Oct. 11-13; and volleyball Nov. 9-10. The defending champions are football (Nucla, Class A) and Loveland (4A), boys tennis Cheyenne Mountain, boys soccer Lewis-Palmer, boys golf Mullen; boys cross-country Denver Christian (3A which Mancos competes in) and Lewis-Palmer (4A), girls cross-country Denver Christian and Moffat County, and cheerleading Holyoke (2A) and Broomfield (4A), and softball Pueblo South.

In May, 1921 a group of superintendents and principals met in Boulder and organized the Colorado High School Athletic Conference, the forerunner to CHSAA. At that time there were nine leagues. The first champions were crowned that school year in football (Colorado Springs), basketball (Greeley), and track (Fort Collins). In 1924, the Colorado High School Athletic Conference joined the National Federation of State High School Associations and has remained a member ever since.

Loveland’s R.W. Truscott was the association’s first president and Eaton’s J.C. Casey its first secretary. Ottewill became the association’s sixth commissioner in July, 1990 and he has held the position since. CHSAA has had 50 presidents dating back to 1921. It’s current president is Flagler High School Principal Tom Asensdorf, beginning his first year of a two-year term.

CHSAA has a veteran staff. Judy Barnett and Rhonda Blanford-Green are entering their sixth year assistant commissioners. Associate Commissioner Bill Reader is in his 14th year. Assistant commissioners Burt Borgmann and Paul Angelico are in their 14th and 12th years, respectively. New to the staff is Tom Robinson to coordinate and work on programs to recruit, retain, and train the association’s nearly 4,500 sports officials.

The sports schedules for CMS student-athletes offer a variety of schools to compete against at several levels of competition. Cortez Middle School is a member of the San Juan Basin League that includes many schools from the surrounding area. These schools participate against Cortez in football, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, and track throughout the school year.

Fall sports for seventh and eighth-grade students will begin on Wednesday, Aug. 15. Football players will meet at CMS cafeteria at 9 a.m. to hand in paperwork to the coaches and be issued uniforms. Volleyball players will meet at 4 p.m. in the main gym in the middle school and these girls will also meet with the coaches and hand in paperwork.

These athletes will need to have an updated physical from their doctor that is dated after July 1 in order to be compliance with school policy. Permission slips, proof of insurance, consent to treat, warming of risk statements and rules of play are included in the packet of information that were given to interested athletes during the May sports meetings. This paperwork for fall sports can also be obtained from the middle school or at Cortez City Park Municipal Pool. Several local doctors’ offices will also be given copies of the forms needed for physicals for seventh and eighth grade student-athletes.

Youth football for fifth and sixth grade RE-1 Montezuma-County School District students will begin with registration on Aug. 30 at 5 p.m. in the cafeteria. Practices will begin on Sept. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at the Dolores Road Soccer Field. Youth sports players do not need a physical but paperwork still needs to be completed by registration time.

Phone CMS at 565-7824 for more information on these sports program or phone CMS Athletic Director Jamie Haukeness at 565-9113 for more details.