Peter Lazaroff

My story on Team 180, the state’s top girls’ lacrosse club program, and its Class of 2012 collegiate commitments on early national letter of intent signing day is in the Wednesday paper.

I’m enough of a traditionalist that I’ve been ambivalent about the proliferation of club programs in all sports — boys and girls — at the youth and high school level, especially when it dilutes the concept of young people playing the sports for sheer enjoyment. Often I’ve noticed the trend is to force gifted young players into specialization and encourage obsession, sometimes at the cost of “normal” high school experiences.

But after talking with the four Club 180 girls pictured in the group shot in the Wednesday paper, and with coach Sam Bartron, I’m comfortable in saying her program seems to have found a balance, in part because it’s designed to be a complement and not a replacement for the state’s high school programs.

I wasn’t able to go into much detail about the leaders of this Class of 2012 in the story, so here’s additional material on each of the four. Read more…

As part of our goal of making DenverPost.com your central location for all things Colorado preps, we’ve added another neat feature: live championship events, via CHSAA.tv.

The Denver Post signed an agreement with CHSAA last week, which gives us permission to show the championship games available on CHSAA’s online television network.

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For those of you kind enough to read my offerings, you may recall that earlier this year I pointed out that there’s always a chance you can see something you’ve never seen before when attending a prep football game.

It happened to me again on Friday night.

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And now for a word by me on national polls for high school sports teams.

Why?

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Rugby, in case you don’t know, is cool and as honest and fair as a contact sport can be.

You can view some of it on Saturday.

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Updated, at 11:21 a.m. and 1:34 p.m., to add additional postponements.

The snow storm that’s closing schools and businesses around the state is also having some fun with the prep soccer quarterfinals.

So far this morning, the Adams City-Fort Collins tilt has been moved to 4 p.m. tomorrow, and the Regis Jesuit-Rock Canyon game has been moved to 7 p.m. tomorrow.

The Cherry Creek-Heritage quarterfinal game will also be moved to 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Legacy Stadium because of “inclement weather and poor field conditions,” per Cherry Creek athletic director Darren Knox.

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Leah Millis, Special to The Denver Post

Who will emerge in 2011 as the 5A state champion?

We did this last year, and enjoyed it, so we’ll do it again this year. The 5A playoffs start this weekend, but we’ll start breaking them down today.

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Karl Gehring, The Denver Post

Columbine defensive back Michael Burns (5) celebrates after the defense stopped Mullen on a fourth down in the second quarter last week.

You think Columbine is geared up for the playoffs?

After a weak schedule to start the season — in weeks 1-6, the Rebels’ wins were over teams that now have a combined 18 wins — Columbine owns wins over playoffs teams Arapahoe (5-4, No. 25), Bear Creek (6-3, No. 11) and Mullen (7-2, No. 6) to end the regular season.

Now, the Rebels also own the No. 1 overall seed in Class 5A. (Find the full bracket here.)

For the first time in, well, three seasons, the 5A title seems up for grabs. As Columbine coach Andy Lowry pointed out yesterday afternoon, “There’s probably 16, 18 teams right now, that probably could win the whole thing. There’s a lot of parity, and a lot of real good teams right now.”

Translation: Mighty Mullen seems mighty mortal right now.

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The Class 5A gymnastics regionals have been completed.

The state meet for both classes is Friday and Saturday at Thornton High School.

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Nothing like a little snow to throw a monkey wrench into the best laid plans.

Starting with Sand Creek. The Scorpions drew the short straw and had to endure the bus trip to Montrose for a Thursday game. After leaving at 8 o’clock on Wednesday morning, snow already flying, the Scorps bus went off the road.

What started out as an already lengthy seven hour trip, became a nine hour trip after they had to wait to be towed out. After arriving a little after 5 p.m., the game was postponed until Thursday.

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