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This week's Peak Performer: Haleigh Washington, Doherty volleyball
Football: Aaron Wright, Mitchell
Wright rushed 35 times for 318 yards and three touchdowns and had an interception on defense in a 20-14 win over Thomas Jefferson.
Softball: Aspen Atkins, Cheyenne Mountain
The junior went a combined 4-for-7 with two home runs and six RBIs for the Indians in wins over Coronado and Falcon.
Boys’ soccer: Jae Jin Lee, Fountain Valley
The junior scored four goals and added an assist in two games against league opponents. The Danes earned a 2-2 tie against St. Mary’s and defeated Dolores Huerta 4-1.
Boys’ golf: Colin Prater, Palmer and Isaac Petersilie, Coronado
Prater took the 5A Metro crown by a whopping 25 strokes. Petersilie was also dominant, winning the 4A Metro title by 13 strokes.
Boys’ cross country: Caleb Ingram, Pine Creek
The junior won the Brooks/TCA Titan Thunder Invitational with a time of 16:16. At the same event last season Ingram placed 76th with a time over two minutes slower.
Girls’ cross country: Aubrey Till, Canon City
At the Canon City Invitational, held for the first time at the Royal Gorge Bridge, Till won in a time of 19:31 and the Tigers took second behind Garden City (Kan.) in the team standings.
Boys’ tennis: Liberty’s team
The Lancers capped the best regular season in school history with their first Metro League title after beating Doherty 7-0. Liberty has a 7-1 record this season.
At the conclusion of the 2011 volleyball season, there was a sense that Doherty would be a special team in 2012. And that was before the arrival of Haleigh Washington.
The junior transfer student has made the Spartans the best team in the state and one of the top 10 teams in the nation thus far. Doherty is off to a 13-0 start and has won 34 of 37 games, and Washington has been a big reason for that success.
“As a player she brings another threat and weapon to our offense and she brings the big presence of a middle blocker, which we needed,” Doherty coach Tara Hittle said. “Personality-wise she brings the team together and is very light-hearted. I’m sure her opponents would love to hate her, but it’s impossible to.”
In a five-game, come-from-behind victory over Cheyenne Mountain, Washington had 22 kills and a .545 hitting percentage. The Indians are also ranked in the nation’s top 25 according to several publications, and Washington added seven blocks against them.
“It was a fun match to play in,” Washington said of the Cheyenne Mountain challenge. “Losing the second and third games was when we had to work and saw who we really were; that’s when our Spartan pride came out. I learned that this team will never give up and someone is always there to pump us up and we respond well.”
On a team that is loaded with talent, the Penn State committee has been the ring leader. She’s reached double digits in kills in every best-of-three match, leads the state in hitting percentage (.621) and ranks fourth in 5A in kills per set (4.6).
“We’re so good it’s kind of scary,” Washington said of her team’s overall physical and mental capabilities. “I don’t want to sound cocky, but we can be very good. But we need to keep putting forth the effort and I know this team will continue to get better and the potential for this team is through the roof. We are so strong as a team and mentally strong.”
Washington is in good hands with Hittle, who is a former state player of the year and state champion at Doherty. It has made for a strong relationship between the two.
“We get along very well; she’s very outgoing and I like her humility,” Hittle said. “She’s a great player, but she doesn’t think she’s good enough yet and she wants to get better. Since she’s so coachable and wants to get better it makes it easier for the coaches.”
