Welcome to Sportsland! If you’re new here, I’m John Renfrow and I cover high school sports across Jefferson, Adams, and Weld counties for the Colorado Trust for Local News. Do you enjoy Sportsland each week? Share it with a neighbor today!

What’s on my mind this week? As a wide-eyed snowboarder in his second season with an Ikon Pass, I’ve been disappointed with the lack of snow hitting the mountains this winter. Nearly every weekend warrior I know has complained about the conditions. But how has that impacted high school ski teams?

“For both the high school and the middle school, we’ve had to change the venue for a couple races,” said Clear Creek High School ski coach Brian Inman. “Ski Cooper (in Leadville) wasn’t able to host a race because they didn’t have enough snow to put race gates in the ground. And the middle school didn’t have as many races as they normally do (three instead of five). But other than that, everything else has gone pretty well.”

Inman noted that while most recreational skiers and boarders want snow (who doesn’t love a good powder day?), the racing teams prefer a groomed, harder surface.

“It’s better if it’s bluebird days, and we’ve had quite a few of those,” Inman said. “Our racing surface is pretty hard; a lot of people would say icy. But unless they treat it with something, it’s usually not icy. We call it ‘bulletproof snow, and when it’s bulletproof, it’s great for racing.”

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Why would the Colorado High School Activities Association change what a coach is? Well, I thought the same thing. Until I dove in.

What is the change? The word now includes club coaches, skill development coaches, performance trainers, technical instructors and conditioning specialists, among others. It was approved with a 55-17 vote.

Why? Students who transfer for athletic reasons, such as following a coach, cannot play for the new school for one calendar year from the date of the student’s last participation in that sport.

Context: The proposal came from changes in youth sports programs. Developing those athletes can include several people besides a coach, such as personal trainers, according to CHSAA’s agenda.

Why it matters: Say your son or daughter is really thriving under a coach’s program. Then, that coach takes another job with a rival school. The player can’t follow that coach and participate in that sport unless they want to take a year off. With this rule change, a player couldn’t follow a club coach or personal trainer either.

CHSAA feels players have abused these rules in the past, and changing the definition of the word “coach” further limits workarounds or loopholes.

“Our bylaws are worth fighting for,” CHSAA Commissioner Mike Krueger said. “They are worth protecting for the young person who is displaced by someone who transfers under the belief that the rules don’t apply to them. We must remember the 99%: those who follow the rules. They deserve our protection just as much.”

More than likely, Chatfield and Pomona will be battling it out for the Class 5A girls wrestling team title at Ball Arena in a few weeks, but the Jeffco League championships at Conifer High School belonged to Columbine last week.

Here’s how the final scores shook out:

“It’s really cool because we started with just 13 girls my freshman year. Now we have near 30,” said Columbine’s Makena Heston of the Rebels winning the team title. “We’ve grown so much as a team and gotten so much better over the season as well. I’m so proud of the team. We’ve done so well this year.”

Individual league titles:

(5A) Columbine - Halo MacMillan (115 lbs), Mady MacMillan (130 lbs), Makena Heston (135 lbs)

(5A) Pomona - Timberly Martinez (155 lbs), Justice Gutierrez (100 lbs)

(4A) Evergreen - Alyssa Diflumeri (125 lbs), Margaret Burrier (140 lbs), Valancia Bentrott (190 lbs)

(4A) Conifer - Penny Dickinson (145 lbs)

Regional championship sites/pools have have been announced for this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13-14.

How Regionals work: Four individuals in each weight class from each of the four regionals in each classification will advance to the state championship. Those 16 individuals in each weight class will be seeded onto the state bracket of 16.

How to follow along: Brackets and results from each regional can be found at TrackWrestling.com.

When is State? The 2026 state championships will be held at Ball Arena on Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 19-21.

🐏 Green Mountain boys basketball’s win streak reaches double digits: It seems Green Mountain and Standley Lake are on a collision course for the Class 5A/4A Jeffco League title. Both remain undefeated in league play, and the Rams just won their 10th straight. Read the full story ➡

🏀 Clear Creek boys basketball drops 5th loss to Flatirons Academy (Westminster): Despite notching their fifth loss on the season, the Golddiggers are enjoying one of the better seasons in the past couple years. At now 9-5, Clear Creek is eying the state tournament after a 7-16 finish in 2025. Read the full story ➡

🐊 Standley Lake boys hoops swamps Evergreen in Jeffco action: The Gators stayed undefeated in the Class 5A/4A Jeffco League with a strong 51-32 home win over Evergreen. The Gators’ final three games of the regular season against D’Evelyn, Green Mountain and Golden will determine the conference champion. Read the full story ➡

🤿 Colorado’s first freediving competition set in Idaho Springs: The Clear Creek Metropolitan Recreation District took freediving to new heights this past weekend — literally. It was the “the highest (altitude) freediving competition in history,” according to masters of the sport. Read the full story ➡

All listed records current as of Feb. 9

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