This past calendar year brought out bright students, incredible athletes and fantastic quotes across the Boulder, Broomfield and Longmont areas.
While there are too many BoCoPreps.com standouts to count, and therefore list, below are just some of the student-athletes we won’t forget from 2022.
Who’d we forget to mention? A lot of deserving kids. We know. Help us recognize others by commenting the name of another athlete you won’t forget from this past year.
Isabella Arroyo, Holy Family: Already looking like a softball career that will go down as one of the best in the history of the area, the second-year ace led the Tigers back to the 4A title game (after winning the prior year) before falling to Lutheran. She has a career record of 30-2 heading into her junior season.
Hadley Ashton, Erie: The freshman won the 4A girls golf title and led the Tigers to team gold in the spring. Again, she’s just a freshman.
Blake Barnett, Erie: Nobody looks like they’re having as much fun as Barnett on the football field. After winning the 100-meter track title in the spring, he pushed his career TD mark to 106 with one more high school season to play. He is chasing former Valor Christian star Christian McCaffrey, now playing for the San Francisco 49ers, who owns the state’s 11-man football record for career TDs with 141.
Lily Chitambar, Boulder: The Panthers ace won her second straight 5A No. 1 singles title in the spring. In a sport long dominated by everything Cherry Creek, Chitambar put the Panthers’ program front and center the past two years.
Mary Codevilla, Niwot: One of the greatest swimmers the area has ever seen, she finished her career last winter with seven state titles. She’s now at Notre Dame.
Cameron Gerber, Boulder: Invited to the All-American Game in Florida, and soon to the All-American ceremony by the United Soccer Coaches in Pennsylvania, the Panthers midfielder was an all-time great for the boys’ soccer program.
Natalie Guanella, Monarch: The BoCoPreps.com player of the year last season is well on her way to clinching the award yet again this winter. Along with her standout play on the court, she was instrumental in leading the Coyotes off it as the community worked to rebuild following the Marshall Fire.
Juliauna Hayward, Legacy: The soccer star was magnificent for Legacy, going for 17 goals and 22 assists in the spring. One of the nation’s top prospects then proved loyal to the area and chose to go CU over other big-time D-I programs.
Jenna Joseph, Mead: The wrestler won the 161-pound title at Ball Arena in February. She won 34 of her 37 matches last winter and will always be remembered as one of the early pioneers of the recently-sanctioned CHSAA sport.
Elijah Knudsen, Mead: After leading the Mavericks to a state title in 2021, the player who could shoot his team to victory in a matter of minutes finished his career earlier in the year, nabbing his second straight BoCoPreps.com player of the year honor. He’s currently making noise as a freshman at Colorado Mesa.
Cole LaCrue, Broomfield: The Wisconsin commit dazzled on the football field, totaling 46 touchdowns while leading the Eagles to their first football title since 1984. His high IQ, charisma and backstory was reason enough to make much of the state a fan.
Zach Lewis, Fairview: He was the only player in the state this year and in the program’s history to record 1,000 yards and 100 tackles during the regular season. And because of him, the air-happy Knights were able to rely more on a ground game in 2022.
Connor McCormick, Longmont: Gatorade’s distance runner of the year for Colorado won the 1,600 and 3,200-meter races at the state meet. He then won the mile at Nike Outdoor Nationals in 4:08.59, and is now at Princeton.
Caleb Michaels, Monarch: After three years of frustration at the state golf tournament, Michaels raised 5A gold this fall.
Keegan Patterson, Longmont: The four-sport star finished his illustrious career in the summer. He was a preferred walk-on quarterback at the University of Southern California this fall.
Kourtney Rathke, Peak to Peak: The pole vaulter broke the Class 3A state meet record with a leap of 12 feet and 11 inches. She also won gold in the long jump at 18-5, took second in the 100 hurdles and third in the triple jump.
Camden Ross, Broomfield: The Eagles catcher hit .627 and led the Eagles to a 5A baseball title in the spring. It was 5A’s first .600 hitter in five years.
Gracie Sackett, Erie: Oh the Sackett Heater. Practically nobody could catch up with it this fall. The junior had a 0.94 ERA across 104 innings, leading the Tigers to the 5A semifinals.
Madison Shults, Niwot: Shults has led the Niwot girls cross country team to a title in each of her four seasons (the Cougars won their fifth straight XC title in October). This spring, the reigning 4A 400 and 800 champ can help lead them to a fourth straight track and field title, too.
Ryan Vigil, Broomfield: After winning the 138-pound state title in 2021, Vigil won gold in 152s back in February. He now wrestles at the Virginia Military Institute.
Ava Welty, Fairview/Erie: The Erie student played for Fairview’s girls lacrosse team and is now at the University of Denver. The defender helped turn the Knights into one of the premier programs in girls lacrosse.
Shane Williams, Fairview: One of the best seasons by a goalkeeper in recent memory, at least in the area, Williams was sensational in front of the net while leading the Knights to the 5A title game. He averaged around 14 saves per game in the fall.
Other standouts from 2022: Karolina Bank, Fairview; Brendan Barcewski, Longmont; Zane Bergen, Niwot; Luke Blankinship, Boulder; Maddox Boston, Mead; Maddie Brady, Broomfield; Cole Carlucci, Monarch; Ceci Chiaravalle, Lyons; Bryce Conover, Frederick; Addison Engel, Niwot; Breanna Fiala, Broomfield; Maeve Flentie, Niwot; Grant Gaddis, Silver Creek; Kieran Gaffney, Legacy;
Ashtin Gilio, Dawson; Jorden Gyaltsen, Peak to Peak; Ben Harding, Silver Creek; Skylar Hawk, Holy Family; Max Heins, Centaurus; Rudiger Heitz, Holy Family; Jaiselyn Hernandez, Erie; Maelynn Higgins, Broomfield; Nolan Hoffman, Mead; Haley Howell, Frederick; Canon Juarez, Broomfield; Garrett Keeler, Broomfield; Megan Kelleghan, Silver Creek; Caleb Johnson, Longmont; Maddox Leggett, Skyline; Helen Leon, Dawson; Kullen Lerma, Legacy; Morgan Lukinac, Fairview;
Logan Miller, Skyline; Kennedy Nelson, Broomfield; Lilly Nichols, Broomfield; Julia Pattison, Monarch; Cam Piggott, Monarch; Kyle Raskay, Legacy; Sam Riecken, Monarch; Kendall Rippley, Legacy; Mia Ritchie, Broomfield; Addison Ritzenhein, Niwot; Kate Runyon, Jefferson Academy; McKenzie Sais, Frederick; Ramon Salazar, Erie; Brandon Sanchez, Legacy; James Shiers, Mead; Malik Sigg-Brown, Lyons;
Sam Stem, Erie; Cooper Stephens, Legacy; Kiki Vaughn, Boulder; Joslynn Veltien, Mead; Jackson Ward, Holy Family; Luke Weber, Niwot; Haley Williams, Mead; Zach Wojtalik, Centaurus; Conor Wolf, Dawson.