Dorsey dives into red numbers, wins Palmer Invitational
Sometimes the most difficult adversity a golfer has to overcome is getting the better of everything happening in that space between their ears.
A couple of early-season stumbles have given Manitou Springs sophomore Addie Dorsey fits as she’s tried to get her golf game on the track that placed her inside the top 10 at the Class 3A state tournament a year ago.
After finishing in the top five in the season opener at Cheyenne Shadows, she took second at the first Tri-Peaks tournament of the season on April 2 at La Junta. With both scores in the 80s, the mental battle was getting the best of her.
That all changed on Tuesday at Patty Jewett Golf Course as she fired a 2-under-par 71 to win the Palmer Terror Invite. It was a reset in several ways that Dorsey needed to get back into a rhythm.
“It’s a combination of things, really,” she said. “It’s getting back into a game that I wasn’t playing for a little bit, so it is what it is. You have ups and downs and that’s just how it goes.”
He opened her tournament on the par-4 9th where she made a bogey before getting the stroke right back with a birdie on 10. She made a birdie on the par-5 16th and then an eagle on the par-5 18th.
She ran into trouble on the front 9 as she rattled off three straight bogeys to get back to even. But she rebounded with a birdie on No. 5 and cleaned up for another birdie on the par-5 7th.
“I just needed to remember that I’ve played this game for a long time and that I just needed to get back into it,” she said.
Madison Sharon finished 28th at the tournament, shooting a 103. Pueblo West won the team title which Manitou needs a third player to qualify for.
Nonetheless, a Manitou Mustang went home with hardware and Dorsey doesn’t believe that it will be a one-time occurrence this season.
“It’s just a matter of going out there and doing it,” Dorsey said. “I just need to play the best that I can, try to score well and not be too hard on myself. A little healthy pressure is fine.”
The Mustangs are in action again on Monday when they head to Kissing Camels for the Coronado Cougar Classic.
Manitou soccer getting healthy, comfortable for tough stretch ahead
The Manitou Springs girls soccer team is getting its full roster back on the field and although there is still a bit of a feeling-out process, the results are trending in favor of the Mustangs.
Since returning from Spring Break, Manitou is 3-0, getting a 10-0 win at St. Mary’s, a 3-1 win at Crested Butte and a 2-0 win over Vanguard.
Scores aside, however, this is a team that hasn’t seen a fully healthy roster until only recently, so it’s caught in a tricky spot where it’s trying to balance figuring out how to play together while still trending toward playing its best soccer in the most crucial stretch of the regular season.
“I’m close to getting settled on a starting lineup and feeling comfortable with formation and with what we’re trying to do with the players that we have,” coach Ben Mack said. “We also need to start building towards that playoff push and playing our best soccer.”
In some ways they’ve looked in top form, like in the 10-0 win over the Pirates on April 3. Seven different players scored goals, but it was Elie Bourgois, Nolan Barrett and Kara Donegan each netting two. It was also Donegan’s first game of the year, which was a welcome sight to see.
But she’s not taking a victory lap yet. Following the close wins over Crested Butte and Vanguard, she knows that the team still has some issues to polish out in the coming weeks.
“We’re still getting into the groove,” Donegan said. “At the start [of the Vanguard game], it was a little chaotic and we weren’t clicking. Luckily, we found a way to turn on that switch and hopefully we can keep it going.”
To add to Donegan’s return was the return of Nici Sharon in goal. A concussion against Pueblo Centennial kept her out of action for a couple of weeks, but she looked back to full strength in the shutout win over Vanguard.
Manitou has a few big tests coming up, perhaps none tougher than hosting Delta and their standout senior Jessie Black, who is second in the state in goals scored regardless of classification.
“That’s going to be a big one for us,” Mack said. “I don’t want to look ahead, we have a lot to deal with, but that’s kind of the crescendo that we’re shooting for.”
Before Delta, the Mustangs (4-1-2 overall) have home games against Thomas MacLaren and Lamar. But those can be two more opportunities for this team to get settled and comfortable with each other then.
Mustangs in search of football coach as Jeck heads to Doherty
Manitou Springs High School is in need of a new football coach as Stu Jeck will leave the district at the conclusion of the year.
Jeck has accepted a position on the coaching staff at Doherty under new coach Jeff Campbell. He interviewed for the head coach job when it was open and although Doherty athletic director Jon Shub chose Campbell, Jeck made a strong enough impression that the Spartans were able to pry him away from Manitou.
It’s a stinging loss for a football program that felt like it was gaining legs under Jeck’s watch.
“Coach Jeck leaving is a huge loss for a number of reasons,” superintendent Sean Dorsey said. “He did a great job with the football program and I think he’s just a great human being. He also did a great job teaching young men how to be young men.”
Jeck took over for Cory Archuleta following the Mustangs’ spring season state championship win in 2021. That fall, the Mustangs went 2-7, but it would be Jeck’s worst year at the helm. He had them at 3-6 the year after and then went 4-5 in both 2023 and 2024 and had the Mustangs in the playoff conversation late in the season.
The growth the Mustangs showed in his time could be identified in a 14-7 loss to Woodland Park back on Oct. 25, 2024. The Panthers were undefeated, and the Mustangs battled with them for 48 minutes and could’ve just as easily come away with a win in that game instead of a loss. Jeck leaves Manitou with a 13-23 record.
Jeck’s departure could signal a complete reset for the football program. Offensive coordinator Brandon DeMatto stepped down from the staff at the end of the season and another assistant, Nick Nunley, is joining the football staff in another district.
As the school begins the search for its next coach, there are attributes that Jeck had that Dorsey hopes can be found in the future head of the football program.
“First off, Stu was a leader,” Dorsey said. “I think we need to take into account that what this program needs, and what our high school needs, is leadership. We have some great things going on at the high school, and Stu was a part of that. We have to find someone who can fill those shoes.”
Manitou baseball pounces Peyton thanks to hustle play
A little hustle turned into a big rally.
The Manitou Springs baseball team was locked in a 1-1 tie with Peyton in the bottom of the third. Hayden Martinez was at the plate with two outs and hit a little dribbling ground ball to second base.
The senior sprinted down the line to beat the throw for an infield single. Seven hitters and seven runs later, the Mustangs had a commanding lead.
They went on to beat the Panthers 11-1, getting perhaps their biggest win of the season thus far. Peyton is a traditional Class 2A baseball powerhouse and among one of the best coached teams in the entire Pikes Peak Region.
“Coach [Kelly] Nickel does some of the best work in the Colorado Springs area,” coach Brandon DeMatto said. “I respect him a great deal. His kids are always working hard and always playing the right way. Beating them has always been a challenge for us.”
But playing Peyton has traditionally helped the Mustangs (3-6 overall) get better through the course of the season.
The difference in the win on April 2 was that the Mustangs got better through the course of the game. Through the first couple of innings, the Mustangs hit the ball hard, but had nothing to show for it. Cooper Frojen led off the third with a double to right center. A ground ball from Logan Moore scored Kaden Bunker, who was courtesy running for Frojen, to tie the game.
Then a hustle single broke things wide open.
Doubles from Ashur Lavigne and Maxton Bolster made it a 4-1 game before RBI singles from Frojen and Preston Rhodes gave Manitou a commanding 7-1 lead. That helped Frojen grow some confidence while on the mound. He threw five innings and gave up just one run, which was unearned. He struck out seven hitters while walking just one.
“[That rally] helped a lot,” Frojen said. “It gave the team a lot of momentum and we just rode it.”
DeMatto praised the hustle play from Martinez, another kid he identifies as someone who plays baseball the right way, but acknowledged that Frojen’s performance on the mound, and his growth in that role this year, was every bit as crucial in that win.
“He had some control issues early,” DeMatto said. “Today we found three pitches that he can have success with and that puts teams on their front foot a lot. When we take care of pitching and we hustle like we do, we’ll be competitive in games.”
The Mustangs open up league play this weekend with a road trip to Salida on Saturday. They’ll host their first league doubleheader when Lamar rolls into town on April 18.
Track team sees different environment at Nighthawk Invite
A select group of athletes from the Manitou Springs track and field team made its way to All City Stadium in Denver last weekend for the Northfield Nighthawk Invitational.
Following the distance runners’ trek to Niwot the week before, it was predominantly sprinters and jumpers that made the trip to Northfield and some of them came away with several notable finishes.
Among them were Dillon Gates taking 11th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.63 seconds and then following it up with a ninth-place finish in the 400 as he clocked a time of 56.05.
Ayden Polizzi grabbed the only other top-10 finish for the boys as he took sixth in the long jump with a mark of 18 feet, 7 inches.
For the girls, Brianna Legarski put up some solid sprint numbers as she finished 12th in the 100 and seventh in the 200.
Overall, it was a good experience for the team to compete in an environment a little outside of their comfort zone.
“Our schedule is so Pueblo-heavy this year, so it was an opportunity to be at a different venue with a different feel,” coach Anna Mack said. “It puts them in a different mindset when they compete because it’s so foreign and new.”
Mackinzy Wall had the best results of any Manitou athlete as she placed second in the discus. Her throw of 116-0 wasn’t her best of the season, but it is a sign that the work she’s putting in is generating consistent results.
“She has that competitor’s mindset,” Mack said. “She shows up and she wants to be in that top spot.”
The full team hasn’t competed at a meet since before Spring Break, but that changed with the TCA Invite on Thursday and the full team will also be going to the Pueblo West Thunder-Storm meet at CSU-Pueblo on Saturday.
This is the week that the Mustangs feel is pretty much the point of no return with the state meet just five weeks away. It’s time to dial things up and start setting sights on the big goals that the team has for the season.
“This is really the time to get focused, get things done and start to zero in on what we want to do the rest of the season,” Mack said.
The Mustangs do go north for one more meet this season before state and that comes next Friday at the Husky Twilight hosted by Douglas County.
