Manitou baseball looking to regain focus ahead of regionals
The Manitou Springs baseball team has been at its best this season when it has understood that nothing will be handed to it.
The Mustangs are at their best when they have to scrap, fight and feel like they need to earn their victories.
This weekend would be a good time to remember that mentality. At last weekend’s Tri-Peaks championships, the Mustangs couldn’t find the offensive output they enjoyed earlier in the season against Woodland Park. Manitou won the game 3-1, but had beaten the Panthers 14-1 earlier in the year.
Then in the league championship game, the Mustangs (12-10 overall, 7-1 Tri-Peaks) lost to Lamar 11-4. Manitou swept the Thunder when they met in a regular-season doubleheader.
“We’re back to being humbled and we need that,” coach Brandon DeMatto said. “It puts a whole lot of emphasis on what we need to do this week to get prepared for some really good teams this weekend.”
The Mustangs finished the season with a 15-3 loss to Mesa Ridge, but were comfortably inside the playoff field with regionals on the horizon. Manitou was sitting at No. 15 in the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index, which determines the postseason field. The top 32 teams advance to regionals this weekend. As of press time, the regional brackets had not been released by CHSAA.
But no matter who they ended up facing, the Mustangs know that they have to be sharper than they were last weekend. And having a group of battle-tested seniors helps with that.
“We have to set an example as a senior class,” Ben Perkins said. “Going into that tournament, we were thinking that it was set for us because we won all three games against those guys.”
Sophomore Maxton Bolster had a solid day at the plate in the two games, going a combined 5-for-7 with a pair of RBIs. He also held down the mound for 4 2/3 innings, giving up just two earned runs.
Manitou got the No. 16 seed in regionals, so they’ll head to the Region 1 tournament held at University High School in Greeley. The Mustangs will play Bennett on Friday with that winner playing the winner of University and Lincoln for a spot in the state tournament.
Manitou girls soccer runs out of steam in the second round
A rematch with Delta wasn’t meant to be. The Manitou Springs girls soccer team rolled through the first round of the Class 3A state tournament, beating Rocky Mountain Prep SMART 9-0 on May 8 before turning around and losing to Timnath 3-1 two days later.
The Mustangs were the No. 6 seed in the state tournament, meaning they got a home game against the Cubs, but couldn’t find the same offensive output that they had in the first round.
“I think they battled super hard,” coach Ben Mack said. “I don’t know that we could have fought any harder, they were just a better team than we were.”
The Cubs scored twice in the first 40 minutes and each team had a goal in the second half. In the win over Rocky Mountain Prep SMART, Eli Bourgeois scored three times while Kara Donegan added two goals and four other girls – including seniors Brenna Cote and Annika Kuzbek – each added one.
It was a tough loss, especially considering that the Mustangs will soon lose a good crop of seniors. But they’ve worked to put this team in a better place, considering there was nearly a full roster makeover after the Mustangs (12-3-2 overall) lost in the state title game in 2023.
With so much uncertainty following that loss, this group of seniors really shouldered the responsibility of keeping this program competitive as long as they were on the field. And they walk away proud of their effort in doing so.
“I just love this whole program,” Donegan said. “I love every teammate that has passed through here, the coaches, everything. I just love the whole environment and program.”
The Mustangs finish the seasons with 10 wins for the fifth year in a row. In that span, they’ve also had two seasons where they lost just one game. The first was in 2021 during the shortened COVID season where they lost to Aspen in the first round of the playoffs. The second was in 2023 when they went undefeated until losing to Jefferson Academy in the state title game.
I don’t know that we could have fought any harder. – Coach Ben Mack
The focus in 2025 was playing a tougher schedule to be more battle tested in the playoffs. The theory certainly worked, the Mustangs just ran into a tough matchup in Timnath. But this is a loss that could set them for success in the future.
“Everything we do has an eye toward the program,” Mack said. “I think that’s one reason we’ve been good for a lot of years. It’s always next up and we have that mentality that let’s build.”
Manitou loses seven seniors from this year’s team. Cote, Donegan and Kuzbek all graduate, as do Heather Larsen, Nici Sharon, Kylie Valade and Shaena Vigil.
“They’ve been with me since their freshman year, the whole group,” Mack said. “I’m going to miss a ton of stuff about them. I’ll miss their personalities and everything they gave to the program.”
Dorsey takes 2nd in region, headed back to state golf tournament
Getting to the Class 2A girls golf state tournament was a tougher road than Addie Dorsey was anticipating. But she’s feeling right at home as she eyes the two-day tournament at Pueblo Country Club next week,
Dorsey shot a 9-over-par 81 at Lone Tree Golf Club on May 12, which was good enough to get into the state field. In fact, it was good enough to tie for second place as an individual, losing out to Prospect Ridge Academy’s Hope Torres, last year’s 3A state champion.
“The course was really tough and I didn’t put myself in optimal positions,” Dorsey said. “I’ll admit that. And honestly, I was in the lead for a while and didn’t even know it. I wasn’t worried about the competition.”
Getting to PCC was always the goal. It’s a course that Dorsey is familiar with and she feels that she’ll have an advantage over a lot of the field.
“Not playing that course for the first time is definitely a different experience,” Dorsey said. “Once you get to know the course and how it plays, it’s easier to get around.”
The Manitou sophomore was a top-10 finisher at the 3A tournament last year at the Olde Course in Loveland. One bad hole in Round 1 set her behind the field a bit, but she turned around and shot the low round of the day in Round 2 with a 76.
This year, she has no desire to have a rough first round and have to battle back from a big Round 1 number. The second the ball hit the cup on no. 18 on Monday, her mind shifted to Pueblo and excitement started building.
“I know how to prepare for it better [this year] and know what it’s going to look like,” Dorsey said. “It’s different from the other tournaments because it has the title of ‘state.’ It’s not so much nerves, it’s just more of knowing I can do my best there.”
Madison Sharon shot 107 to just miss out on the state cut. Twenty-one players from each region go to state and Sharon finished in a tie for 24th.
The 2A girls golf state tournament begins Monday, May 19 at the Pueblo Country Club.
State track meet a family affair for Manitou Springs
At the start of the year, Tommy Reed could never have given a straight answer on his goals for the 2025 track and field season.
But now he has goals for the state meet, which takes place this weekend at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood.
“To win,” he said with a laugh. “I had no idea going into track season what I wanted to do. Going into distance was just to try it out and then the goal became to make state as I got progressively faster.”
He hit that mark as he sits at No. 17 in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes, 1.44 seconds. He is one of two freshmen to make the state cut, Resurrection Christian’s Lincoln Fagerlin being the other.
Reed will also run in the 4×800 relay alongside his twin brother Mikey. The tight bond that the Reed boys share could serve as a foundation not just for the relay team, but for the track as a whole in the coming year.
“I couldn’t have been happier to see Mike on the 4×800 team with me,” Tommy said. “My family was even talking about it. It’s such a great experience to see both me and Mike competing at state. I can’t wait to win something with him.”
The state track meet will be something of a family affair for the entire Manitou roster. Along with the Reed twins, another set of twins are heading up to Jeffco Stadium as Natalie and Alex Traenkle will both run on the girls 4×400 relay. Their older brother Ethan will join the Reed twins and Morgan Lachowicz-Vogt in the boys 4×800.
Jon and Ayden Polizzi – siblings but not twins – will run together on the boys 4×200.
For individual events, Yonas Hanson put together a solid 3,200 performance at the Friday Night Lights meet at Pueblo West, hitting a personal record of 9 minutes, 58.51 seconds. That time got into the state field.
“It was from a lesson learned from the week before [at the Pueblo Twilight],” coach Anna Mack said. “He had a 90% execution rate that night and then fell apart at the end. He learned what he did wrong, kept a clear head and executed his plan perfectly to get a PR [personal record] and move himself right to where we knew he should have been.”
The girls are well-represented outside of the relays. The Traenkle twins, Chloe Bresnahan and Bri Legarski will run the 4×400 relay. The 4×800 team of Bresnahan, Keyaira Moore, Natalie Traenkle and Acacia Gilmore – the same team that set the school record in the event earlier this year – will try to do something special.
“I’m excited for the 4×800,” Bresnahan said. “I hope we can get second, or even win. It’s a lot to hope for, but I think we can do it.”
Mackinzy Wall will also be going for a medal in the discus as she sits at No. 2 with a mark of 142 feet, 7 inches. She sits just three inches behind Pagosa Springs’ Abigail Nehring.
All around, this group of Manitou athletes isn’t going to state track for the sake of going. They can bring home some hardware and establish a firm standard of what it means to compete for this team moving forward.
“I want them to have a good experience at the meet, particularly with the number that we’re sending that aren’t seniors,” Mack said. “I want them to have a good experience so we can all come back next year and achieve higher.”
SPORTS CALENDAR
Friday, May 16 Track and field: State meet at Jeffco Stadium
Saturday, May 17 Track and field: State meet at Jeffco Stadium Baseball: Regionals (Time and opponents TBD)
Monday, May 19 Girls golf: 2A state tournament at Pueblo Country Club
Tuesday, May 20 Girls golf: 2A state tournament at Pueblo Country Club
Friday, May 23 Baseball: 3A state tournament at Greeley (TBD)
Friday, May 24 Baseball: 3A state tournament at Greeley (TBD)
STANDOUT MUSTANGS
Yonas Hanson (track and field): Ran a PR in the 3,200 at the Friday Night Lights meet to qualify for the state meet.
Elie Bourgeois (girls soccer): Scored three goals in Manitou’s playoff win over Rocky Mountain Preps SMART.
Dillon Ornelas (baseball): Went 1-for-3 with an RBI in Manitou’s win over Woodland Park in the Tri-Peaks semifinal.
