NoCo Nine: Rocky Mountain tennis run, a perfect game, City Swim titles highlight week's best

Championship season is almost here.

In the meantime, local high school athletes are winning big across nearly every sport.

This past week alone featured tennis playoff wins, new school track records, baseball dramatics, a soccer standout and changes coming to CHSAA.

Here are the best things we saw in Fort Collins-area high school sports this past week:

Note: If you have nominations for future NoCo Nine editions, please send them via email to ChrisAbshire@coloradoan.com for consideration.

Fossil Ridge swimming dominates City Meet

The annual City Meet hit the pool last week and Fossil Ridge made a big splash, winning the team title for a 15th straight season.

Jake Barela (50- and 100-yard freestyle) and Brennen O'Neil (100 back and 200 individual medley) each won a pair of individual races while also swimming on the SaberCats' 200 medley and 400 free relay title-winning squads.

Pierce Bickerton also won the 200 and 500 freestyle swims, part of nine Fossil wins in 12 events for another dominant city championship.

Fort Collins' Axel Erickson (100 breaststroke) and Aidan Favela (1-meter diving) plus Poudre's 200 free relay team won the other city titles.

Rocky Mountain's pitcher tosses perfect game

Even in shortened fashion, you don't get perfect games very often.

Rocky Mountain pitcher Ross Frank fired a five-inning perfect game last week. And for good measure, he did it against city rival Poudre in the Lobos' 10-0 win.

Frank struck out seven and needed just 51 pitches to retire all 15 Impala batters he faced. After a close game early, Rocky ended the game with seven runs in the fifth inning to trigger a mercy rule and finish off the perfect game.

Ballek's big week spurs SaberCats

The Fossil Ridge girls soccer team continues to be among the state's elite in Class 5A, and so does star forward Abby Ballek.

The junior combined for seven goals in Fossil Ridge's wins over city rival Fort Collins (4-1) and Brighton (10-0). Ballek had two goals and an assist vs. the Lambkins before pouring in five goals with an assist against the Bulldogs.

She now has 20 goals and 13 assists in just 11 matches this season and will also play with the new Windsor-based NoCo Rain semi-pro women's soccer team this summer.

Rocky Mountain tennis team makes 5A semifinals

What a season for the Lobos on the tennis court.

Fourth-seeded Rocky Mountain won 5A first-round and quarterfinal matches last week to reach the state semifinals in the team format against No. 1 Ralston Valley (that semifinal won't take place until May 7).

The Lobos beat No. 13 Arapahoe 6-1 on Wednesday and then barely beat the rain Friday with a tight 4-2 victory over No. 5 Rock Canyon.

Top Rocky singles players Faith Galyardt and Emma Praver won their matches in both duals. No. 2 doubles duo Izzy Kinder/Mia Benz and No. 3 doubles squad Hanna Schneider/Justine Anderson also swept their playoff matches.

Regionals arrive this week and Rocky will be in the mix for state qualifiers at every line.

PSD boys district teams extend win streaks

The two district boys squads are rolling right now.

The Poudre School District boys lacrosse team extended its win streak to seven with a 13-5 win over Ralston Valley and a 10-7 road victory at Monarch. Colton Pawlak had 11 combined goals for the Stars, who are 5-0 in league play and now inside the CHSAA 5A top-10.

The PSD boys lacrosse team swept six sets last week in 3-0 wins over Severance and Mountain View. Jason Mynatt had 16 assists in each match for the Stars, who have won four in a row and are also unbeaten in league play with a 7-0 record.

CHSAA adds hoops shot clock, sanctions new sport

It was a big week for CHSAA changes, as the Legislative Council made a couple big decisions last week.

First, a 35-second shot clock is coming to high school varsity basketball, starting in 2026-27. Per the National Federation of State High School Associations, Colorado will be the 28th state to have a shot clock.

Second, the council also voted to sanction girls flag football after a pilot program, making Colorado the 11th state to do so. The sport will officially start in the 2024-25 school year, though PSD plans to wait one year before starting a district team.

SaberCats' magical season continues with walk-off win

The Fossil Ridge baseball team remains parked at No. 1 in Class 5A with a 14-1 record that included three wins last week.

The highlight was a dramatic 5-4 home win in eight innings against Legacy. Fossil appeared to have the game in hand but the Lighting tied it up with three in the 7th inning and then took a 4-3 lead with a run in the 8th.

But the SaberCats battled back with two in the bottom half, capped by Owen Morgan's walk-off base hit. The wild ride continues for Fossil in coach Marc Wagner's first year at the helm.

Windsor's Mikey Munn adds 400 to spring resume

The Windsor senior just keeps getting faster

Munn added to his short-sprint excellence this spring with a school-record 47.68-second win in the Weld County Championships 400-meter dash last week.

He's the first Coloradan high schooler to go under 48 seconds in the event this season, winning by nearly two seconds. For good measure, Munn also won the 100 dash in a school-record 10.52 seconds.

He now holds the top time in Colorado in both events this year.

Games of the Week (April 28-May 4)

• Track & Field: Stutler Twilight, at Cherry Creek (Tuesday, postponed from Saturday)

• Girls tennis: Regionals, at various sites (Tuesday through Friday)

• Boys swimming: FRL Conference Championships, at VMAC (Friday and Saturday)

• Girls lacrosse: PSD vs. Arapahoe (Thursday, 7 p.m.)

• Girls soccer: Fossil Ridge at Broomfield (Thursday, 6:30 p.m.)

• Baseball: Rocky Mountain vs. Fort Collins, at City Park (Friday, 6 p.m.)

• Baseball: Fossil Ridge at Poudre (Saturday, 6 p.m.)

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: NoCo Nine: Best of Fort Collins-area prep sports for April 21-27