NoCo Nine: School records, Poudre power, baseball unbeatens highlight week's best

The calendar is turning to April, and that means every single spring sport is at a full sprint toward the May finish lines.

It was a busy week across the board on the local front, as sports like golf, tennis, swimming and track and field took center stage.

From a torrid tennis start to unbeaten baseball squads and school records on the track and in the pool, 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.

Preps meets collegiate at CSU's Jack Christiansen

The annual Jack Christiansen Invite on the CSU campus is always a unique event, mixing collegiate and high school track and field teams participating on the same weekend.

Four city schools competed in this year's edition and there were several standout performances, with three athletes winning multiple titles.

• Poudre's Gery Lockman swept the boys 100- and 200-meter boys sprints.

• Rocky Mountain's Kaiden Major won both the boys discus and shot put events.

• Rocky's Avry Mackenzie won the girls pole vault and 300-meter hurdles, also finishing second in the 100 hurdles.

Liberty Common's Isabel Allori also posted an elite performance, winning the girls 3200-meter run in 11 minutes, 1.20 seconds, good for MileSplit's U.S. Second Team standard.

Lobos down Lambkins to continue fast start

The Rocky Mountain girls tennis team had a fantastic week, beating city rival Fort Collins and then finishing second at the Greeley West Tennis Invitational.

The Lobos beat the Lambkins, 6-1, gaining a big crosstown road win. They're now 2-0 against city opponents this season and are a win over Poudre away from claiming the city title.

Rocky turned around and earned a runner-up finish in Greeley, just four points back of winner Rock Canyon in a strong field. Emma Praver was one of four lines to make the finals and was dominant at No. 2 singles, winning four straight matches while dropping just six games in eight sets.

Trio of local baseball teams remain unbeaten

We knew this was going to be a great year for local baseball, and three local teams are already off to unbeaten starts.

Fossil Ridge (3-0) blanked Conifer and Ponderosa in consecutive shutouts last week, with Jensen Planansky driving in four vs. Ponderosa and Mason Griffin homering vs. Conifer. The SaberCats still haven't allowed a run through three games.

Fort Collins (5-0) won three games last week, beating Mountain View, Dakota Ridge and Grandview by a combined 22-8 tally. The Lambkins have a deep lineup and pitching staff that will be tough to beat.

And Windsor is 8-0, winning three games last week with an offense that just won't let up. The Wizards scored 29 runs in those three (shutout) victories and have piled up 100 runs in eight games so far.

Micah Moore sets new Poudre record

The Impalas' senior keeps making waves and swimming his way into the Poudre record books.

Moore set a new school record last week in the 100 backstroke with a time of 54.29 seconds, eclipsing the previous mark set by Tyler Hicks (54.52) in 2011.

Moore also won the 50 free race at the Five Star Sprint Eliminator in Thornton, and he now holds Poudre's 100 back and 200 IM school-record times.

Fossil Ridge girls golf dominates PSD Invite

Golf is here as spring arrives and local teams faced an early test with the PSD Invite at Harmony Club in Timnath last week.

The Fossil Ridge girls dominated, with two SaberCats squads going 1-2 in the team standings while the third Fossil team took fifth. Windsor finished third in the team event, while Resurrection Christian was fourth.

Fossil freshman Richa Sajjan won with an impressive 1-under-par 71, while Windsor's Macy Kleve finished just one shot back.

Fossil junior Ellie Barry took third (74), Timnath freshman CheyAnne Schrick was fourth (76) and Fossil's Abbi Beld rounded out the top five with a 78.

Expect Fossil Ridge to be a major state contender this season.

PSD Stars shine in week's first season

The PSD girls lacrosse squad finally kicked off the season last week and posted a strong 2-1 start, only losing to state power Cherry Creek in a tough 11-6 defeat.

But the Stars bounced back, defeating Ralston Valley and Dakota Ridge by a combined score of 24-11. Launa Sanders leads PSD with eight goals so far, while Kendall VanMeveren has seven goals and four assists.

Poudre puts away Wellington in local battle

The unbeaten teams aren't the only ones hitting the ball all over the yard.

Poudre baseball is 4-3 with an explosive offense that was on display in local matchup against Wellington last weekend.

The Impalas broke open a tight game with eight runs in the final two frames to run-rule the Eagles for a 10-0, six-inning win.

Jack Prenni went 2-4 with a triple and three RBIs, while Ryan Vandever and Brady Santillanes each had three hits and an RBI. Angelo Vieira and Brett Lamb combined for six scoreless innings on the bump.

Tatum Berg breaks own Fossil Ridge school record

The record books got a shakeup across the city, too, as junior Tatum Berg set a new school best for Fossil Ridge in the girls 1600-meter run with a time of 5:01.70.

Berg eclipsed her own previous school best of 5:03.79 by over two seconds and now owns the third best Class 5A time this season.

Games of the Week (April 1-6)

• Douglas County at Rocky Mountain baseball (Wednesday, April 3)

• Fossil Ridge girls tennis at Cherry Creek (Wednesday, April 3)

• Valor Christian at Fort Collins girls soccer (Thursday, April 4)

• Fossil Ridge at Poudre girls soccer (Thursday, April 4)

• Regis Jesuit at PSD girls lacrosse (Thursday, April 4)

• Rocky Mountain at Windsor girls soccer (Friday, April 5)

• Track & field: Altitude Invite, at Timnath (Saturday, April 6)

• Mountain Vista at Fort Collins baseball (Saturday, April 6)

• Eaglecrest at PSD boys volleyball (Saturday, April 6)

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: NoCo Nine: Best of Fort Collins-area prep sports for March 24-30