Today's Sports

The Dakota Ridge girls might be onto something.

Three days after defeating Green Mountain, the Eagles picked off their second straight Class 5A Jefferson County League opponent, toppling rival Columbine 48-43 on the Rebels’ home floor Jan. 16.

“I think this can be a turning point for us,” said Brooke Orcutt, who scored 11 points. “We fought through (early season struggles) and now it’s our time to succeed.”

Chaos is in the eye of the beholder.

That was certainly the case at the Chatfield Invitational wrestling tournament on Jan. 10.

 What was intended to be a standard tournament became a dual tournament with the ambitions of being concluded before 3 p.m.

It actually worked. But it was a flurry of matches, forfeits, yelling, pins and strange sights, such as junior varsity wrestlers filling in empty weights for other schools.

Trash talking in basketball? All the time.

Taunting in football? See: Philip Rivers.

Smack talk in baseball? A time-honored tradition.

But what about a little verbal sparring in swimming? Better yet – girls swimming?

That was what Columbine jokester Kaitlynn Jackson tried before the 50-yard freestyle race Jan. 9. Jackson walked by Chatfield ace Shelley Perkins and told her she was going down.

“I like to mess with Shelley. I like racing against her,” Jackson said. “She’s fun to race off of.”

DENVER — In the group picture of the elite teams in Class 5A hoops, the Chatfield Chargers found out they are the faces just on the edge of the frame.

Facing defending champion Denver East, the 10th-ranked Chargers ultimately did what most expected – played hard but lost 94-80. But that is just part of the bigger picture.