The high school winter sports season has fewer teams competing than in both the fall and spring seasons but the four Berthoud High School (BHS) teams in action this winter provided plenty of excitement. Below is a wrap-up of the winter sports season as well as our picks for the player of the year from each program.

Boys basketball

Reece Stratmeyer

For the fourth time in as many years, the Berthoud High School (BHS) boys basketball team took to the floor this winter under the leadership of a new coaching staff. This season, the Spartans were led by new Head Coach Lee Espinoza and assistants Reese Gadlin, Antonio Grace and Ben Sullivan. Upon taking the job, Espinoza said he was aware the program had fallen on hard times in recent years and that he was committed to seeing the rebuild through, knowing full well it would not happen overnight.

On the season, the Spartans’ varsity squad was able to muster only two wins, finishing the season with a 2-21 overall record that included a winless 0-10 mark in Longs Peak League play. Despite the struggles, the team demonstrated toughness and grit throughout the winter and showed growth and development along the way.

Berthoud picked up victories against Skyview Academy, 60-38, and Valley, 58-45, and in their penultimate game of the year, came within a hair of defeating Skyline, ultimately losing by a razor-thin 59-55 final score.

A trio of sophomores – Darin Davidson, Declan Murphy and Reece Stratmeyer – all turned in strong seasons, giving Berthoud a look at what appears to be a bright future. Stratmeyer’s 30 points in Berthoud’s win over Skyview represents the high-water mark for a single game scoring output and the most points in a single game by a Spartan basketball player in several years and his 208 points led the team.

Davidson demonstrated his well-roundedness as a player, pacing the team with 23 three-pointers made while also leading the team in steals (24) and assists (38) and was third on the squad with 75 rebounds. Senior Jonas May turned in a very strong season for Berthoud as well, finishing second in scoring to Stratmeyer with 183 points and leading the team with 90 rebounds on the year.

In addition to May, Berthoud will say also say goodbye to seniors Jesse Young, Lawson Dawe, Liam Brown and Alex Moonin all of whom played in at least 20 games this past season. While the seniors will be missed for both their production and leadership, the team will approach next season looking to take the next step in the rebuilding process and appears well-poised to do precisely that.

Surveyor Boys Basketball Player of the Year: Reece Stratmeyer

Girls Basketball

The BHS girls basketball squad has long been one of the school’s most successful athletic programs and one that is respected and well-regarded statewide. The 2021-22 season was no exception.

Ally Padilla

Head Coach Alan Gibson’s squad entered the season with the stated goal of making another run through the 4A state playoffs and accomplished that goal. The Lady Spartans finished the regular season 17-6 overall and 5-4 in Longs Peak League (LPL) play and, thanks to a tough schedule both in and out of conference – seven of the 10 teams in the LPL qualified for the state tourney – Berthoud earned the No. 15 seed in the 4A state playoffs.

The Lady Spartans began the year winners of seven straight, including wins over rival Erie, Greeley Central and 5A Fossil Ridge. The team did experience something of a hiccup in the later portion of the regular season where they dropped four of five. Yet the Lady Spartans were able to right the ship, finishing the regular season with three-straight wins before they mopped the floor with Mesa Ridge in the second round of state. The Sweet 16 matchup with No. 2 overall seed Mullen, a private school from the southern Denver suburbs, proved a tough draw and Berthoud’s season came to an end with a 77-31 loss.

The 66-21 win over Mesa Ridge was as good a victory as the team had all season, stifling defense coupled with clutch shooting from downtown was an ideal way for the team’s seven seniors – Hallie Cook, Anndee Davidson, Carly Fischer, Addy Kirkpatrick, Lia Koolstra Ally Padilla and Sidney Premer – to finish their final high school home game.

Throughout the season, the Lady Spartans relied on a deep roster that was highly adaptable on both ends of the floor; Berthoud made frequent use of substitutions and each and every player on the roster embraced their role.

Padilla led the team with 380 points, 80 assists and 95 steals and figures to garner strong consideration for the 4A All-State team. Junior Aidan Carr also turned in a spectacular campaign, leading the team with a whopping 285 rebounds and finished second on the squad to Padilla with 354 points and 69 steals. Fellow junior Katie Vierra grew into her point guard role as the season progressed and will be one of many underclassmen – along with Reece Kraljic, Gracie Flores and Paige Farnam, among others, around whom the team will build next season.

Surveyor Girls Basketball Player of the Year: Ally Padilla

Girls Swimming

The BHS girls swimming and diving team took to the pool this winter for their fourth season of competition. While the team is in its relative infancy, the Lady Spartans have already made waves throughout the state as a top contender in the 3A ranks.

Head Coach Matt Goldsmith remarked at the season’s end he was expecting 2021-22 to be something of a rebuilding year and while having high expectations for his team, said that even he was surprised at the amount of success the team earned.

Corinne Roberts

No one on the squad shined brighter than freshman phenom Corinne Roberts, who broke the BHS record in the 100-yard breaststroke race in her very first high school meet. Roberts went on to break the record several more times over the course of the season, saving her best for last with a time of 1:10.01 in the breaststroke race at state, good enough to claim seventh place at the state championships.

After a strong showing at the Longs Peak Conference championship meet the week prior, the Lady Spartans squad entered the 3A state championship meet with a ton of confidence and an eagerness to compete. The results spoke for themselves – as a team, Berthoud placed 13^th in the 43-team field with 102 total team points, there were 11 season-best times turned in at state, representing 64% of the swims attempted.

Roberts also took seventh place in the 200-yard individual medley and swam the anchor legs on both the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relay races alongside teammates Natalie Major, Amelia Hughes and Marin Kasperbauer. In the 400 free relay, in which Berthoud placed 10^th in the finals with a time of 3:55.68 improved by nearly four seconds over their prelim time (3:59.51).

Kasperbauer, who has also represented the Lady Spartans well over her four years on the squad, placed 14^th in the 50-yard freestyle sprint race and 18^th in the 100-yard freestyle race, posting season-best times in each at the state meet. Kasperbauer was just slightly ahead of Major, a sophomore who took 19^th place, in the 100 free finals. Major also placed 18^th in the 200-yard freestyle race, adding five points to Berthoud’s team score.

While the team will no doubt miss the contributions of the seniors who have built the BHS swim team into a state powerhouse, the future appears very, very bright for the young Lady Spartans squad.

Surveyor Girls Swimmer of the Year: Corinne Roberts

Wrestling

The BHS wrestling team saw a changing of the guard this offseason with new Head Coach Josh Galindo leading what is Berthoud’s most consistently successful boys sport. Galindo took over after former head coach and longtime time assistant coach Will Carron retired to spend more time with his young family.

Galindo and his staff hit the ground running with a what was a very young squad; Berthoud had only senior, Tanner Coble, on a roster that was predominantly composed of freshman and sophomores. Two juniors – Wil Moneypenny and Evan Torres – joined Coble as the squad’s most experienced and successful wrestlers and were the three Spartans to earn a trips to the state championship tournament.

Will Moneypenny

Moneypenny, for the second season in a row, entered state as a regional champion in the 145lb weight class after a dominating performance at regionals that saw the junior spend just 176 seconds on the mat, winning his matches with pins in 34, 55 and 86 seconds. Torres and Coble each entered state after having won third place at regionals.

Moneypenny advanced to the championship semifinals where he suffered both a defeat and an apparent upper-body injury. While the junior could have opted to forfeit his matches on the third and final day of the meet, he demonstrated a warrior’s spirit and dominated on the final day of state, winning a decisive 7-0 decision in the consolation semifinals to enter the third-place bout where he scored four points to take the lead in the opening two minutes, two points coming for both a takedown and near-fall. Even with the lead, Moneypenny did not relent, adding two more on another takedown before securing Kyler Liddell of Alamosa to the mat to win the bronze emphatically; the final whistle coming at 2:01.

While neither was able to get a spot on the podium, both Torres and Tanner Coble turned in showings at state of which to be proud. After suffering defeats in the opening round, both went on the win matches in the consolation bracket and walk away from the state championships able to be nothing other than proud of their efforts.

The Spartans will attack next season with a full complement that includes not just Torres and Moneypenny but underclassmen Jacob Montoya, Ty Fanacht, Peter Young, Trevor Moore, Blake Coble and Ian Richardson, all of whom grew and matured and were right on the cusp of state berths this season.

Surveyor Wrestler of the Year: Wil Moneypenny