The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) has honored the very first sanctioned Colorado Championship Field Hockey Team—the 1997 Colorado Academy Varsity Team.
Members of the 1997 team were introduced prior to this year’s State Championship game at Denver’s All-City Stadium. In attendance were Coach Chris Hopkins, Dominique Cook Rycroft ‘98, Betsy Wagner ’00, Katherine Schutz Hansen ’00, Jeska Horgan-Kobelski ’98, Liz Golting Helwig ‘98.
The members of the 1997 team were Marisa Baca ‘98; Libby Bourke ‘99; Meghan Burke ‘98; Alix Cannon ‘01, Lauren Cannon ‘99; Anna Collins ‘98; Dominique Cook ‘98; Jamie Gilmore ‘98; Liz Golting ‘00; Jeska Horgan-Kobelski ‘98; Anna Klein ‘98; Melissa Nelson ‘99; Kathryn Schutz ‘00; Sara Shamos ‘00; Katie Truitt ‘98; Betsy Wagner ‘00; and Julianne Wu ‘00. Horgan-Kobelski, Cook, and Burke were captains. Coaches were Cheryl Plummer and Chris Hopkins; managers were Darcy Craig ‘01 and Becca Truitt ‘00.
CA was a pioneer in Field Hockey, starting its first team in 1971, when girls were first admitted to the Upper School. Archival records show that CA’s team won the State Championship Game—not yet sanctioned by CHSAA—in 1977.
In 1981, five members of CA’s Field Hockey Team competed on a Colorado All-Star Team at a national tournament in Florida.
In 1992, CA’s team won its second State Championship in an exciting overtime game against Kent Denver School.
More recently, CA’s Field Hockey Team has won championships in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. This year, CA was ranked #4 and made it to the State Semifinals, but lost to Cherry Creek.
