In the 20 years since Grandview High School opened its doors, the Aurora school’s athletic program has grown and morphed into a lot of things.
After a historic night March 10 at the Denver Coliseum, it’s officially a basketball school.
The Grandview girls repeated as Class 5A state champions with a dramatic 67-61 victory over Regis Jesuit in an all-Aurora final, then returned to the court a couple of hours later to celebrate the boys team’s first title after a 57-52 win over George Washington.
“We’ve been a basketball school,” junior Dayne Prim contended afterwards.
“Hopefully everyone that was here tonight knows that now.”
Grandview pulled off an extremely rare feat with his and hers hoops titles, yet not something totally unique in Aurora.
Regis Jesuit swept the 5A boys and girls crowns back in 2009, something ThunderRidge out of Highlands Ranch also did in 2003.
But this one was overwhelmingly special for Grandview’s basketball programs, which had seen a whole slew of other sports — all girls, with the exception of the football team in 2007 — add state championship team hardware before coach Josh Ulitzky’s girls team did it last season.
Though Ulitzky’s team graduated four-year varsity star Michaela Onyenwere (now at UCLA) and other key senior regulars in Kennede Brown and Lenzi Hudson, the Wolves were considered a very strong contender to vie for another state championship.
Not many might have seen coach Michael Rogers’ boys team taking that step after losing two major contributors in Gaige Prim and LeChaun Duhart from a team that lost in heartbreaking fashion to Rock Canyon in last season’s Great 8.
Yet there were Rogers’ Wolves holding the state championship trophy after continuing Aurora’s recent tradition of rising to the occasion on the big stage.
Grandview took its turn as the fourth different city programs — following Regis Jesuit, Eaglecrest and Overland, all multiple winners — to win 5A boys crowns in the past decade.
The Wolves came into the tournament with the No. 6 overall seed and left three higher-seeded teams — No. 3 Chaparral, No. 2 ThunderRidge and finally No. 5 George Washington, which made the state championship game last season as well — in its wake.
Without a superstar, the Wolves were the very definition of a team with contributions coming from everybody who stepped foot on the floor in the regular season and playoffs.
“It’s a team game for sure, we have every single player on this team contribute and do whatever we have to do to win,” senior Gunner Gentry said. “We don’t have any superstars. Dayne and Ben stepped up huge and carried the load tonight, though.”
Indeed Prim rose to the occasion with 20 points and Boone made 5-of-6 free throws inside the final two minutes to seal the win.
“It feels so good. We had a lot to prove since last year and we did,” Prim said. “Now, we’re champions.”
Transfer guards Davon Walker (Douglas County) and Lian Ramiro (Manual) didn’t endure last season’s disappointment, but certainly helped to alleviate it this season.
They quickly found themselves in a special place for basketball.
“I don’t have the words to describe this moment, both boys and girls coming out with the championships is more than I could have dreamed of,” Walker said. “I love my teammates, I love everything about Grandview and I’m so blessed to be in this place right now.”
An emotional Rogers afterwards quipped “hopefully they can squeeze our banner in between all of these girls ones.”
The Grandview girls will add another banner thanks to a season in which the program tried to emerge from the shadow of Onyenwere, whose immense talent naturally drew the spotlight.
The baton has officially been passed.
“Michaela texted us today and said ‘I know you guys can do it,’” senior Jaiden Galloway said. “The whole time she was at Grandview, everyone seemed to make it about her. She wanted it to be about us, too.”
The Wolves proved their all-around mettle in the most crucial situation.
Leading scorer Leilah Vigil fouled out with five minutes left and a five-point deficit, but Grandview got big performances late from junior Alisha Davis and precocious freshman Addison O’Grady (who finished with a game-high 14 points) to outscore Regis Jesuit 15-4 from then on and complete the repeat.
“I’m so happy for these girls, they did such an amazing job, especially in the fourth quarter,” said Ulitzky, whose team became the first to repeat in 5A since Regis Jesuit in 2013-14.
“We fought through everything and were really mentally tough,” he added.
Vigil (who contributed 13 points, as did Davis) went through agony on the bench during the last five minutes, but was proud of how her team persevered.
“It was just amazing,” she said.
Boone walked off the court with the championship banner draped around his shoulders with a look of somebody in the middle of a fantastic dream.
“This is just unbelievable, ending my career like this and having the girls and boys both win,” Boone said. “I don’t really know what just happened.”
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Sentinel Prep Sports
