Out In Leftfield  January 2012 
BY BRUCE WARREN

 
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BMX RACING
Niwot High freshman Collin Hudson is a 3-time Champion in BMX racing, capturing his third title in November.  Hudson, who was nicknamed “Crazy Legs Hudson” by his grandfather, describes himself as “quick, stylish and fast” on his bike. 
Bicycle Moto Cross (BMX) racing got its start in California in the late 1960’s and has now become an Olympic event.  It consists of a race on a 350-meter circuit, starting from a high ramp and continuing over a track alternating bumps, banked corners and flat sections.  Generally eight riders compete in each race. There is also a Freestyle competition where riders are judged on executing figures and jumps.
In 2010, Hudson won a UCI BMX world championship as a 13-year-old in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.  He won the Worlds again as a 14-year-old in July 2011, in Copenhagen, where he won two Union Cycliste Internationale titles. 
On Nov. 27, Hudson picked up another title in Tulsa (Okla.), where he won the ABA Grand Nationals.  Hudson was most excited about winning the Grand Nationals, because he had never won it before in six years of competing.  Hudson was honored as The Denver Post Youth Excellence in Sports winner for November.  He rides as part of the Crupi Factory team riders. 

WRESTLING
Paco Retanes-Quinones (Niwot) of Colorado Mesa University lost his first-round match in the heavyweight division by a 9-3 decision at the Old Chicago Northern Colorado Open, but came back to win a 14-10 decision in the consolation rounds before losing by pin in the next round.
Retanes-Quinones won his first three matches at the Cowboy Open at the University of Wyoming before losing  in the semi-finals. 
He won his first match by a 17-12 decision over Alexander MacKenzie of Colorado School of Mines, then followed with a pin of Edgar Juarez of the University of Colorado.  He won the third match by an 11-10 decision over Zach Jensen of Utah Valley University before losing a 17-3 major decision to Fabian Guerrero of Colby Community College.  Retanes-Quinones lost by a technical fall 17-2 to third-place finisher Kevin Barrett of the University of Nebraska at Kearney.  

BASKETBALL
Marissa Gradoz (Niwot) led Colorado College with 11 rebounds and six assists in a 71-66 win over Johnson & Wales University Dec. 13.  Gradoz also scored eight points. Earlier Gradoz had a monster night against Trinity University, leading CC with 17 points, six rebounds and four steals in a 64-61 victory.  Colorado College overcame a nine-point deficit with under eight minutes to play.  Gradoz scored two points to give Colorado College its final lead with 39 seconds left. She posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds in a 77-67 win over Southwestern University.  
Meghan Heimstra (Silver Creek) posted 11 rebounds and six points, including a perfect 4-4 night at the free throw line, helping Colorado State University to a 58-52 win over North Dakota.  Hiemstra came off the bench to lead the Rams in rebounds in only 15 minutes of playing time.
Mike Melillo (Fairview) of Gunbarrel has started all 10 games for Colorado Mesa University, averaging 9.8 points per game, which is second highest on the team.  Melillo leads the team with 12 field goals from 3-point range, and is second on the team in both assists and steals.
He had 11 points in an 81-64 win over Adams State, with six rebounds and six assists Dec. 17.  Melillo added 10 points in a 69-53 win over Ft. Lewis, and scored 15 points in an 81-79 loss to New Mexico Highlands.  He also posted 15 points in a 76-70 win over Chadron State, and 10 in a 79-53 win over the University of Nebraska at Kearney.   

HOCKEY
Michael Sdao of Niwot had two assists for Princeton in a 4-3 loss to Harvard. Sdao scored the first goal of the game for Princeton and posted an assist on the second goal in a 3-2 loss to Quinnipiac.  He is third on the team in scoring with five goals and four assists at the halfway point of the season. 
Jonathan Sdao of Niwot had an assist for the New England Huskies in a 4-3 win over Bay State.  He also picked up an assist in a 3-2 overtime loss to Boston.   

CROSS COUNTRY
Miranda Lahman (Niwot) of Western Washington University was named to the 2011 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Cross Country academic all-star team.  Lahman, who is majoring in biology, led her team with a 3.96 GPA on a 4.0 scale.

FOOTBALL
Tyler Strong (Niwot) started for Wyoming at left guard in the New Mexico Bowl Dec. 17 against Temple.  Strong played well on the offensive line and also made a tackle when the Wyoming quarterback was intercepted late in the second quarter.  Wyoming ended the regular season with an 8-4 record, but came up on the short end of a 37-15 score against Temple. 

SOCCER
Lauren Shaner (Niwot) earned Honorable Mention All-Pac 10 Academic Honors for the University of Colorado.  Shaner is a junior majoring in business at CU.  Last year, Shaner earned First Team All-Big 12 Academic Honors. 

SWIMMING
Lily Yie (Niwot) finished second in both the 50Y and 100Y Breaststroke for Babson College in a dual meet win over Simmons College Nov. 29.  Earlier, Yie finished seventh in the 200Y Breaststroke and eighth in the 100Y Breaststroke in a triangular meet with MIT and Bowdoin College. She also placed seventh in the 200 IM at the triangular meet. 
Laura Farrar (Niwot) won the 200Y Breaststroke and finished third in the 400Y IM for Widener University in the Swarthmore Invitational.  Farrar was part of four first-place relays, including a school-record time in the 400Y Medley Relay.  She took first place in the 100Y Breaststroke in a dual meet win over Washington (Md.)  Farrar was also part of the winning 200Y Freestyle Relay and the 200Y Medley Relay in the dual meet.
Eric Fischer (Niwot) finished 18th in the 200Y Backstroke for Denison University in the Miami Invitational. Fischer also finished 18th in the 500Y Freestyle and 14th in the 1650Y Freestyle
Matt Bisping (Niwot) won the 100Y and 200Y Breaststroke for Colorado School of Mines at the Mesa University Invitational, setting a pool record in the 100Y event. He finished third in the 50Y Freestyle and sixth in the 100Y Freestyle. Bisping was also part of the winning 200Y and 400Y Medley Relays. 
Aaron Buseman (Niwot) finished third in the 100Y Backstroke and third  in the 200Y IM for Coe College in a dual meet against Franklin College.  Buseman finished 27th in the 200Y Backstroke and 59th in the 100Y Freestyle at the 13-team Pioneer Classic. 
Topher Apple (Silver Creek) finished fourth in the 100Y and 200Y Breaststroke for Claremont-Scripps-Mudd in a dual meet against Pomona-Pitzer. Apple also finished fourth in the 50Y Freestyle in a dual meet win over Cal Tech.

BASEBALL
Connor Messinger (Niwot) is getting ready for the baseball season at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, which starts Feb. 1 with four games in Las Vegas. Messinger, who was named Baseball Player of the Year by the Boulder Daily Camera, and Times-Call for his efforts last spring, finally received the Northern Conference Athlete of the Year Award in baseball last month. The award had apparently been misplaced for the past six months.   

RUGBY
Luke Lahman (Niwot) scored the only try for the University of Colorado team in a 27-5 loss to Life in a Rugby 7’s match at the National Rugby Championship quarterfinals at Texas A&M.  “Life is well-known for rugby and recruits players internationally so CU had their hands full today,” according to Jane Lahman, who was able to watch the games streaming live on the USA Rugby website.  “Rugby 7’s is so much quicker than 15’s and really fun to watch,” she said. 
Luke Lahman is featured in an action photo on the rugbymag.com website coverage of the games. 
Colorado lost its first game in pool play to Texas A&M, but came back to beat Virginia in the round-2 match.  Lahman and Chris Martin combined for 15 points on three tries in the game. 
CU fell behind Miami 12-0 in the final round of pool play, but Lahman put Colorado on the board with an unconverted try in the sixth minute.  Colorado was behind 17-5 heading into intermission, but Lahman scored his fourth try of the day in the second half to give CU a comeback victory.