Highlands Ranch – In the early 1970s, Caryn Jarocki’s junior high school in suburban Chicago was like so many others that didn’t offer girls basketball.
To this day, there’s smoke coming out of the 46-year-old’s ears when she recalls prehistoric times for female athletics. “I could have been on (the boys) team, for God’s sake,” she said.
Ultimately, Jarocki stayed with the girls, played in high school and college, and has become Colorado’s central figure in schoolgirl basketball.
“I think we have the premier program in the state right now,” the Highlands Ranch girls coach said.
With five championships in eight seasons, including the past two, more than two decades on the job – 11 each at Colorado Academy and Highlands Ranch – and acclaim from the state, national and international levels, The Denver Post 2007 Dave Sanders Colorado Coach Award winner loves this game as well as her situation with the Falcons.
“I’m completely happy at Highlands Ranch,” she said.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
What’s not to be happy about? Records indicate Jarocki’s five titles tie her with former Boulder coach Bobbi Brown for the most in Colorado’s 32 sanctioned seasons, and whenever her name comes up opposing coaches show her respect as if she were on “The Sopranos.”
“You can’t win that many championships and not have a clue,” crosstown ThunderRidge girls coach Bill Bradley said.
Bradley, who headed two of three Grizzlies teams (2002-05) that interrupted the Falcons’ run, said: “A lot of people say this and that, but there’s a lot about coaching and motivating and leading the team, and Caryn’s got it. She gets her kids to play to their strengths, the mark of a successful coach, and she can hide any weaknesses.”
Jarocki knows X’s and O’s like a grand master of tic-tac-toe.
“She’s always well-prepared, she’s always competitive and she’s fun to coach against,” said Regis girls coach Carl Mattei, whose team downed Highlands Ranch twice last season.
Jarocki’s players who run the show, Mattei said, are a reflection of their coach – multi-faceted and strong out front.
Some Falcons who have excelled for Jarocki include Ann Strother, who starred at Connecticut and has played in the WNBA and overseas; 6-foot-4 Liz Sherwood, who began at UConn then switched to Vanderbilt; Katy Flecky; Becky Gibb; Jen Gallegos; Jac-
lyn Thoman; Vanessa Espinoza and Susie Powers.
Other than Sherwood and Flecky, most top-flighters were blurs who pushed the ball.
“With the exception of Liz, we haven’t been that strong in the post, and if we’re going to lose we may as well have fun,” Jarocki said.
In particular, the bar at Highlands Ranch was officially raised with Strother, a unanimous top-five all-timer.
“And in all ways,” Jarocki said. “She could do stuff out of the clear blue sky in practice, too. She’d do something and we’d be, like, ‘Holy cow, did you just see that?’ We’d have to confirm that it actually happened.”
Next up might be seniors-to-be Alyssa Fressle, probably the strongest girls player, and Jade Davis, a seasoned, sound talent.
“Coach J prepares us very well before we even start the game for any situation that could occur,” Davis said.
Davis isn’t fooled by Jarocki’s usually calm approach. The coach can lose it, but picking her brain has been at the top of the list for most Falcons.
“She can be tough when she wants to and she can get on you when she has to,” Davis said. “She teaches us a lot and she’s always there for us when she’s needed the most.”
Coaching call
Jarocki, a four-year starter in high school, blew out a second knee and missed her senior season at the University of Denver – but used the more extensive rehabilitation time of the era to her advantage: She got into coaching. Beginning on the junior-high level at Colorado Academy, including a stint with boys, Jarocki took the head girls coaching job in 1985-86 and rolled to a 151-73 mark.
The opportunity to join big schools came in 1996. It was too good to pass up, said Jarocki, who has justified it with a 214-51 record, 25-3 the past season.
She also knew what was coming – better female players.
“It has grown tremendously. It’s unbelievable the athletic talent of girls in general. It’s so much higher,” said Jarocki, who also has instituted a weight-training program for all girls athletes. “Girls are playing at a much younger age and they’re more athletic and more skilled.”
She saw more of it last week, when she headed a national all-star team that won the USA Basketball Women’s Youth Developmental Festival at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Bigger-time basketball has seen Jarocki, too.
Jill Meerman, who chairs the development committee, confirmed Jarocki came “highly recommended” and was convinced players left the festival “as better athletes because of their time with Caryn.”
One was Kelsey Bone, a 6-4 junior-to-be in Texas, who appreciated Jarocki “letting us run and giving us freedom within a system. … She’s a really cool coach.”
Sanders tie
Although she didn’t know Sanders personally, Jarocki has had Kris Macauley on her Falcons staff. Formerly head coach at Columbine, Macauley was assisted by Sanders before he took over the program. She also was teaching on that horrible day.
Jarocki was like everyone else, painfully watching it unfold.
“It was totally strange and I thought, ‘Oh, my God! Kris!’ I kept calling her and she finally called back,” Jarocki said. “She was OK, but she was right in the middle of it.”
Columbine principal Frank DeAngelis, who marked another year answering questions about his school’s tragedy and volunteering to help with others – at shootings at Platte Canyon and Virginia Tech – called Jarocki “a neat lady….I’ve followed her career and she most definitely ties in with (Sanders’) background and coaching.”
Being mentioned with Sanders, Jarocki said, is a highlight in a career full of them.
“For what he did and being a sort of pioneer of girls sports,” Jarocki said, “it’s kind of awe-inspiring.”
Staff writer Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
About the Dave Sanders Award
By eyewitness accounts, William “Dave” Sanders was a hero on April 20, 1999, the date of the worst tragedy in the history of American high schools. The 47-year-old teacher and coach, a Columbine High School faculty member for 25 years, helped get numerous students to safety before he was killed, along with 12 teenagers, by student gunmen. In honor of his commitment to young people, notably involving girls athletics, The Denver Post presents an annual Dave Sanders Colorado Coach Award. In accordance with the Sanders family, including his widow, Linda Lou Sanders, The Post recognizes a schoolboy or schoolgirl coach who not only has longevity and success in the ranks of teaching and coaching, but outstanding character. In 2000, Sanders, who was heavily involved in girls sports, was awarded an ESPY, and the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. He was honored posthumously with the first Post award in 1999. Additional winners:
2000
Dick Katte, the head boys basketball coach at Denver Christian since the 1964-65 season who has 787 career victories, tops in state annals.
2001
Maurice “Stringy” Ervin, who has coached boys swimming at Littleton for 39 years. His Lions have won 12 Colorado team championships.
2002
Rick Bath, the veteran teacher and coach at Columbine and Sanders’ best friend. Bath is retired.
2003
Warren Mitchell, who has coached Colorado high school sports for 57 years, including the past 53 as head boys track coach at Limon.
2004
Montbello’s Don Gatewood, who surpassed 30 years in teaching and retired after 35 years as head boys track coach.
2005
Pam Fagerlund, the longtime Flagler volleyball coach who has 460 career victories and won four Colorado small-school titles.
2006
Judy Barnett, a female sports pioneer who won 398 volleyball games and four titles at Manitou Springs, and was an assistant commissioner of the state organization.
0
Number of seasons the Chicago-area native was permitted to play basketball while in junior high school. It wasn’t offered.
3
Number of starters the two-time defending Class 5A champion Falcons return for the 2007-08 season.
5
Number of big-school championships her Falcons have won the past eight seasons, tying Boulder (from 1984-91) for the best stretch since sanctioning in 1975.
22
Number of seasons Jarocki has coached, 11 at Colorado Academy, 11 at Highlands Ranch. She is one of the few active in-state girls coaches in her third decade.
365
Number of victories in her career, fifth all time, according to state records.
