The 16-year-old attacker had the phrase “ER SENDS HIS REGARDS” carved into the sole of his shoe, according to a report released by the last week in a cache of 664 pages of witness accounts and deputies’ reports about the Sept. 10 shooting that seriously injured two students and left the attacker dead.

That carved message likely refers to Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old man who killed six people in Isla Vista, California, in 2014 and has become a prominent figure for the movement. The largely online group consists primarily of men who blame women and society for their lack of sexual or romantic attention.

Rodger was the first in the modern incel movement to shift from online talk to real-world violence, and has since in the misogynistic ideology, to the point that extremists use the phrase “Go ER” to refer to committing a mass shooting, experts said.

The message, along with other details released in the reports, confirm that the 16-year-old school shooter was part of a new wave of online extremism known as nihilistic violent extremist networks — groups that focus on using violence to destroy society — and that the radicalization was a core reason he carried out the shooting, said Matt Kriner, executive director of the nonprofit .

“This paints a more clear picture of him being embedded in the space as a motivating factor, rather than it being a corresponding factor,” Kriner said. “It goes from a sidecar element, this association, to this is the motorcycle he is driving. This is an essential part of who he is. He is clearly an accelerationist, clearly involved in inceldom and clearly in the nihilistic extremist network.”

The shooter also used a photo of Rodger as the profile picture on at least one of his social media accounts, where he espoused white supremacist and antisemitic views and showed a deep interest in violence and mass shootings.

He showed some “fringe fluidity” by picking and choosing from a variety of extremist ideologies, said Meredith Pruden, an assistant professor at who studies the incel movement. White supremacy and male supremacy ideologies are closely connected but distinct, she noted.

“Whether he put that on his shoe right before going to school that day or whether it had been on his shoe for some amount of time, he definitely had, at the very least, admiration for misogynist incel killers, which is important,” she said. “And we need to think about how male supremacism and violent misogyny are dangerous ideologies in their own right.”

The shooter, Desmond Holly, also carved the words “BYE!” and “SMILE” into the soles of his shoes, according to the Jeffco sheriff’s reports. The latter phrase could be related to a , “Never lose your smile,” which is usually accompanied by a half-skull image, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The newly released investigative reports offer some indication that the shooter’s radicalized views seeped into his offline life before the attack.

A friend told investigators that Desmond kept videos on his phone of school shootings set to music, that he made “dark” jokes and discussed neo-Nazis. The friend described the teenager as “pretty racist,” and that he’d paid a “creepy” amount of attention to one fellow student at the school, once secretly taking a photo of the student.

His sister also told investigators that Desmond used the term “femoid,” a derogatory slang term for women that is used within the incel community, and that he’d at one point dated a boy, but seemed to still be figuring out his sexuality. On the day of the attack, Desmond had cut marks up and down the insides of his arms that were in various stages of healing, the reports revealed.

The new reports make clear there were enough warning signs before the attack that adults should have been able to intervene, Kriner said. The FBI was alerted to the attacker’s online extremism two months before the attack, yet was unable to identify the teenager before he acted.

“In retrospect, this is a failure,” Kriner said. “The system failed to prevent an act of violence that could have otherwise been prevented. There was enough there to figure something out and divert this person from what they clearly identified to the world wh������they were intending to do.”

New details of attack

On the day of the attack, Desmond rode the bus to school and attended his morning classes without incident, the reports show.

The typically quiet, withdrawn student seemed more engaged in his first-period class than usual, English teacher Sarah Murer told investigators. He was talkative and high-energy. In third period, he was similarly engaged. He gave no indication of his plan, teacher Chad Mott said.

Desmond attended lunch, which typically starts around 12:10 p.m. A student who sat at the same table told investigators Desmond appeared “happy,” and held a conversation with another student instead of focusing on his phone. Desmond was at lunch for only a few minutes before he walked away, the student said.

He then apparently made his way to a boy’s bathroom in a hallway in the school known as G-Hall, carrying a backpack that contained an empty 50-round box of .38-caliber ammunition, a butterfly knife and a black T-shirt with the word “Wrath” written in red. He’d posted a photo on social media wearing a shirt with that design a few days before the attack; it is similar to what one of the killers wore in the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School. Desmond wore a large knife on his belt and carried a black fanny pack filled with ammunition.

Evidence suggests Desmond fired a shot from a Smith and Wesson .38 Special revolver into the bathroom ceiling before making his way farther into the school, according to the reports. The revolver — an heirloom that had been kept in a safe in his family’s home — was the only gun Desmond used during the attack, which began around 12:24 p.m. and lasted about nine minutes.

Witnesses saw Desmond emerge from the area near the bathroom and start shooting, according to the reports. He shot a 14-year-old boy on a stairway between the school’s floors. The boy, who has not been publicly identified, was shot twice and fled up the stairs, into and out of the school’s library, and eventually ran out of the school to the Wulf Recreation Center. Teachers and center staff there put the boy on a conference room table and applied pressure to his wounds.

Seventy-three students took shelter in the recreation center, mathematics teacher Alison Meyers told investigators. Other students hid in locked classrooms, ran outside or holed up in homes in the neighborhoods that bordered the school.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office redacted the shooter’s precise movements through the school from a report that detailed his path and has consistently declined to make public the chronology of the attack, so Desmond’s exact route during the shooting remains unclear.

Witnesses, however, described several key moments.

Soon after the lockdown alarm blared through the school, a group of teachers in a teacher’s lounge peered out into the hallway and spotted a student near the library. They urged the boy to take cover in a classroom, and he jogged toward them with his hand in either his pocket or a fanny pack. One of the teachers asked the student what was in his hand, and the student — Desmond — pulled out a gun and shot at them, three witnesses told investigators. The teachers retreated, some taking cover in the room. At least one ran through the school warning of a shooter.

The teenager also at one point approached the room where the Gay-Straight Alliance club met — also in G-Hall — shouted a homophobic slur at the students there and fired at them, two witnesses told investigators.

Desmond eventually exited the school and was locked out. He approached the exterior door for the school’s band room — Door #26 — and peered through the door’s window. Witnesses in the band room said he smiled and waved and greeted one student by name before he fired through the door’s window, then hit the glass with the gun, thrusting the weapon through the broken pane.

Investigators later found five spent casings near the door, and a trail of blood outside the school building that began at the band room’s door, trailed around the north side of the school’s auditorium, went up stairs to the double doors of the auditorium then back down, then around and up stairs to another exterior door labeled #16, and back down, the reports showed.

A few minutes after the attack began, a witness saw Desmond walking down stairs from the outdoor track to the soccer field. He sat on the stairs for a moment before getting up and walking “casually” across the soccer field, Betty Grosbach, who lives nearby, told investigators. She saw the teenager was carrying a handgun and fled as he walked toward South Olive Road.

There, Desmond encountered Matthew Silverstone, an 18-year-old student who ran from the school’s main hallway, where he’d been eating lunch, with a large group of students when the shots began. Silverstone ran to the intersection of South Olive and Buffalo Park roads, then stopped and waited.

Desmond shot Silverstone twice at that intersection as deputies closed in. A deputy and security guard held Desmond at gunpoint and ordered him to drop his weapon. The teenager said that he would, then lifted the gun and shot himself in the head, according to the reports.

Silverstone’s mother, Paige Silverstone, received a phone call from her son’s phone, but he didn’t speak. She stayed on the line for nearly an hour as she heard other people say phrases like “You’re OK,” “Breathe” and “He’s actually got two.” She heard what sounded like an ambulance, but she wasn’t sure whether it was her son who was injured or someone else. She rushed to the reunification center and learned there that her son was in critical condition.

Silverstone and the 14-year-old boy both survived the attack. Desmond died from his self-inflicted injury.

Transparency and prevention

The 664 pages of reports released by the sheriff’s department largely include first-person accounts of the shooting. Officials have chosen not to release particulars of the shooter’s movement through the school, surveillance video of the attack, records made by the shooter, some crime scene photos and records from juvenile victims’ phones, the agency wrote in a February letter.

The sheriff’s office opted to withhold details of the shooter’s path — including both surveillance video and a written description of his movements — out of concern that the details might inspire other school shooters or allow the event to be re-enacted, spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said in an email.

She noted that the sheriff’s office learned lessons in the wake of the shooting at Columbine, which continues to inspire violence nearly three decades later.

“Our hard-won understanding of the importance in being deliberate about the information we release has included expert lessons that certain details can unintentionally memorialize a shooter,” Kelley said in an email.

The decision highlights the near-complete discretion law enforcement agencies have to withhold records from the public in criminal matters.

The process, governed by the , requires law enforcement officials to balance various interests when deciding whether to release a record — including public interest, privacy concerns and investigative value, among other factors.

As long as officials explain their reasoning, they have broad discretion to act as they see fit, and their decisions are very difficult to challenge, said Jeff Roberts, executive director of the .

“Essentially, it is not reviewable,” he said, noting that the process for criminal records is different than records kept by other public entities, which are governed by the . That law mandates records be released unless particular exemptions apply.

There’s a real danger that details of an attack could feed online radicalized communities, Kriner said.

“That does come up quite a bit, the hyper-detail-oriented review of attackers’ physical movement, the way they did things, it absolutely feeds into a radicalization structure in those communities,” he said. “It can also help them to consider how to do their own target.”

But understanding the details of an attack can also be critical to preventing future attacks, he said, and it is difficult for communities to challenge law enforcement or school officials’ actions and hold them accountable when investigators withhold information. One of the Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies showed up to the attack while drunk, and that information did not become public for months.

The sheriff’s office also characterized the shooter’s parents as uncooperative during the probe, but the released records show the couple answered investigators’ questions about Desmond.

“I’m pleased to see that the sheriff’s office is finally being transparent, and that transparency is illustrating that we were transparent all along,” the family’s attorney, Doug Richards, said Thursday. He declined further comment.

Local law enforcement might also fail to recognize the importance of particular details that, if released, would shift researchers’ understanding of the attack and improve broader prevention efforts, Kriner said.

“There is danger on both sides of this,” he said. “Having the detailed movements like that does provide a kind of blueprint for others to follow or fixate on, but it also means people might not be able to integrate the understanding — like, yeah, maybe there is something about bathrooms that opens up a risk space we should evaluate, or something about how he is moving around the school ahead of time that should have been considered. Like, can you walk us through how an individual was able to carry around a firearm until lunch and then decide to use it? What does that accountability space look like, if (communities) don’t have that information?”

He noted that the response to the Evergreen attack has been “muted” in online extremist forums, and he hasn’t seen the same kind of positive reaction to the Evergreen shooting as other mass-violence attacks.

Denver Post staff writer Katie Langford contributed to this report. 

The chemotherapy she had for breast cancer 15 years earlier prompted heart failure, an ironic outcome for a woman renowned for her big heart.

Schrader – as she was known in her byline and to her legions of friends – specialized in health and science and served as an editor while working at The Post from 1979 to 2012.

She was a key reporter on the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, which resulted in a Pulitzer for The Post for distinguished local coverage of breaking news.

“Columbine was a big international story, but for Annie it was heartbreakingly local. She lived in the neighborhood. She knew many of the people,” said Post colleague Mark Obmascik. “In the newsroom, she was always on reporters and editors to be really good listeners — and to get it right.”

In the newsroom, Schrader also served as the Newspaper Guild steward, the commissioner of football pools, and the reporter who reminded newsroom commuters after every snowstorm to “Go before you go.”

“She was an editor’s dream,” said colleague Billie Stanton. “And she was one of the funniest, warmest and best friends I’ve known.”

After retiring from The Post, Schrader and her husband, Pat, operated the Laz E Acres horse boarding stable in Littleton. There, daughter Caitlin, now 37, became an equestrian and would go on to compete in reining at the National Western Stock Show.

Caitlin was Schrader’s proudest achievement, far more important to her than any journalism award. They shared an impenetrable bond and were together in hospice throughout Schrader’s weeks-long illness.

Ann and Pat later moved to a 10-acre farm east of Franktown, where Schrader gardened, raised hens, spoiled cats and hoisted 50-pound bales of hay among other chores for the family’s eight horses.

Schrader was born Feb. 2, 1951, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to the former Jane Schmidt and Harold J. “Gus” Schrader, a newspaper man whose love of the profession inspired her.

She graduated from the University of Iowa, where she studied English literature and journalism. She went on to work at the Cedar Rapids Gazette before coming to The Post.

She is survived by her loving husband, Francis Patrick O’Neill; her daughter, Caitlin O’Neill, and her husband, Jess Nelson; her sister, Melissa McGuire (Mike McGuire); her stepson, John O’Neill (Raquel O’Neill), and stepdaughters Jane Irigoyen (Marcelo Irigoyen) and Mary Eident (Derrick Eident).

She is also survived by grandchildren Jake O’Neill, Kelsey Huwa (Anthony Huwa), Kylie O’Neill, MacKenzie Rasvey (Matt Rasvey), Cyrus Anaya, Ryne Skiles and Lucy Irigoyen; and her great-grandchildren, Adeline Rasvey, Aria Rasvey and Emberly Huwa.

She was preceded in death by her parents and brother, Steven C. Schrader.

A memorial service will be announced later.

Billie Stanton, who wrote this obituary, is a former Denver Post employee and former member of the editorial board who worked with Ann Schrader. Her remembrance of her colleague is included here. 

Re: “U.S. is short 10 million houses; White House report lays out a fix,” April 14 news story

The article about housing states that an “analysis notes that home prices have risen 82% since 2000, while incomes are up just 12%.” It is all well and good to attempt to reduce the cost of housing, which in a growing inflationary environment seems virtually impossible, particularly with the loss of construction workers.

Why are there seldom discussions about requiring businesses to pay livable wages? The federal minimum wage is . If it weren’t for Denver and other cities raising local minimum wages, even more people would be homeless. Why not change the dialogue to forcing the large businesses and billionaires to start paying decent wages to the same people who helped make them insanely wealthy?

Joe Crystal, Denver

We can take steps to prevent mass shootings

The anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting is not just a day of remembrance — it is a call to action.

Decades later, survivors still carry the weight of that day, and too many others have since joined them in grief. We owe them more than our thoughts and prayers.

For me, it is personal. I was a junior in high school when the attack occurred. It shaped my life’s trajectory. Today, I serve as the president of Eradicate Hate, an organization founded by the survivors of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. Our mission is urgent: to convene those with expertise and lived experience to forge solutions to prevent hate-fueled violence.

Prevention is possible. Research shows exhibit concerning behavior or communications before an attack. In 81% of , at least one person was aware of the attack in advance, and in 93% of these cases, that person was a peer. Students often see what adults miss.

That is the insight behind our UP End Hate initiative, which equips students with the tools they need to recognize warning signs and feel safe and empowered to speak up. During the pilot program, two students reported weapons on campus, demonstrating the program’s lifesaving potential.

Columbine inspired a generation of school-based violence. We know how to prevent it; success now depends on collective action and widespread adoption of proven tools.

Together, we can work to prevent the next act of hate-fueled violence before it occurs. To learn more, visit .

Brette Steele, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Doxxing is bullying, not free speech

Re: “Activist guilty of doxxing Denver police commander,” April 4 news story

In a democracy, it is accepted that being equal has to do with rights, not ability. The right to free speech was intended to protect people’s right to express ideas, even those critical of political and religious leaders. That some are particularly inept at expressing ideas and thus resort to insults, taunts, etc., is unfortunate but pretty common. The right to free speech protects speakers from bullying and intimidation, but it should protect those on both sides of an argument.

A person who puts themselves out there as a public servant knows that they will experience insults and challenges to their policies, but they should not have their families being bullied, intimidated or threatened. Doxxing is just a form of stupid bullying, not free speech.

A. Lynn Buschhoff, Denver

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

The Wildcats boys basketball team doesn’t have any college commits. No one on the squad even has an offer yet. But what A-West lacks in hoops recruiting hype, it makes up for with its headlining trio of college-bound athletes in other sports.

Seniors and will both play wideout in college, Balistreri at CSU-Pueblo and Meurer at Northern Colorado. And junior , the top-ranked baseball player is committed to Texas.

“On paper, it looks like we should get beat in a lot of games,” Meurer said. “You look around at other top teams around the state, it’s like, ‘OK, they have a dude (who’s a college recruit), they have a couple dudes.’ That’s just not us. But just because of how gritty we are, the uptempo style we run, and how we play as a team, we can grind out wins even though our roster doesn’t have a basketball juggernaut.”

A-West (18-1) is ranked No. 3 in the latest CHSAANow behind No. 1 Chaparral and No. 2 Ralston Valley, whom the Wildcats beat 45-42 in front of a packed home crowd on Jan. 31.

Balistreri, Meurer and Cooper Vais are all averaging double-digit scoring, while the Wildcats’ other two starters, senior Anthony Torres and sophomore Vedad Hadzic, are offensive threats as well. Arvada West likes to press and use its athleticism to speed up the opposition and dictate the pace of play, but can also win by slowing the game down in the half-court, as the Wildcats demonstrated in the victory over rival Ralston Valley.

“We have a very simple offensive rule, which is we keep working until we get the best possible shot,” Wildcats head coach said. “That requires some unselfish play. But it also requires the skillset of guys to be able to knock down open shots. And I feel confident about seven or eight guys on our team where if they get an open look, they’re going to score.”

Arvada West has made two Final Fours in program history but has never appeared in the championship. The Wildcats are hoping to make a run at history this season at the Denver Coliseum, after falling in the Sweet 16 the past two seasons.

Family tradition

Danny Vais, a 2002 Arvada West graduate who starred in basketball and baseball, told his team before this season that they were also capable of breaking the program record for total wins, 21. That was set in Danny Vais’ junior year, 2001, which was the Wildcats’ last Final Four appearance.

The head coach went on to a record-setting career before being drafted by the Twins and then pitching Danny Vais has gotten the Wildcats to buy into his press-heavy, chaos-causing approach. Arvada West also doesn’t have a ton of size, so the Wildcats use a post-by-committee approach in the paint.

“(Coach Vais) always says, ‘I’m willing to lose my way,'” Balistreri said. “We believe in what he’s preaching, we believe in the approach we’re taking to games. If we keep playing together and keep shooting well, we will have all the confidence we need going into the tournament.”

Danny Vais lost his father, Mike Vais, to a heart attack ahead of his freshman year at Arvada West. So he’s relished the chance to coach Cooper through his youth and now in both sports in high school, as Danny is also the school’s head baseball coach. Danny Vais’ wife, with whom he has been since sixth grade, is Missy Vais (nee Taylor). She was the second baseman on the Wildcats softball team that won two consecutive Class 5A titles, and appeared in a third

“I definitely get both perspectives from him as dad and as coach,” said Cooper Vais, whose heater is up to 93 on the mound. “He’s capable of flipping the switch quickly. If I have a bad game, he’ll come up to me and be like, ‘It’s OK, we’re just gonna go back in the gym or go back in the cages and go back to work.’ He pushes me hard in his role as coach, but I love every single second.”

With the father/son driving the Wildcats, and a pair of college-bound wideouts complementing that relationship, A-West has four regular-season games remaining. The finale, on the road at Ralston Valley on Feb. 21 in a showdown that will likely decide the Jeffco League crown, will be a gut-check heading into the playoffs.

But the elder Vais is confident his team will be ready to make a run to the Coliseum, especially after coming so close last year. Arvada West lost 71-61 to eventual champion Eaglecrest in the Sweet 16 in a game that came down to the wire.

“Cooper had a wide open look with about two and a half minutes left and we were down by three that just happened to rim out,” Danny Vais said. “We haven’t forgotten about that, and how close we were to going to the Coliseum. Last year, it was Eaglecrest that was able to (bottle momentum) and go on a run. This year, we hope that will be us.”

Five more Class 6A boys hoops storylines to watch

Columbine’s brotherly duo. The Rebels dealt A-West its lone defeat last week, a 56-53 game in Arvada. Columbine is headlined by senior Cash Boykin (24.0 points per game) as well as his younger bro, sophomore Dyson Boykin (14.2).

Chaparral’s firepower. The Wolverines have one state title, via Josh Adams’ last-second tip-in to clinch the championship in 2012. They are headlined by the junior tandem of Christian Williams and Luke Howery, a duo that can lead them back to the top.

Rangeview, reloaded. A year after their undefeated season went up in smoke in the Final Four, the Raiders are potent again. Yet to lose in-state, Rangeview is led by junior guard Archie Weatherspoon V and sophomore center Marceles Duncan.

That other Arvada school. Ralston Valley’s lone loss is to Arvada West, and the Mustangs have all the pieces to make a run at their first title since a 4A crown in 2003. The coach’s kid, senior guard Caiden Braketa, leads the way at 18.3 points per game.

Angels’ sophomore sensations. Denver East is only 9-9, but possesses a pair of guards whom head coach Rudy Carey believes are some of the best sophomores Colorado has ever seen: Noah Adkins (22.4 points) and Dayesun Collier (20.2).

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen unveiled a federal bill that would require social media companies to respond to warrants and subpoenas related to “credible threats” within three days, versus the 35 days it can take now.

She said response delays were a “devastating and glaring policy failure” that contributed to the shooting in Evergreen in September.

State Rep. Tammy Story, an Evergreen Democrat, said she planned to introduce similar legislation in the Colorado legislature in coming weeks, echoing another bill filed last month. A bill that included a three-day timeline for social media companies to comply with state warrants was vetoed by Gov. Jared Polis last year, though his cited concerns were with other provisions in the legislation.

The FBI had been investigating threats made by Desmond Holly, the 16-year-old shooter in Evergreen, for two months before he shot two students and himself in September, officials said.

That included filing an initial search warrant on July 5 looking for Holly’s IP address, a numeric designation that identifies a location on the internet; a second search warrant seeking additional information; and finally, a third search warrant seeking Holly’s home address, Jefferson County Sheriff Reggie Marinelli said.

Hours after the shooting happened, the third warrant came back with the address. She didn’t provide a more specific time frame.

“Because of the time it took to get those search warrants back, the shooting had already occurred,” Marinelli said.

“Tragically, that identity wasn’t revealed until after the shooting, nearly two months later — preventing our law enforcement from intervening and being able to stop this from ever happening,” Pettersen, a Democrat whose congressional district includes Evergreen, said Monday.

Before the attack, the FBI had found that Desmond was “discussing the planning of a mass shooting with threats non-specific in nature.” But agents could not identify the account holder for the social media accounts, so there was no probable cause for arrest or other federal action before the attack, the FBI said in a statement shortly after the shooting.

The shooter appeared to be involved in violent, nihilistic online networks, according to extremism experts. His social media accounts exhibited a mix of white supremacy, antisemitism, and a fascination with violence and mass shootings, including the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.

On Sept. 10, Desmond shot two students at Evergreen High and then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The two other students survived.

Pettersen said she was still working to win bipartisan support for the federal measure, which is one of three she said she planned to introduce. The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are each controlled by Republicans. She will also need to overcome any objections from deep-pocketed social media companies.

“Unfortunately, there’s been significant pushback from social media companies in general for any accountability,” Pettersen said, though she added that she had been working with TikTok.

But if the measure were law, she was confident “that they would absolutely work to meet the moment” and work with law enforcement on warrants to identify possible threats.

In addition to the response deadline bill, Pettersen also introduced legislation that would allow the Department of Justice to issue grants so local entities could buy firearm storage and distribute it to community members. Her third bill would create a federal grant to provide training and assistance to implement extreme risk protection orders, also called red-flag orders, and develop standardized training nationwide.

At the state level, Democrats control each chamber of the legislature. The bill last year that included the deadline for complying with warrants, , passed with sweeping bipartisan support, though backers couldn’t rally enough support to override Polis’ veto.

Polis spokesman Eric Maruyama said Monday that Polis believes the search warrants bill that was already filed — — takes a good approach to ensure “social media companies are responsive to warrants” so that law enforcement can investigate online crime.

SB-11, which has a bipartisan set of sponsors and is set for its first hearing Wednesday, would also give a 72-hour window for online platforms, including social media companies, to comply with search warrants. It would require them to maintain a staffed hotline for law enforcement to contact.

But Maruyama cautioned that the governor would want any bill, including Story’s still-pending legislation, to meet certain constraints.

“The governor wants to protect internet freedom while making Coloradans safer, but would have serious concerns about any bills that negatively impact freedom, innovation and privacy,” Maruyama wrote in an email. “He is not comfortable with the government forcing social media companies to act as law enforcement.”

Story said she’d had an “initial discussion” with the governor’s office about this year’s upcoming bill and that she believed it is in “a better place” than last year’s vetoed bill.

“We are choosing to prioritize the safety of our students and teachers over the administrative convenience of billion-dollar corporations,” Story said. “We owe the people of Evergreen nothing less.”

Last year, the basketball star transferred from in Castle Rock to in Aurora for his senior season. In doing so, Nettles — who open-enrolled at Douglas County as a freshman — moved with his family into Eaglecrest’s attendance area that summer.

Nettles believed the move should have given him full eligibility to play for the Raptors that winter. CHSAA’s Mike Krueger thought otherwise. Because Nettles moved roughly a mile closer to Douglas County, the commissioner said, the point guard would not be immediately eligible for the upcoming season, since CHSAA didn’t consider the school switch to be a requirement of his circumstance.

“I was in a dark place at the start of the season, because I thought we did everything right to be able to play,” Nettles said. “It was my senior season, the team was going to be really good. … Even though I ended up being able to play the second half of the year, I was still hurt by the decision. I thought the ruling made no sense.”

Nettles’ case illustrates the often-controversial nature of the CHSAA transfer system — one that is getting tested more with each passing year. Since the CHSAA bylaws on transfers changed in 2018, the number of student-athletes switching schools has nearly doubled. That has exposed more families, programs and schools to a system that often operates subjectively in gray areas, attempting to balance fairness to individual athletes with the greater good of Colorado high school sports.

Coaches and athletic directors expressed concerns about this balancing act as CHSAA attempts to keep student-athletes from program-jumping to powerhouse teams, while simultaneously recognizing that there are non-athletically motivated reasons to change schools. Colorado’s issues mirror a national trend seen in other high school associations and in the , and some coaches and ADs believe a one-time free transfer could be a Band-Aid solution.

The system has its critics, with some arguing that it����ap too harsh in some cases and is exploited by families and programs in others. Meanwhile, Krueger and supporters believe it is an effective means of preserving the association’s purpose of educationally-based athletics — even if CHSAA lacks the investigative ability to fully police the system.

“I do think we have a very good system,” Krueger said. “I think that the changes that have been made over the last decade helped (make the transfer landscape fairer), and we’ve tweaked it and we’ve tried to get better over the years since.

“… There is no perfect system. Can people manipulate it? I’m sure they can, but we’re doing the best we can with the bylaws in place, and I would put Colorado’s system up against others across the country.”

Colorado’s transfer frenzy

When CHSAA it set in place stricter parameters for transfers to gain immediate varsity eligibility while also opening the door for full eligibility for student-athletes who met the exception requirements. Previously, the majority of transfers were required to sit out half a season in their respective sport, regardless of circumstance.

Since the bylaws changed, transfers lose varsity eligibility for 365 days from their last day of participation, except in certain circumstances. The three primary exemptions are a bona fide family move, a hardship (defined by the bylaws as “a documented situation, condition or event which must impose a severe, non-athletic burden upon the student or their family and requires a transfer of schools”) or a broken home (e.g., a move from one parent to another in the case of a divorce).

Since that change, transfer waivers in Colorado have surged.

There were about 1,800 transfer-waiver requests in 2017-18, according to Alex Halpern, CHSAA’s legal counsel at the time. But that number nearly doubled in 2024-25 to 3,542 waiver requests, according to data provided by CHSAA. Under Krueger’s four-year tenure, the number of transfer-waiver requests increased each of the first three years, and is on pace to be around 3,250 waiver requests in 2025-26.

CHSAA’s Skyrocketing Waiver Requests

A look at Colorado’s transfer waiver request data since CHSAA commissioner Mike Krueger’s tenure began in 2022. 

Source: CHSAA | *The 2025-26 numbers are as of Oct. 16, 2025.

Even in a school-of-choice state — incoming freshmen can attend almost any school they desire, regardless of where they live — open enrollment is doing little to quell the spike in movement once student-athletes start their prep careers.

The transfer frenzy is similar to what’s happening at the collegiate level, where NCAA athletes won the right to unlimited transfers just a year ago.

“CHSAA’s going to have to make some tough decisions, and stand by their decisions (on transfers) or it’s just going to snowball, and I think that’s what you’re seeing in the NCAA,” baseball coach Scott Bullock observed. “The NCAA has thrown in the white towel on transfers. I sure hope we’re not heading that direction with CHSAA, but it feels like it could go that way with the drastic increase of transfers we’ve seen over the past five to 10 years.”

CEO Karissa Niehoff said that, nationwide, transfers are “the most challenging issue for state associations right now.”

“For the last three years, the escalation in these issues has been profound,” Niehoff said. “With what’s happened at the NCAA level, that’s set up a model for high school state associations to be challenged. The state associations feel the volatility right now surrounding this issue.”

Niehoff believes that the explosion of transfers is the result of a “significant paradigm shift,” and she called the issue a “development distraction” to educationally-based athletics. NFHS does not currently track national transfer data, but gathering and analyzing that data is being considered in the near future.

“If our concept of high school sports is about performance, about pathway to scholarship, solely about wins and losses … then it’s not an education-based experience,” Niehoff said. “What people have forgotten, and this has not changed nor will it change, is that 97% of our high school student-athletes will not play in college, period.

“I think we have to hold firm on the difference between high school and collegiate experiences, and we have to put a stake in the ground that we are not college.”

One-time freebie?

With the pressure state associations are under — often from lawyers and legislators called upon by disenchanted families — Niehoff said the trend nationally is to enact a one-time free transfer. That grants a student-athlete immediate varsity eligibility at the new school, regardless of the reason for the transfer.

“Quite frankly, if state associations don’t do (a one-time free transfer), it will be done to them,” Niehoff said.

Ten states have already gone that route, That includes where unlimited transfers are allowed. Niehoff said a few other state associations are also getting pressure to allow unlimited transfers.

In Colorado, there’s been discussion among leagues and athletic directors to enact a one-time free transfer policy, but it’s yet to make it to a vote at CHSAA’s Legislative Council. Krueger said CHSAA put together a task force over the summer to examine its transfer policy, which included bringing in representatives from other state associations that have already made the change to a one-time freebie.

The result of that task force was adjustments to the current bylaws on transfers due to military reassignment, legal change of guardianship and administrative transfers. CHSAA also put together a transfer resource guide for its member schools and athletic directors, a booklet that Krueger said the association plans to expand and eventually get in the hands of parents.

But CHSAA’s big takeaway from its task force, Krueger said, was that Colorado “already has major components of a free transfer system.” For that reason, he said Colorado is not trending toward joining the states that have adopted that system.

“When we looked at what the challenges are in the transfer process, (one free transfer) doesn’t eliminate the challenges,” Krueger said. “It creates a free-for-all and a whole new set of challenges. … and now you would have so much recruiting going on, so many power teams being built. Now you have to enforce different bylaws (on recruiting).

“… New Jersey really likes their one free transfer system and thinks that it’s worked out great. But I worry when you have the one free transfer, and when you add in pressures of what’s happening with the transfer portal at the NCAA, you’ve seen some of the challenges that arise when athletes can just go wherever they want.”

Eaglecrest basketball coach Jarris Krapcha agrees with the commissioner, believing that a one-time free transfer would lead to a negative outcome in Colorado.

“The recruiting piece — the pre-enrollment contact piece — is something that CHSAA cannot police simply because they don’t have the manpower, and it’s already happening rampantly,” Krapcha said. “If you allow a one-time free transfer, it’s going to be open season on recruiting other players from other schools.”

athletic director Derek Holliday is among those who believe Colorado should enact a one-time free transfer system. He is on the transfer waiver committee for .

Holliday says his school consists of about 50% open enrollment students, and he said that athletically and/or academically, “sometimes, it just doesn’t work out.” He believes those kids should be given a free pass to transfer elsewhere with immediate varsity eligibility, regardless of their motivations.

“I believe that before your sophomore year — say July 31 — you should have a one-time free transfer,” Holliday said. “I see some kids come in, and Columbine is just not a good fit for them. I don’t think it would be a bad thing to allow those kids to transfer. And I know a lot of ADs across the state would agree with that.”

Football coach Ryan Marini at also agrees with the concept of a one-time free transfer, but simply because he’s exasperated with the loopholes he sees in the current system.

“At this point, we may as well give in to a one-time freebie, because the system’s broken,” Marini said. “This might be depressing to say, but I’m kind of the point where if this is what Colorado families want — if this is the exploited system they want, if they want kids not to have to face adversity in a certain program, if they think it’s unfair to their kid that they can’t jump to a state championship team with immediate eligibility, then I guess just give the people what they want.”

head coach Jay Madden took a similar stance to Marini, although for different reasons.

The former football boss said “there’s too much gray area” in the system. He also questioned why students participating in activities such as band, choir, speech and Esports can transfer without penalty, but athletes cannot.

“If I transfer to Legacy High School because I love band, that’s OK, but if I transfer to Cherry Creek because I love football, that’s not OK. Why?” Madden said. “My other thought is, the transfer rules exist because we’re trying to maintain balance. But in 5A and 4A football, there is no balance. It’s the haves and the have-nots.

“I understand the competitive disadvantage that transfers (in theory) put a lot of schools in, but we’re already there in many sports even with these rules.”

‘Every scheme you can think of’

As Madden described, CHSAA’s transfer rules have not prevented families from manipulating the system or athletes from jumping to powerhouse programs.

The trend is most visible in football and basketball, where the talent disparity between the top programs and everyone else is significant. girls hoops coach Darren Pitzner compared Colorado’s top teams to “NBA super teams: Assembled, not homegrown.”

In addition to Holliday, seven other Class 5A athletic directors questioned about bona fide moves for this story echoed the Columbine AD’s sentiment that there can be a lack of validity in the documentation families provide, and that documentation is sometimes not being thoroughly vetted by athletic directors at the new school.

For a move to count as “bona fide,” per CHSAA bylaws, an athlete’s family must make “a permanent change in the family’s legal place of domicile.” CHSAA requires families to submit documentation such as the sale of property or a rental agreement, as well as a final utility bill for the previous residence.

But athletic directors say families are finding ways around those stipulations, including the rule that a family cannot retain ownership of its previous home. Those same ADs believe families who rent, or have the means to rent an additional house or apartment on top of the home they already own, also have an advantage to try to game the system.

“I had a family who wanted to come play at Denver South propose to me, ‘We’re going to sublet my sister’s house, because it’s in your neighborhood, and we’re going to call that our apartment,'” Marini said. “And I’m like, ‘I’m not really comfortable with that.’ It’s every scheme you can think of.”

Holliday cited a specific example of a transfer he said he has intimate knowledge of, and how that student-athlete’s family circumvented the bona fide move rule.

“(That family) purchased a specific house, went to that school, sold that house after it didn’t work out, but they kept the other one over in the (original) area and then used that as the ‘new’ purchase, even though they didn’t purchase it — they already had it,” Holliday said.

“Now they’re back in their old home, the other one was just used to purchase and to rent, and the kid has full eligibility. And we all know it. Everybody around here knows it. And we’ve even brought it up (to CHSAA), but yet there’s nobody that’s providing answers.”

football coach Danny Filleman went so far as to say “parents are treating high school sports like the NCAA transfer portal right now, and they’ll do just about anything to get immediate (varsity) eligibility.” Niehoff agrees with the football coach and said it’s a problem on a national scale.

“(Families) are trying to exploit loopholes across the board,” Niehoff said. “When I was in Connecticut (as the state association commissioner), we had families get divorced or give up guardianship of their child so that the child could go to a school and be eligible to play. It’s just ridiculous what some of these people will try and do.

“… Families with means buy properties and don’t live in them, just to say they have a mailing address. I can remember doing some investigative work with our team in Connecticut, and literally looking into windows of houses. There was no furniture in there — they were clearly not living there.”

Questions about hardships

In Colorado, the transfers of two high-profile quarterbacks over the last few seasons illustrate the changing nature of big-time high school athletics.

In 2023, Bekkem Kritza transferred mid-fall to Boulder’s from in Florida and was eventually cleared to play via a hardship waiver. Kritza played his freshman year at Fairview, his sophomore year at in California, split his junior year between Miami Central and Fairview, and then played his senior season ������ in Florida.

His prep career took him to four schools across three states, and he’s now on the roster at Penn State.

This fall, DJ Bordeaux also got full varsity eligibility at Legend via a hardship waiver after a similarly windy road. He played his freshman year at ThunderRidge, his sophomore season at in Georgia, and his junior season at , also in Georgia, before ending up at Legend for his senior season. He is committed to Boston College.

Longtime Colorado high school football coach Ron Woitalewicz questions the legitimacy of both transfers, saying “those seem to be clear cases of athletically-motivated moves.” Bordeaux told The Post in August that he left ThunderRidge because “my dad wanted me to move out to Georgia just for a better situation,” and then he came back to Colorado because “some family stuff had happened” and his mother needed him to come back to Colorado.

“When you transfer to four schools in four years, I struggle with that,” Woitalewicz added. “So (Bordeaux) is at ThunderRidge, goes to two schools in Georgia, moves back. … I mean, define hardship there. But that’s part of the problem — it’s so subjective.”

Douglas County athletic director Diane Shuck-Gray echoed skepticism about Bordeaux’s hardship. She said that’s why she voted no on his transfer when the quarterback’s waiver was brought to the Continental League meeting. She said she trusts Krueger’s judgement, but not the system itself, noting that “families have figured it out and how to beat it.”

“I don’t think we’re hitting the mark with (hardship waivers) right now,” said Shuck-Gray, who also serves on CHSAA’s sportsmanship and equity committee. “When you’re transferring after you’ve started high school, especially multiple times, is where my red flags go up. You’re shopping. We’ve got to get back to equal and fair, and start protecting those other schools (that don’t get transfers).

“So we’ve got to tighten it down. At some point, we may just need to go to: If you change schools in the state of Colorado, no matter what, there’s no hardship waiver except in the case of a military reassignment.”

Because of the gray area that comes with hardships, Krueger called it the most challenging type of waiver that lands on his desk. The commissioner also acknowledged that the broken home bylaw is “another area where people can take advantage.” More than a dozen coaches and administrators interviewed for this story said that using divorce as a means to gain an athlete’s immediate varsity eligibility has become a popular loophole.

As Shuck-Gray explained, parents are willing to get a finalized dissolution of marriage by a court order to get clearance from that specific bylaw — even if those parents are actually still together as a couple. There is also no set time frame on the broken home exception, so a couple can have been divorced for years and then use the bylaw much later on to gain their child’s eligibility.

“I get frustrated when we have athletic directors bring forward waivers over a broken home, claiming that kid moved from mom’s house to dad’s house,” Shuck-Gray said. “We found the family (recently) that, for lack of better terms, faked a divorce and they had the means to have the papers drawn up. It looks legit. And then come to find out it wasn’t legit. And it was all to be able to play. It’s sending the wrong message to people, because at what price do you want to win?”

The transfer system process

When a student-athlete transfers, their waiver goes through a specific process that involves assessment from both the sending and receiving athletic directors, a vote by the receiving league (in the case of hardship and broken home waivers) and ultimately a decision by Krueger himself.

Bona fide move waivers, with proper documentation, skip a league vote and go straight to Krueger’s desk. He sometimes has help reviewing waivers from his assistant commissioners, especially in the summer when CHSAA is getting hundreds of waivers daily.

Krueger, who emphasized that CHSAA is not an investigative agency, said the information he receives for waivers is “based on the integrity of the membership.”

While Krueger will occasionally check addresses for transfers to confirm their new address is in the attendance area of their new school, he relies on athletic directors to provide him with details about each transfer. The sending and receiving ADs fill out an online form about the transfer. The form for the receiving AD must contain documentation related to a bona fide move, hardship or broken home claim. The sending AD must indicate what sports the student participated in, their date of last participation in each sport, and the AD must answer four questions.

1) Do you consider this transfer athletically motivated? 2) Do you have any concerns about any disciplinary issues? 3) Was the student academically eligible? 4) Do you agree with all the information provided in the receiving school’s waiver?

Krueger said a yes to the question about athletic motivation is a “red flag that will sometimes key me in (on concerns).” It’s also a red flag for when a hardship/broken home waiver gets to a league vote, Boulder athletic director Ryan Bishop said.

“When I see it����ap checked as athletically motivated, that waiver goes no further on my desk until I know that the ADs have talked to each other about the concerns,” Krueger said.

Six of the ADs interviewed for this story said that marking a transfer as athletically motivated sometimes isn’t worth the blowback they receive from the family, even if the AD thinks that’s the case. Five of the coaches The Post spoke with believe there are times when ADs have a “buddy system” when it comes to the league vote and voting transfers through as a quid pro quo.

Jason Lind, whose football son transferred from Regis Jesuit in Aurora to in Parker, said athletic directors are given too much power with “athletically motivated” determinations.

“I think a lot comes down to does the school like you, and is there any reason for them to want to try and punish you (for transferring),” Lind said. “Otherwise, if you have a great relationship with your athletic director, I get the sense you have a better chance.

“It����ap almost like you have to get their approval ahead of time, and it feels like there’s sometimes no rhyme or reason for why some kids (get that box checked by their AD) and some don’t.”

After a league votes on a hardship or broken-home waiver, it goes to Krueger for review. In the case of Kritza and Bordeaux, both of their hardship waivers were passed by their respective leagues in a vote before Krueger signed off.

While Krueger sometimes disagrees with a league vote, he said he aligns with their decisions more than 90% of the time.

“The league vote is not a determining vote — it’s a communication vote to CHSAA on where we are, because we have that rich, robust discussion,” athletic director David Walck said. “Considering how much the league discusses each hardship waiver, it’s a big reason why I believe this is by far the most robust process that we’ve ever had.”

Bishop echoed that sentiment, noting that “there’s always gray area, but that gray area lives within the ADs.”

“I didn’t trust the process (as a coach) just because I didn’t know it,” Bishop said. “Now, as an AD, I’m trying to teach my coaches, ‘Just trust the process.’ It’s a lot better than we think it is.”

Schools can appeal waiver decisions on behalf of the student-athlete. CHSAA’s central appeals committee consists of roughly 15 people, mainly former athletic administrators. Three of those committee members are selected to hear an appeal, which occurs virtually. Krueger said the central appeals committee is independent of his office.

Based on CHSAA’s transfer waiver statistics since 2022-23, the chances of getting a decision overturned on appeal are slim. Of 11,626 waiver rulings since Krueger became commissioner, 32 were appealed to the central appeals committee, according to data provided by CHSAA. Just two of those decisions (6%) were overturned.

The perception problem

Nettles was one of those who appealed his decision.

He lost his bid for immediate varsity eligibility. Still, Nettles and the Raptors won in the end. He was granted restricted varsity eligibility, which allows seniors to play in the regular season because it’s their final year. Then he became eligible for the playoffs because his 365-day clock expired due to Douglas County losing early in the playoffs the year before. With his presence on the floor, Eaglecrest ran the table all the way to the Class 6A title.

While athletes and their families are bound to be dissatisfied when CHSAA rules against their child, Krueger maintains that “Colorado‘s transfer system is strong and serves our schools very well.”

“When a decision doesn’t align with what a family had hoped for, it����ap understandable that frustration often shifts toward the process itself,” Krueger said. “But an outcome that wasn’t desired does not mean the system is unfair or broken.”

Many waiver decisions don’t end up as rosy as Nettles’ did. And while CHSAA views transfers as an evolving issue that will continue to get attention whether Krueger approves or denies them, it’s clear that the current system has a perception issue among coaches, parents and ADs.

“I think the biggest problem with the overall aspect of it is just that from what I hear from talking with (stakeholders around the state) is I don’t think everyone feels like all schools are playing by the same set of rules,” said Daniel Mohrmann, the editor of . “I think the CHSAA office does its best to make sure that’s the case.

“… But whatever road the membership wants to go down in the future with this issue, they need to do their best to 1) ensure that every school has a level playing field in the situation, and 2) that it also feels that way. Because I don’t know that either of those things are true right now.”

Ralston Valley lived up to its season-long motto on Friday at the North Area Athletic Complex, dispatching Jeffco rival Columbine with ease, 35-12, in the second round of the The victory advanced the Mustangs to next week’s quarterfinals as RV (11-0) maintains its tunnel vision on the first state championship game in program history.

“We had playoff intensity tonight,” Ralston Valley head coach Jared Yannacito said. “… We made a commitment that we were going to come out firing. Even when things are going good, we’re going to keep punching.”

Senior Zeke Andrews, fresh off threw a beautiful long TD pass and rushed for another as the Mustangs ran away with the game. Andrews was playing for the first time since getting injured in the Mustangs’ 35-21 win over Columbine on Oct. 16, when the QB lacerated his kidney causing him to miss the final two games of the regular season.

“I thought Zeke played fearless,” Yannacito said. “Ran hard, made great throws, managed the game well. He did great.”

Andrews said it was “hard just to watch from the sideline” while he was hurt, but that the injury was a blessing in disguise for the Mustangs’ playoff run.

“I feel healthy,” Andrews said. “I haven’t been touched in four weeks — I feel the best I’ve felt all season.”

Andrews was offered by CSU on Nov. 3, and committed to the Rams a week later.

“That’s where I want to be at school, so I felt there was no reason to drag it out longer than it needed to go,” Andrews said. “I don’t know what (the CSU coaching change) will hold, but we’ll see how it goes when that happens.”

Meanwhile, Ralston Valley, which has lost in the semifinals two of the last three years, believes this is the fall to break down the door. The Mustangs played Friday like they have all season, looking like an unstoppable force and perhaps the classification’s best chance at dethroning juggernaut Cherry Creek should the two meet on Dec. 6 in Fort Collins.

No team has played the Mustangs closer than two touchdowns this season, and that trend continued on Friday.

After a fumble recovery set up Levi Rillos’ 39-yard TD run on Ralston Valley’s first play from scrimmage, the Rebels responded with a methodical scoring drive capped by a 6-yard TD run by Mark Snyder to make it 7-6.

But then Andrews threw a 45-yard dime down the seam for a score to Ethan Shirazi, and then Andrews scored on a QB sneak from 1 yard out to make it 21-6. The turning point came at the end of the first half, when Columbine drove down the field but then was stuffed on four straight plays inside the 4-yard line as time wound down.

“That was huge,” Yannacito said. “I don’t know how many times Columbine from first-and-goal inside the five gets stopped. That’s the definition of keep punching.”

Ralston Valley never looked back from there, using third-quarter TD runs by Nico Benallo and Rillos to pull away.

The Rebels finished 6-6, Columbine’s first non-winning season since going 5-6 in 2014. Longtime head coach Andy Lowry, who has helmed Columbine since 1994 and won six state titles, acknowledged the season has been full of growing pains for a team with just seven seniors.

Columbine started 0-3, including a 43-0 mercy-rule defeat to Legend. But the Rebels rebounded down the stretch, winning their final two regular-season games to make the playoffs. The Rebels then beat Fruita Monument 44-14 in the first round.

“That 0-3 start was pretty painful for the coaches and the kids,” Lowry said. “It was uncharted territory for us. But the kids kept trusting us coaches, believing and working and playing physical. We improved every week.”

Lowry, who has retired from full-time teaching and lost his wife Janet to cancer a year ago on Saturday, indicated he will continue to coach the Rebels in 2026.

“I still enjoy the kids, and these are my buddies that I coach with,” Lowry said. “It’s one of those things where you realize what your purpose is in life… I’m proud of our kids and coaches and how much work and effort we put in, and we stuck together after a tough start. At that point in the season, when you’re not doing well, it’s pretty easy to give up on things and nobody did.

“I don’t know what else I would do (besides coaching). I’m not built to retire. I would be just driving myself crazy.”

Ralston Valley takes on Mullen in next week’s quarterfinals after the Mustangs beat Pine Creek 21-18 on Friday in Colorado Springs. ]]> 7339363 2025-11-14T22:31:16+00:00 2025-11-14T23:29:17+00:00 /2025/10/23/liv-keiter-softball-columbine-alabama/ Thu, 23 Oct 2025 17:51:36 +0000 /?p=7315467 When it was clear Liv Keiter could carry a heavy torch, her family’s softball progenitor made sure to let her know.

Keiter, Columbine’s star shortstop had burst onto Colorado’s softball scene the summer before her freshman year. It was then that her aunt, former Arvada West star pitcher and Oklahoma All-American Kami McBroom, delivered the message in a phone call with her niece.

“Welcome to your own legacy.”

Now a senior, Keiter has already built a significant one — one swing at a time.

In a family of athletes — Liv’s dad, Zach, was an A-West baseball standout who played football at Wyoming, Liv’s uncle Ben pitched in the Rangers’ organization and grandfather Ron was a football star at Northern Colorado — Liv is making her own mark.

She was a central piece of Columbine’s and is back in the tournament again this weekend at Aurora Sports Park as a senior headliner. The Rebels are aiming for a third title in seven seasons.

“For a while there in her career, it was about finding her own (lane),” McBroom said. “She’s such a driven, passionate kid, I just never wanted her to feel like she was living in my limelight because we both played softball. So that conversation (before her freshman year) was about driving that point home and telling her that, as a young player, I wasn’t living in my brothers’ or dad’s footsteps.

“I had to make my own destiny, and she’s done the same.”

In Liv’s room, she has her “vision board” — a giant whiteboard filled with quotes, bible verses and goals. Written on there for this fall is to win another state title, this time with her sister, sophomore right fielder Ari Keiter. Columbine didn’t make it to Saturday at the tournament each of the past two seasons, but Liv’s determined to add to the family’s ring collection as one of the Rebels’ captains.

The Jeffco Hall of Famer led A-West to Class 5A titles in 1999 and 2000, while Zach Keiter was a pitcher on the Wildcats’ 1994 Class 6A championship team. Zach, the self-described “other pitcher” alongside National Baseball Hall of Famer Roy Halladay, threw five innings and got the win in the 6-5 championship victory over Smoky Hill. Halladay polished off the game with two innings and the save.

That lineage is why Liv says “it’s personal” in Columbine’s pursuit of this year’s title.

“The big-sister instincts — the ‘I’m going to go get you (a ring)’ — are really kicking in here,” Liv Keiter said. “… (My family) has accomplished so much athletically, and the bar is so high, but that’s a gift to come from that and for me and my sister to be able to chase that.”

To reach that bar again, Keiter will need help from her best friends.

Columbine features two other senior stars, a fellow captain in first baseman Mason Abraham, as well as third baseman Nina Vargas. Along with Keiter, the trio paces the Rebels in every offensive category. Keiter, batting .513, has a team-best 28 steals, 48 runs and three triples. Abraham, a UNC commit, leads in average (.642), on-base percentage (.684) and doubles (14). And the slugger Vargas is tops with 17 homers, and has 48 RBIs with a 1.369 slugging.

All three players were starters as freshmen on the title team in 2022.

“We’re really leaning on the fact that A) they’re great players and B) they’ve been here to state a few times already,” Columbine head coach Jim Santaniello said. “They’re a big reason why it is certainly championship or bust with this group.”

Other key contributors include the younger Keiter, junior catcher Charlee Abelein, senior center fielder Izy Ryan and sophomore pitcher Addison Swenby. The right-hander has emerged as Columbine’s ace this season after pitching on JV in 2024. She worked with former Valor Christian and LSU star Ali Kilponen, upping her velocity while increasing her command and confidence.

“What we say at Columbine is, ‘Make it undeniable,’ and that’s what (Swenby) has done,” Santaniello said. “She’s had rapid growth over the past year.”

Now in his ninth year leading the Rebels, into a perennial power, with state tournament appearances every season but the COVID one. With Keiter hitting leadoff and playing Gold Glove defense in the six hole, he likes his chances to get back to the top on Saturday.

The Keiters will be in the stands at Aurora Sports Park backing the shortstop — the same people who constantly try to beat her at family gatherings. During all holidays and at frequent Italian dinners in-between, the family keeps their edge — and sharpens Liv’s — in intense games of (a fast-paced, multiplayer card game), flag football, cornhole, washers, wiffleball and various other games.

“If you didn’t know my family and just walked into the house during a family get-together, you’d probably think we were crazy,” Liv said with a laugh. “We’re all standing up around the dinner table, screaming at each other, yelling at each other to lay down cards (in Nerts).

“It’s always friendly competition — well, mostly friendly. But that is what my family is all about, competition. You can see that come through in the way I play the game each day, and it’s definitely going to come through at the state tournament.”

Five storylines to watch at state softball

Eaton and University on collision course: The Reds and the Bulldogs have met in the Class 3A title game two of the last three years, and can make it three in four this weekend. Eaton, led by junior catcher and Arizona commit Emma Anderson, is going for a four-peat.

Elizabeth aiming for history: The Cardinals’ two losses came to Class 5A opponents, Broomfield and Arvada West. Elizabeth also had marquee wins over Columbine, Cherokee Trail and Eaton. The No. 5 seed in the 4A bracket, the Cardinals seek their first championship.

McGinnis’ magic: Windsor junior right-handed ace Jenna McGinnis leads the state with a 0.69 ERA as the top-seeded Wizards look for redemption in the 4A bracket after losing to Lutheran 1-0 in last year’s title game. Windsor’s lone softball title came in 4A in 2006.

Broomfield seeks first title: In 5A, the No. 1 Eagles are 22-2 and haven’t lost to a Colorado team all fall. Broomfield steamrolled through regionals and is headlined by senior first baseman Lilly Smith (Providence commit) and senior right-hander Ireland Heer (Iowa).

Other 5A title contenders: The 5A title chase is wide open as the classification hasn’t had a repeat champion since Legend did so in 2017 and ’18. Legend, Eaglecrest, Columbine, Erie, Cherokee Trail and defending champ Riverdale Ridge can all make a run.

Hours after the Sept. 10 shooting, Arvada police officers started investigating hundreds of Safe2Tell reports about a photo of a rifle and ammunition with the words “Be ready rv” that was sent to multiple students on Snapchat.

Investigators contacted the student suspected of the post, who is a juvenile, that night but did not have evidence to pursue criminal charges,

Police linked the photo to a French social media post from 2024 and determined the threat was not credible, although 1,100 students did not attend school the next day.

Officers continued investigating the student suspected of making the post and found digital links to the incident, including internet searches for “snap with gun be ready,” “survivors of columbine,” “worst school shooting in america” and the names of the Columbine High School shooters.

Here are 5 things parents can do to protect their children online

The student����ap search history also contained questions about what would happen if a minor made a school shooting threat, if it was a federal offense and if there was a way a police officer could come to their house and talk to them.

The student was arrested Tuesday and charged with interference with staff, faculty or students of education institutions, a misdemeanor.

No. 9 Fountain-Fort Carson (6-1) vs. No. 5 Legend (6-1)

When/where: 7 p.m. Thursday at EchoPark Stadium

Last meeting: Legend 42, at Fountain-Fort Carson 7, Oct. 18, 2024

Streaming:

Fountain-Fort Carson is pounding the rock again, and looking dangerous doing it. The Trojans took down Regis Jesuit a week ago, with Da’kari Releford Jr. going off for 170 yards and two TDs to top 1,000 yards for the season. The Trojans will need more of that from the junior tailback if they want to keep pace with Boston College QB commit DJ Bordeaux and a Legend offense averaging 47.1 points per game.

Columbine (3-4) vs. No. 2 Ralston Valley (7-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. Thursday at NAAC Stadium

Last meeting: Ralston Valley 35, at Columbine 34 (OT), Oct. 18, 2024

Streaming:

Always a circle-the-date game on the Jeffco prep football calendar, this year’s edition appeared to lose a little luster when Columbine started the season 0-3. The Rebels have rebounded since, however, and were a last-minute touchdown away from upsetting unbeaten Arvada West last week for their fourth straight win. As it is, Andy Lowry’s Rebels stand as a gritty test for a Ralston Valley program that has won three of four against Columbine since 2022.

Eaglecrest (6-1) vs. No. 1 Cherry Creek (7-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. Thursday at Stutler Bowl

Last meeting: Cherry Creek 44, at Eaglecrest 0, Oct. 18, 2024

Streaming:

Can someone, anyone, challenge Cherry Creek in the 5A Centennial League? Eaglecrest is the next team up with the unenviable task of trying to slow down the Creek juggernaut. The Raptors have won five straight since a Week 2 loss at Fort Collins, but now they face a significant step up in class. All but one of Eaglecrest’s six wins have been against teams that currently sport a losing record. Hang with Creek on Thursday, though, and the Raptors are for real.

Mullen (3-4) vs. No. 8 Erie (5-2)

When/where: 6:30 p.m. Friday at Tiger Stadium

Last meeting: Erie 48, at Mullen 13, Oct. 18, 2024

Streaming:

Mullen spent its nonleague schedule hanging with 5A giants. Sooner or later, the Mustangs gotta take one down. They get another chance Friday with a trip north. The matchup features a pair of D-I tight ends in Erie’s Gabe Sema (Northern Arizona) and Mullen’s Mason Bonner (Michigan), as well as Oregon State commit Braylon Toliver (670 rush yards) going up against a salty Mullen defense headlined by future FBS edge rusher Troy Mailo. This should be fun.

Westminster (5-2) vs. Mountain Range (5-2)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at North Stadium

Last meeting: Westminster 28, vs. Mountain Range 15, Oct. 18, 2024

It’s been 10 years since Westminster won a league title, but former pro QB Chris Helbig has the Wolves atop the 5A Metro North in his first year leading the program. Cross-town rival Mountain Range has already won more games this season than any Mustangs squad in the last 11 years and has allowed just 23 total points over the last three weeks. Can they limit Westminster’s freshman wunderkind Santana Soriano (1,378 yards, 15 TDs passing) and a talented group of senior pass catchers?

CLASS 4A

Bear Creek (6-1) vs. Heritage (4-3)

When/where: 6 p.m. Thursday at LPS Stadium

Last meeting: Heritage 61, at Bear Creek 23, Oct. 17, 2024

Streaming:

Two teams coming off losses in the hyper-competitive 4A South Metro League meet looking to get back on track. Bear Creek saw its unbeaten season slip away in a disastrous second half against Golden, while Heritage was the latest victim of the Dakota Ridge powerhouse. Both teams can put up points in a hurry. Expect fireworks.

Mesa Ridge (3-4) vs. No. 2 Montrose (7-0)

When/where: 6 p.m. Friday at Montrose HS

Last meeting: Montrose 53, vs. Mesa Ridge 21, Nov. 23, 2024

Streaming:

Mesa Ridge took a big step forward with an upset of Pueblo West last week. The Grizzlies can take an even larger one this Friday with a trip to the Western Slope. The Red Hawks have beaten Mesa Ridge four times over the last three seasons, including a season-ender last fall in Montrose. Just staying within reach of the Red Hawks, who’ve taken double-digit leads into the third quarter in six of seven wins, is hard enough. Beating them? No team has done that in the regular season in the last 24 tries.

No. 3 Palmer Ridge (7-0) vs. No. 6 Vista Ridge (6-1)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at Vista Ridge HS

Last meeting: Palmer Ridge 42, vs. Vista Ridge 7, Oct. 18, 2024

Palmer Ridge has been the dominant 4A program in the Pikes Peak region since moving up from 3A in 2020 — much to the chagrin of rival Vista Ridge. The two programs have met five times this decade, with the Bears winning all five by an average margin of 29.6 points. If the Wolves are going to ascend to the upper reaches of their classification, it starts with finally beating a Palmer Ridge team closing in on its fourth straight league title.