Denver, CO
Keeler: Why Pomona’s Colorado state wrestling dynasty is ‘not going anywhere’
If you want to be Pomona, you’re going to have to join them.
“I know people get tired of (certain teams) winning all the time,” former Ponderosa wrestling coach Tim Ottmann told me late Saturday afternoon as Pomona’s Panthers inched ever closer to a Colorado-record eighth straight state wrestling title at Ball Arena.
“But you also have to wonder why. And I think it’s important for those that are (trying) to dethrone him to find out what (coach Sam Federico) does and how he does it. And then be able to to build what he’s built.”
Ottmann, a 2022 CHSAA Hall of Fame inductee, knows the formula inside out because he lived it. His Mustangs were Colorado’s last big-school wrestling dynasty, with Ottmann in charge for six of what turned into eight straight state crowns from 2003-10.
“I don’t see (Pomona’s run) ending anytime soon,” Ottmann continued. “When I talked to Sam a few months ago, he said this was his best team that he’s had, and it’s his eighth (state champion) in a row.
“They’re not going anywhere. I think it’s good (for the state). I don’t have any issues with it. It’s a call to others to maybe step it up a little bit and figure out how he does it.”
The bigger the tree, the longer the roots. Feeder programs. Coaching consistency. Rinse. Repeat, en route to the Panthers breaking their own state meet points record on Saturday at Ball Arena.
“Eight for me is (just) a number,” Federico told me Saturday before the finals. “Our goal is to get as many state champs as we can, every year. It’s an individual sport. We want to win championships at the end of the day. It’s hard. When they get second, it’s not fun. It’s a rollercoaster as a coach.”
Yeah, but what a ride. The Panthers are the Front Range’s gold standard, its barometer and benchmark. If you can hang with them, you can hang with anybody. What’s impressed Ottmann the most about Pomona’s current run is the degree to which the Panthers have followed Ponderosa’s two core pillars from a generation ago.
“I’ve been retired since 2008 and (Federico is) doing the things that we did,” the former Mustangs coach said.
“And we talked actually quite a bit about ups and downs and that kind of thing, picking my brain on longevity and how you stay focused and how you keep having the energy to do that.”
Ottmann’s advice?
• Keep that pipeline of kids coming. Plant those seeds.
“When you’ve got four or five freshmen coming into your program every year, you don’t get hurt by the three or four seniors that graduate,” the former Mustangs coach noted. “So you’re always maintaining that quality. What (Federico) does is what we did. His program feeds only Pomona. And he works at it. Other programs may farm that out, or combine it with other schools. I don’t believe in that. I believe in doing it yourself.”
• Once you’ve found lieutenants on your staff, assistant coaches and teachers who complement your skills and parrot your mantra, lock them the heck down.
“The biggest thing to me is just outstanding assistant coaches,” Ottmann stressed. “I know Sam’s the same way. He’s had assistants (stay) with him for a long time. That consistency means everything.”
• Don’t be afraid to test yourself against the big boys in other states. Ottmann took Ponderosa to Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania, letting iron sharpen iron.
“It increases your levels here,” Ottmann explained.
Federico’s walking on rare air, indeed. Cherry Creek’s boys and girls tennis teams once put up state-title streaks of 19 straight each. Fort Collins High won 16 consecutive boys state track titles on either side of World War I. Cheyenne Mountain boys tennis notched 11 straight crowns. Limon and Sedgwick County currently share the state record for consecutive football titles, with six apiece. (Valor Christian won four in a row from 2009-13; Cherry Creek did the same from 2019-2022.)
Merino and Faith Christian won five straight crowns in boys’ basketball; Broomfield notched five in a row in girls basketball. Evergreen won eight straight volleyball titles from 1978-85. TCA won nine straight girls cross-country crowns.
“It’s extremely difficult to win one, much less two or three, right?” Ottmann noted. “There’s just a lot of things that have to fall into place.”
And not just fall there. Stay there. Constancy isn’t a bug at Pomona — it’s a feature. Federico is the Panthers’ third wrestling coach over the last five decades. Its youth program is widely regarded as among the best in the state, the backbone of a grappling empire.
“It always has been,” Federico said. “I made sure of that. You have to have it.”
It’s like that old NFL adage: When you see something that works, copy the living heck out of it. Cherokee Trail coach Jeff Buck beefed up his feeder program, the Junior Cougars, in order to solidify his program’s standing as a perennial 5A contender.
“Pomona’s youth program … that’s a huge part of their program and many programs,” Buck said. “Success breeds success, and winning, and kids want to wrestle for (Federico) because of the program he’s built.
“(It’s) not something that Sam hides. He’ll let anybody practice with them. When Pomona’s good, they’re making the state look good. I don’t think it’s bad at all.”
Fair enough. Dissecting a beauty is one thing. But how do you dethrone a beast?
“I know Sam is probably close to retirement in a couple years,” Ottmann said. “A new coach always presents a challenge (as far as) keeping it going … you have programs such as Grandview and Ponderosa, to an extent, and others that are challenging them. But their program is just so much better than anybody else’s, currently.”
After this weekend, it wasn’t hard to see why.
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Denver, CO
Pedestrian fatally hit by Frontier airplane departing Denver for Los Angeles, flight canceled after
Posted:
Updated:
DENVER (AP) — A Frontier Airlines plane hit a pedestrian on the runway of the Denver International Airport during takeoff, airport authorities said, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate.
The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday,” the airport’s official X account wrote.
Neither the airport nor the airline has disclosed the pedestrian’s condition.
“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”
The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that and “individual was walking across the runway.”
The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks now” before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”
Frontier Airlines said in a statement flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the crash with the pedestrian.
“The Airbus A321 was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members,” the airline said. “We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities.”
Passengers were then evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal.
Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, will remain closed while an investigation is conducted.
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