NEW RAYMER, Colo. — Exactly 50 years ago, Prairie High School made history at Colorado’s first-ever Girls High School Volleyball State Tournament. The Mustangs swept the Class AAA title, bringing home the school’s first girls' state championship and ushering in a new era for girls sports in Colorado.
“It was a big stage,” said Maggie Kilmer, who coached that trailblazing 1975 team. “From here to there, they were just so excited to be there.”
Kilmer remembers the community support as overwhelming and unforgettable.
“We had full gyms all the time,” she said. “When we went to state, we laughed because there wasn’t anybody left at home. Someone could have probably robbed everybody blind because everybody just went to state.”
Now, half-a-century later, a new generation of Mustangs is chasing that same dream under first-year head coach Kolby Bright.
“The first time I sat down with these girls, I asked them what their goal was for the year,” Bright said. “They all told me they wanted to win a state championship."
Coach Bright said it all came down to just having high expectations.
"I was tough on them and there was a lot of pushing and growing pains, but it’s really cool to see it all paying off,” Bright told Denver7 Sports.
As Prairie heads to the Denver Coliseum this week for the state tournament, the entire town is once again rallying behind the team.
“We don’t have school on Thursday, so people can come and watch us,” one player, who did not want to be identified for this story, said. “It would be awesome to bring that back and show the ladies who played 50 years ago. It would mean so much to them and to us.”
For Kilmer, seeing girls sports continue to thrive five decades later is exactly what she hoped for.
“The class that won state, many of them became coaches,” Kilmer said. “They’ve all given back. That’s what we wanted: For them to remember the life lessons, the value they got from being part of a team, and to give that to the next generation.”
From pioneers to present-day contenders, the Prairie Mustangs begin their push for another state title this Thursday at the Denver Coliseum.
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