Eads Coach First in Prep History to Repeat in Same Day
March 21, 2003
Eads Coach Shawn Randel became the first coach in Colorado prep history to win two state basketball championships in the same year when both his girl’s and boy’s basketball teams won the 1A state championship in the packed Pueblo Events Center on Saturday night.
Randel has been the girl’s head coach for the past five years but took on double duty this year when he became the head coach of the boy’s team, as well. Just a year ago, Randel’s girls brought home third place in a very tough 2A division at the Big Dance and were hungry to get back up there to see if they couldn’t catch the Gold Ball this time around. Randel had high hopes for the girls, however, the Eads boys were a surprise for all early-season predictors. Eads had lost some big guns a year ago to graduation and no one expected this team to make a second trip to Pueblo, let alone, win it all.
Randel’s boys beat Flagler 59-32 in the Class 1A final, and then his girls thrilled the crowd with a supremely satisfying win over nemesis McClave, 41-38.
Randel was modest giving all the credit to his players who combined for a tremendous 44-5 season. He was impressed with the patience of his players who shared precious gym time all season, as well as making adjustments during the different game times at the state tournament. Randel summed it up, "We just have great kids here in Eads."
Randel will go down in the history books in Colorado prep basketball and his Eads Eagles have joined the elite ranks of schools whose girls and boys teams have won state titles in the same year. Those include Caliche (1981), Fruita Monument (1983), Lutheran (1985), Stratton (1990, 1992), Mullen (2001) and ThunderRidge (2003).