Boys Lacrosse: Air Academy’s Obringer Stars with All-Around Play, Leadership

AURORA – When it comes to Air Academy lacrosse, Lucas Obringer has been there and done that.

A four-year starter for the Kadets, Obringer has advanced from freshman phenom to grizzled veteran all while helping the 4A program maintain its status as one of the best that Colorado has to offer.

“Whatever the team needs from him, that’s what he’s done,” Air Academy coach Ethan Hilberg said. “He can see the field and move the ball to the guys who are open, and he can also get himself into position to receive a pass from someone else and score – or do it on his own at times. He’s just a really well-rounded player, and a leader.

“He’s a captain and just does a great job of bringing up the younger players and helping mentor them. We’ve got a freshman (E.J. Hines) starting at attack this year, and he’s gone through some of the same things that Lucas did, and Lucas been able to help build him up – that’s something special.”

Obringer has helped lead Air Academy to a 10-0 record and the No. 2 spot in 4A in the CHSAA rankings released Monday. The Kadets play Wednesday at Rangeview and are building towards postseason play, which starts May 6 and culminates with state championships on May 19.

“We’ve got league to finish out, then playoffs,” Obringer said. “But we’d love to get a state championship. That’s the ultimate goal always. Every team is looking for that, of course. But there’s not a lot of talk about it. We’re focused on our next practice, next game, whatever we need to improve on.”

Thus far during Obringer’s four-season run, the Kadets were state runner-up in 2022, reached the quarterfinals in 2023 and made the semifinals last year.

“It’s been a good journey, going from the learner to the person who is doing the teaching,” Obringer said. “As a captain last year, I had to learn first-hand what that meant. I think I’ve grown as a captain this year as well. I’m really appreciative of the journey I’ve had, from freshman to senior.

“It’s been incredible. As a freshman, you’re playing against bigger bodies, and we had Grant Rodny and Ryan Flaherty, two guys I really looked up to as captains. Now I kind of want to be like them.”

Obringer, who will continue his playing career at Colorado College, has amassed totals of 118 goals and 141 assists for 259 points during his four seasons, including 30 goals and 36 assists for 66 points this spring. He’s second in the state in both assists and points (behind Brayden Wilson of Pueblo West).

Obringer’s development as both a scorer and a set-up man allows him to maximize his skills.

“His scoring ability has gotten stronger the past couple of years,” Hilberg said. “As a freshman, he had some different pieces around him, and it made it easier for him to get assists. Now he’s evolved into the player who can do both. That’s a difficult thing to defend – it’s not just ‘this is the guy who is going to score the goals,’ it’s ‘this is the guy who is going to enable the offense to score goals.’”

Said Obringer: “I like to think of myself as a facilitator. I want to be the guy who can get the ball from a defenseman, or someone who doesn’t usually carry the ball, and settle down the offense and then we can play from there. I want to help us have a less rushed offensive possession.”

And it doesn’t just stop with offense. Obringer is an impressive 16^th in the state with 24 takeaways, a statistical category dominated by defensemen.

“He gives 100 percent of his effort and gets the ball back to our offense a lot,” Hilberg said. “Getting the ball back for the team is something that has stood out this year and developed over time. Not that he wasn’t doing it as a freshman, but now he’s able to execute when he sees the opportunity, whereas earlier he may have been just running around and trying to make a play.”

Obringer, an all-state first team selection last season, said the added defensive focus is a team-wide philosophy.

“My freshman year, we’d kind of let the goalie take it and throw it to an open guy,” Obringer said. “We were done with offense, and we’d watch our defense play. … Now we have a set ride we can play through. A ride is all effort, and the guys around me help with that as well.

“EJ Hines is a dog out there. He runs around and puts pressure on these defensemen who don’t handle the ball as well as we can. We know that, and we want the ball on our sticks. I’ve developed there as a player, and as a program we’ve been a lot more aggressive on the ride, and I’m really proud of that.”

Obringer gets plenty of support from the likes of Hines and sophomore Alex Sirois, who is second in the state with 39 goals, trailing only Hayden Williamson of Windsor.

Will Rodny, Aaron Maline and Andrew Neilson lead the Air Academy midfield.

Despite some key seniors like Obringer, the Kadets remain relatively young, especially on the attack, with multiple freshmen and sophomores in the starting lineup. So a 10-0 start to the season is satisfying.

“It was hard to know what to expect as far as records go, but from Day One we haven’t focused on that, we’ve focused on getting better each day,” Hilberg said. “Whether it’s a practice or a game, what can we do to get better today?

“We’ve had some pretty good teams on our schedule that we’ve been able to come out with wins against, and we’ve had some games where we’ve definitely felt like we weren’t getting better – or at least for parts of games, where maybe we had a few good minutes but not the whole 48. The team has really taken getting better every day to heart.”

Hilberg and Air Academy have also worked hard at developing the team culture, with players supporting one another with positive interactions. Obringer has been a key part of that multi-year process.

“Their attitude with each other has changed, and how they talk to each other has changed,” Hilberg said. “They aren’t getting down on each other, they’re building each other up. And that allows us to get through those parts of games where we can get out of a slump or lull, whatever it may be.”

Said Obringer: “It’s important to have good team culture. It’s not just the players on the field and the coaches on the sidelines – they’re your brothers, and you’re in this together. It’s really important to get to know each other, and to get to know each other emotionally, too, to know what’s going on in someone else’s life and what might be affecting him – relationships, grades all play a factor in athletics.”

In the next phase of his lacrosse life, Obringer will take the field for a Colorado College program he knows well. His father has been a long-time member of the Tigers’ athletic department.

“I went through the recruiting process like anyone else would, but I always kept CC in the back of my mind,” Obringer said. “I love it there. I’ve been around it my whole life. And I’m super excited about it.”

Said Hilberg, a former Division III player: “I think it’s a really good fit for him. I suspect he will contribute there early and often, just like he did for us. I think Lucas’ skill set could play at pretty much any level, but the way that Colorado College is structured, I think he’ll contribute early.

“Luckily he gets to stay at home and not have the long-distance thing – a lot of kids who do want to play college ball, there aren’t a lot of opportunities in Colorado, but it’s growing. Having him right down the road is going to be awesome.”