Delta coaches Luis Meza, center, and Clayton Curtis congratulate 152-pound senior Hunter Brasfield after an upset win sent him into the 4A Region 4 semifinals.
Hotchkiss senior Joe Boyle controls Ruben Chagoya of Basalt to win a 3A Region 1 title. He is one of 7 Hotchkiss state qualifiers.
Hotchkiss and Paonia boys will square off this week on the basketball courts. Both are 6-4 in league play.
Delta senior Brooke Taylor scores two of her 12 points against Summit after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Paonia 195-pounder Tyler “TK” Kendall sets Rangely’s Drew Collins up for a pin.
Paonia freshman Bo Pipher sets TJ Richard of North Park up for a pin in Saturday’s regional semifinal round. He is one of 13 Paonia wrestlers headed to state!
Surrounded by coaches and his dad, Conner Beard signs Letter of Intent to play football for the University of Nebraska Kearney.
Hotchkiss' Jacobe Galley signed a Letter of Intent to play football and study engineering at Colorado Mesa University.
Hotchkiss senior Cody Bartlett signed his National Letter of Intent to run cross-country for Hawaii Pacific University.
Photo by Wayne Crick These four Lady Panther athletes set a new Delta High School record in the 3200m relay in 2013. From the left, Clarissa Whiting, Skylyn Webb, Mykayla Music and Cleo Whiting combined talents to set a new record for the 3200m relay with a…
Several area athletes were honored for their committment to track in 2013. Class 4A selections to this year's All-State track team include freshman Greta Van Calcar (Palisade) and Glenwood Springs senior Auston Tribble.
Photo by Tamie Meck Cedaredge wrestler Zac Anderson attempts to stack his opponent at the fourth annual Paonia Summer Duals wrestling camp. Cedaredge and Delta brought several young wrestlers to this camp.Summer wrestling tends to be a bit different than the…
Photo by Tamie Meck Lady Bulldogs Daryl Batt (34) and Alexis Westergren double-team Gunnison’s Jordan Wallin late in the fourth quarter. Wallin scored 23 of 34 points for the Lady Cowboys. Hotchkiss won the contest by a 35-34 score.Their season-opener loss to Olathe was a tough one, but the Lady Bulldogs followed up with wins over Gunnison and Vail Christian last weekend. With 11 points, Natalie Anderson was high scorer Saturday at Edwards.
The Lady Bulldogs held the Saints to just five second-half points for the win. Jessie Violett scored eight, including two goals from the three-point arc.
Hotchkiss also won its home opener on Thursday, defeating Gunnison, 35-34.
In hindsight, they would have been better off to double-team Gunnison's star player from the start.
Gunnison post Jordan Wallin, a six-foot starting junior, scored all seven of the Lady Cowboys' first-half points. Gunnison lost its first-half momentum when Wallin got into foul trouble in the second period.
Wallin opened with two quick goals to give Gunnison a 4-0 lead. Three minutes into the game, Katie Richards scored two to put Hotchkiss on the board. Gunnison tried for a fast break and got as far as half-court when Alexis Westergren swept in for a steal and two points. Daryl Batt scored on a jump shot from the top of the key for a 6-4 lead.
Gunnison was dogged by first-half steals — two by Natalie Anderson, one by Jenni Celis and four by Westergren. The score was tied at 7 going into the second period.
Hotchkiss took advantage of Wallin's absence on defense to score 13 second-period points. Batt opened the second period with a jump shot from the perimeter, and Jenni Celis took a steal to the net for an 11-7 lead. Anderson capitalized on another turnover to give Hotchkiss a six-point lead. They led 20-9 at the half.
Gunnison outscored the Lady Bulldogs in the third, with Wallin sinking four of five from the free throw line and scoring 12 of Gunnison's 17 third-period points. Bobbie Corn added a trey, and Leanne Schliesman contributed two points late in the third.
With the score tied at 26 late in the third, Jessie Violett hit her second three-point shot of the game to give Hotchkiss a 29-26 lead heading into the final period.
That's when they doubled up on Wallin.
"She kept taking the lob pass, which they're good at," said forward Kylie Hodges, one of four players charged to cover Wallin in the fourth. One player would be up front on her and the second would be there to catch the lob pass if it came in, she explained. "We should have done it earlier."
Anderson and Aleksus Wilson made key steals in the fourth to slow the Lady Cowboy offense. Wallin managed four points early on, but was ineffective down the stretch.
Hotchkiss only had one goal in the fourth, on a lay-up by Westergren. Gunnison got into foul trouble, allowing Hotchkiss six trips to the line, where they were four for 10.
With less than five seconds remaining, Nelson sank a field goal to put Gunnison to within a point. Anderson was hit with an intentional foul with 1.5 seconds remaining.
She missed her shot from the line and Wallin pulled down the rebound, but her final-second half-court shot fell short.
