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 Tamie Meck Delta’s 3200m relay team placed fourth at last weekend’s 4A state track meet in Lakewood. Its time, 9:32.92, set a new DHS record. Team members are; left to right, Clarissa Whiting (Sr), Mykayla Music (Fr), Skylyn Webb (Sr) and Cleo Whiting…
Photo by Rich Meck Hotchkiss distance runners, and sisters, Natalie Anderson (left-center) and Mae Anderson start the 3200m run together on the opening day of the state track meet. They were fourth and fifth in the 3200 and fourth and sixth, respectively, in…
Photo by Tamie Meck Andy Pipher and son Bo meet Bo’s opponent during the Parade of Champions at the 2013 state wrestling tournament. Pipher was recently named 2013 Colorado Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA).Paonia…
Photo by Tamie Meck Hotchkiss and Paonia’s boys’ basketball teams are tied at 6-4 along with West Grand and Rangely. The tie between Hotchkiss and Paonia was broken this week when the two teams squared off on Tuesday, Feb. 19. Those results will be published next week.Things are getting interesting in the boys' 2A Western Slope basketball conference. With less than a week until District 5 playoffs begin, just where each of the teams will finish remains anyone's guess.
With Hotchkiss dropping from 3A there is now an even number of teams, and four of them, Rangely, Hotchkiss, West Grand and Paonia, were 6-4 in league play after last weekend's action. Paonia and Hotchkiss both upset Rangely (7-11 overall, 6-4 WSL) over the weekend, and both lost to No. 2 Meeker — Hotchkiss by four points (65-61) and Paonia by nine (60-51).
As of Monday, Hayden (16-2 overall, 11-0 WSL) is in first place in the 1A/2A WSL. Meeker (13-5, 8-2) is holding on to second. Of the teams with records lower than Hayden, Meeker has the best overall record, with Hotchkiss one game behind at 12-6. West Grand is at 9-9, Soroco at 8-9, and Paonia is 8-10.
With one game remaining, the only team standing unlikely to change is Hayden. The Tigers won over Plateau Valley Friday and De Beque Saturday. They play their final game against Soroco (8-9, 4-6) this Friday.
"It's been kind of a fun year to be in the Western Slope League because there are a lot of close teams," said Paonia head coach Chase Roeber. There isn't a team guaranteed to win the district tournament. Paonia's league loss to Hayden was by a point, and the Eagles have lost two games to Hotchkiss by a combined 10 points.
Hotchkiss hosted Paonia last night to end scheduled league play for both teams (results were unavailable at press time), and Rangely and Meeker will face off in their final game of the season this Friday. Unless Rangely upsets Meeker, it's likely Hotchkiss and Paonia will meet again next Tuesday in district quarterfinals. The higher seed in each pairing will host the game.
And if Rangely does upset Meeker, then the No. 1 seed entering regional playoffs is up for grabs. Either way, how this week plays out "will make the district tournament interesting," said Roeber.
District semifinals will be held Friday, March 1, and finals are set for Saturday, March 2. The top four teams from each district will advance to the 32-team state bracket. Regional semifinal games will be held March 8, and finals will be played March 9. Team schedules can be found at Max Preps (maxpreps.com).
