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.
Coach Wittington confers with Delta triple jumpers Patti Chapman, left, and Natalie Larkin. Chapman finished second and Larkin third behind Paonia’s Ce’rra Carsten.
Last Friday’s Bruin Invitational in Cedaredge was a record-producing day for Delta County track teams. In all, 11 new marks were set with 10 of them being set by Delta County schools or individuals in the girls division. There were four new standards established in the boys division with all four being set by Delta County athletes.
Delta won the girl’s division with 124 points to Paonia’s 123 and the boys were third with 122 points behind Coal Ridge (145) and Cedaredge (138). The Delta Panthers’ track teams had members who set records in both the boys and girls divisions. The Lady Panthers set records in the 3200m run and 3200m relay. For the boys, one new mark was set by Daniel De La Rosa.
Lady Panthers As one might expect, the Whiting sisters were in the middle of record-setting efforts. Cleo Whiting was one of two athletes to break the 3200m run mark. Her time of 11:41.62 broke Vela Bair’s time of 12:26.06 set in 2010. Clarissa Whiting was the other record-breaker with a time of 11:41.73. Teammate MacKennea Broyles finished third in the race. The Lady Panthers clocked a 10:04.26 in the 3200m relay to break their own mark of 10:31.78 set in 2010 by Kyla Ownbey, Heidi Stinson, and the Whiting sisters. The new mark was set by the Whiting sisters, Broyles, and Ownbey. Another set of sisters, the Zunich’s, have been scoring points for Delta. Erin and Taylor Zunich placed third and seventh, respectively, in the 200m dash. They are also members of the second-place 800m relay and third-place 400m relay. Taylor also had her best finish in the long jump with a second place. Callie Gafford was last week’s top high-jumper in Cedaredge with a 5-10 effort. She also, along with Skylyn Webb, is a member of the 400 and 800m relay teams. Other high finishes went to triple-jumpers Patti Chapman (second) and Natalie Larkin (third). Bry Music was second in the shot put and Broyles second in the 800m run.
Delta Boys For Delta’s boys, there was one record set in Cedaredge and several good performances. Daniel De La Rosa established a new mark in the 3200m run with a time of 10:36.22. The old record was 10:59.93 set by John Powell from Gunnison back in 2010 when the Bruin Invitational had its first meet. De La Rosa, along with teammates Colin Fraser, Jake Ames, and Dustin Ownbey took first place in the 3200m relay. Ownbey was in the top five in the 1600m (fourth) and 3200m run (third). Ames had one more outstanding race in the 800 meters that resulted in a time of 2:06.18 and a first-place finish. Ethan Jack Baier won the triple jump and was second in the long jump and third in high jump competition. Irvin Hernandez stayed close to Cedaredge’s Dante Markley to finish second in the 300m hurdles and helped the 800m relay (Hernandez, Devin Marquez, Fraser, and Zach Decker) place third; the 1600m relay team place fourth, and the 3200m ‘B’ team place sixth. Shot putters Brandon Campbell (second place) and Blake Velasquez (sixth) were once again top eight competitors last week. The Panthers head to Grand Junction for 4A league and regional competition this week. All area 2A, 3A, 4A, and 5A teams will attend.
