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 Cedaredge freshman Lydia Knutson is shown during a workout last week. According to Delta County swim team head coach Amanda Hatch, Knutson is capable of making big strides on this year’s team.Delta County High School swim coach Amanda Hatch entered her seventh season at the helm with this team. Assistant coach Emily Cannell will be in her third season, and together they will be working with 22 competitors.
The number of returning swimmers is seven; one senior, two juniors, and four sophomores.
During last year's season, several swimmers finished in the top 16 at the Southwestern Conference Championships, and two seniors and a 200 freestyle relay came very close to their state qualification time.
This year's projected top swimmers are numerous. Cedaredge freshman Lydia Knutson is expected to do very well in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke. Knutson "is a well-rounded swimmer with a ton of potential," notes Hatch.
Another top prospect is Delta senior Soraya Luna (team captain) who is expected to perform well in the 200 freestyle. Aspen Spiker (Delta sophomore) will be competing in the 200 and 500 freestyles, Bry Music (Delta junior and co-captain) is slated to swim the 100 free and 100 fly, and Kelsie Hartman (Delta junior and co-captain) will swim the 100 back and 200 freestyle.
According to Hatch, up and coming athletes to watch include freshmen Naomi Hayner and Kaylee Dunham. Both have been swimming for several years on the local club team and the coaches expect to see fantastic times from both of them in various events throughout the season.
Photo by Wayne Crick Seventh-year head coach for the Delta County Swim Team, Amanda Hatch (left) and assistant Emily Cannell (third season) took time out from their coaching duties to pose for a photo at a recent practice session at Bill Heddles Rec Center in Delta. Both Hatch and Cannell are excited about this year’s group of swimmers and look forward to seeing progress from all participants.Hatch's response to how her team will fare this season was, "I hope to see a couple of state qualifiers out of this crop of swimmers. We have a lot of potential and a great team spirit that I think will push the faster swimmers to where they need to be to qualify for state and help the less experienced swimmers to better their individual times significantly throughout the season. With two-thirds of the team being underclassmen, we have a solid foundation for many years of excellent swimming to come in Delta County."
Hatch's team competed in Durango this past weekend but no results were available.
