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.
Paonia could only find two wins in their matches against neighborhood rival Hotchkiss.
The two teams met on March 27 at Hotchkiss.
Paonia 1 singles Annavah Kropp pulled out a 6-7, 2-6 win over Christa Beiriger and 3 singles Kayla Wilczek also won for Paonia, defeating Amber Rankin, 6-0, 4-7, 6-10.
Hotchkiss 2 singles Kelsey Milner defeated Lexi Johnson, 7-5, 6-2. It was the first singles match for Johnson, who was on her second year at one doubles with Rosa Medina. But with 2 singles Tyler Rapke out for the season with an injury, Johnson became a singles player. She challenged Wilczek at 2 singles and won.
At 1D, Sidney Sauter and Leah Palecki defeated Medina and Laura Lund, 6-4, 6-3. Kristina Deloury and Meaghan Wright defeated Nichelle Feryantz and Heather Wilczek, 6-2, 6-1. Ciara Beegle and Violett defeated Mary Moll and Kaity Johnson, 6-3, 6-0 at 3 doubles. And Sadie Smith and Faline Farmer won, 6-1, 6-0, at 4D.
Hotchkiss has a good core of returning players, said head coach Lela Sturchio. All three singles players and both 1 doubles players are returning seniors. With the exception of sophomore Jessie Violett at 2D and freshman Amber Rankin, who plays on junior varsity but can fill in for any of the doubles players, all of the remaining 25 players out this year are juniors.
Ginnie Farnsworth signed on for the season as assistant coach for Sturchio, who became a new mom at the start of the season. Farnsworth was head coach for the girls basketball team from 2003-2005, but has no prior tennis experience.
"It has truly been a learning experience," said Farnsworth, who works primarily with the JV squad.
Both teams will compete this Friday and Saturday at the Delta County Tournament.
