Cross country running took center stage as the first home action of the high school fall sports season, as the combined Basalt-Roaring Fork team hosted the Longhorn Invite at Crown Mountain Park on Saturday, Aug. 23.
It was a sweet showing before friends and family for Basalt senior Towler Scott, who claimed the boys overall title to open his 2025 campaign.
Scott covered the challenging five-kilometer course in a personal best 16 minutes, 26.48 seconds to take the win over Soroco’s Nick Clark, who was 11 seconds back at 16:37.79.
The Longhorn boys took second among six teams at the meet by placing five runners in the top 30, out of 58 runners total. Coal Ridge claimed the team title for both boys and girls.
Following Scott for the Longhorns were senior Jackson Beard in ninth (19:38.16), sophomore Kaiden Werth in 11th (19:48.79), freshman Bode Schoenbrun in 23rd (21:55.26) and senior Luca Del Cid in 29th (22:38.6).
Basalt’s ladies placed third out of six teams, with senior Addison Raymond leading the way in 10th place overall with a time of 22:12.22. A string of Lady Longhorns finished in 14th, 15th and 16th. Respectively, they were junior Sadie Silcox (22:34.21), freshman Scarlett Jones (22:40.30) and senior Caroline Cole (22:44.23). Sophomore Kinley Richmond was 27th out of 81 finishers (24:50.05) to round out the team scoring.
Top runners competing for Carbondale’s Colorado Rocky Mountain School were, for the boys, junior Max Peterson (21st, 21:27.42), and for the girls, sophomore Kayla Steele (seventh, 21:50.46).
Several younger Carbondale runners competed in the 2.5K middle school race. Top finishers were Carbondale Middle School’s Everett Conklin among the boys (19th, 11:29.32), and for the girls, Ross Montessori’s Tillie Vickers (third, 11:03.58).
Boys soccer
Meanwhile, the Roaring Fork High School boys soccer team got the season started on the road at Crested Butte on Friday, Aug. 22. The Rams lost 2-0 to the Titans, who were semifinalists in the 2A state tournament last year.
The Rams, 0-1, continue their campaign to return to the 3A state tournament with a home date against Basalt on Wednesday, Sept. 3.
Girls volleyball
Roaring Fork’s girls volleyball team was at the Glenwood Springs Demon Invite on Aug. 22-23, where the Rams lost in straight sets to Glenwood Springs (9-25, 17-25), Meeker (22-25, 23-25) and Pagosa Springs (22-25, 15-25), before finally earning a set win against Rifle, before falling 2-1 (25-19, 23-25, 12-15).
The Rams, now 0-4, were set to play a match at Steamboat Springs on Tuesday, and at North Fork on Thursday. The home opener is Tuesday, Sept. 2 against Vail Mountain.
Mountain biking
Roaring Fork’s club mountain biking team raced in Frisco on Saturday, Aug. 23. Top varsity riders were seniors Quinn Carpenter, fifth among the boys, and senior Emmaline Warner, 13th in the girls race.