Basalt High School’s boys wrestling team had three representatives compete at the Class 3A Colorado State Wrestling Championship held at Ball Arena in Denver over the weekend, but no podium finishes for the Longhorns.
Qualifying at 165 pounds, senior Luca Del cid came into the state tournament with a 26-14 record on the season. He dropped his opening-round match with a pin at 2 minutes, 44 seconds and a 7-0 score to the eventual fifth-place finisher, Salida’s Jacob Johnson.
Del cid went on to win his first consolation-round match 6-0 over Elizabeth’s Ronin Sexton in 1:48, before bowing out with a 6-0 decision in 2:39 to Kenneth Jordan from Bennett.
Qualifying at 190 pounds with a 27-6 season record was senior Herberth Requeno, who dropped a 14-0 major decision to Platte Valley’s Jason Harrison in the opening match. Harrison eventually took third place overall.
Requeno then won 8-1 (1:49) over University’s Alex Serrano in the consolation round, before bowing out with a 17-1 technical fall to Alamosa’s Jovanny Mendoza.
And qualifying at 215 pounds with a 28-11 season record was junior Brooks Ragan. He lost his opening match 6-1 (1:59) to Charlie Hanna from Timnath, then won a 6-0 decision over Amelio Cruz from the Alameda International School in 2:14. Ragan fell in 4:56 (15-5) to Fort Lupton’s Harold McClain to close things out.
Basketball update
The only Roaring Fork High School basketball action prior to Wednesday’s rescheduled senior night game against Cedaredge (results in next week’s Sopris Sun) was a boys game on the road to play a tough Class 5A Eagle Valley team — a 69-49 loss for the Rams.
The Devils led from the start and held off a few charges from the Rams, en route to concluding their season at 19-3 and going undefeated at 6-0 to win the 5A Western Slope League. They entered this week’s 5A state playoffs as the No. 4 seed.
Roaring Fork, meanwhile, dropped to 17-3 with the loss, but still is on track to win the 3A WSL at 9-0 and continues to hold the eight spot in the state 3A rankings that would give the Rams hosting honors for the regional round of the state playoffs.
The Roaring Fork girls, meanwhile, stood at 18-2 overall and 9-2 in 3A WSL play, with a chance to take at least a share of the league title on Wednesday. They were ranked ninth in the state among 3A teams coming into the week, with hopes of moving into a top-eight spot for regional hosting.
Both Rams teams have a string of league games to close out the regular season, starting Wednesday (4pm varsity girls, 5:30 boys, with senior honors between games). A pair of road games wrap things up before postseason play, Thursday night at Grand Valley and Saturday afternoon at Gunnison.
Spring sports
Monday, Feb. 23, marked the first official day of practice for high school spring sports, including baseball, boys and girls lacrosse, girls soccer, track and field, girls tennis, girls golf and boys swimming and diving.
The first action of the season (weather permitting) will see Roaring Fork baseball at home against Montrose on March 7, girls soccer at Battle Mountain on March 6, lacrosse at Steamboat Springs on March 7 and track and field at the Rifle Invitational on March 13.