It was a double sweep and dual tournament titles for the Roaring Fork High School boys and girls basketball teams in Keenesburg, Colorado last week.
Both teams went undefeated at the Weld Central Tournament, scoring three wins each to end the pre-holiday schedule on a high note.
The Rams girls remain undefeated at 7-0, after impressive wins over Weld Central, 47-33, on Thursday, Dec. 12, and against Regis Goff, 70-42, on Friday afternoon. Senior Carley Crownhart combined for 38 points through the first two contests, junior Nikki Tardif tallied 33, and sophomore Riley Bevinington had 24.
Head coach Mike Vidakovich said his team showed its grit in a close game for the tournament championship on Saturday, ultimately prevailing 56-44.
Going into the final three minutes of play, Brush pulled to within three points, 46-43, after nailing a pair of three-pointers.
“The girls responded with a final spurt of their own, and got some steals off the press,” Vidakovich said. “They really got tougher when Brush cut the lead, and they knew they needed to dig down.”
Carley and Erica Crownhart had 17 points each in the game, and Tardif had several key blocks inside when the game got tight.
Freshman Annalise Bumgardner also contributed six points off the bench, including a key basket late to stop the Brush momentum.
Vidakovich said he’s most impressed with the team’s ability to play a full-court press defense, and fast break on offense for 32 minutes straight.
“When you think about what I’m asking of them, it’s physically and mentally very hard,” he said. “They’re not just good basketball players, there are some impressive athletes on this team, with big hearts.”
Boys basketball
The boys’ run to the Weld tournament title was equally impressive, as the Rams had to bounce back from a pair of losses in their home Brenda Patch Tournament the prior weekend to improve to 5-2 on the season.
Roaring Fork downed Weld Central, 72-28, to open the tournament. Juniors Lucas Carballeira and Ethan Wilson had 25 and 15 points, respectively.
The Rams then beat Regis Groff, 65-42 (junior Kiko Pena with 14 points and 19 rebounds), and they closed it out with a 60-27 dismantling of Brush on Saturday (Carballeira with 21 points and four steals, junior Ryder Tezanos with 12 points, and senior Luis Andrade with 10).
“It was good to start the season with some adversity,” head coach Jason Kreiling said of the Patch tournament losses to league rival Basalt and to Plateau Valley.
“Those games can set our team up for what’s to come with our league,” Kreiling said of what’s expected to be a tough 3A Western Slope League slate, starting with Basalt again on Jan. 4.
“We are in a good position, but there’s still a lot to improve on before we get back into our season after Christmas break,” he said.
Both Rams basketball teams square off against the Longhorns in Basalt on Saturday, Jan. 4, with the ladies set to take the court at 2:30pm and the boys at 4pm.
Basalt wrestling
The Basalt High School wrestling team (including several wrestlers Roaring Fork High) saw some more action in recent weeks.
At the Dec. 7 Southern Routt County (Soroco) tournament, the highlight came at 132 pounds when Basalt’s Colby Samuelson wrestled his way to the third-place match, scoring a pin in 1:28 over Soroco’s Azrael Uruchurtu.
On Dec. 11, it was Basalt over Grand Valley in a dual meet, 32-28. Bronze Urfrig won at 150 pounds, earning a 13-10 decision over Noah Carbajal. Other Basalt wins included Drake Cornett at 165 pounds, pinning JJ Whiting in 1:36; Herberth Requena at 175 pounds, pinning Camden Neil in 5:01; Brooks Ragan at 190 pounds, pinning Issac Flores in 45 seconds; and Kayden Bertram at 215 pounds, winning by technical fall over Blayne Myers, 20-5 in 4:49.
The Dec. 13-14 Western Slope Showdown saw a combination of varsity and junior varsity competition for the Longhorns. Highlights included a fourth-place showing by Brooks Ragan in the JV190 class; and a fifth-place finish by Jesus Rodriguez in the JV132 class.
The Basalt girls wrestling squad this season is represented by Emely Mejia-Garcia and Roselynne Bernal-Rodriguez.
At the Dec. 7 Soroco tournament, Mejia-Garcia won the 100-pound division, pinning Soroco’s Addi Whaley in 1:02, and Bernal-Rodriguez scored a win over Meeker’s Hayden Garcia in 1:31.
At the Western Slope Showdown on Dec. 13, Mejia-Garcia took first place at 100 pounds, pinning Bayfield’s Leilani Ramos in 3:31.
ALL CONFERENCE
Soccer WSL 3A
Sam Brennan – All State Honorable Mention, Conference 1st Team
Phillipe Huang- All State 2nd Team, Conference Honorable Mention
Fernando Candela – All State 2nd Team, Conference 1st Team
Keven Cisneros – All State Honorable Mention, Conference 2nd Team
Cal Stone – All State Honorable Mention, Conference 2nd Team
Nick Forbes- 3A WSL Coach of the Year
Volleyball WSL 3A
Yakelin Nunez Hernandez – All State Honorable Mention, Conference 1st team
Nikki Tardif – Conference Honorable Mention
Erica Crownhart – Conference Honorable Mention
Carley Crownhart – Conference Honorable Mention
Football WSL 1A
Donny Read – All State Honorable Mention, Conference 1st Team
Hunter Noll – Conference Honorable Mention
Eli Norris – Conference Honorable Mention, Co-kicker of the year
Balaram Koss – Conference Honorable Mention
Ethan Gardiner – Conference Honorable Mention