Club mountain biking teams from high schools across Colorado descended on the Colorado Mountain College Spring Valley trails for last weekend’s state championships. In the end, it was a local team that was crowned as the top dirt riders.
Colorado Rocky Mountain School of Carbondale won the championship with 6,703 points, out-dueling teams from Durango (6,656) and Fairview (6,516) over the two days of competition Saturday and Sunday.
CRMS junior Canyon Cherney took second place overall out of 95 competitors in the boys varsity race on Sunday with a time of one hour, 12 minutes, barely 10 seconds behind the winner, Fairview senior Leif Bryan (1:11:50).
Two other CRMS riders, senior Eli Nolan (1:16:27.8) and junior Lucas Berry (1:16:43.1) finished 10th and 11th, respectively.
For Roaring Fork High School, senior Sam Friday was the top finisher in the varsity race, in 18th place (1:18:45.4).
The top local rider in the varsity girls race was junior Nina Villafranco from CRMS, taking 18th place (1:35:59.9) in a field of 56 riders. Glenwood Springs senior Samantha Meskin finished in 26th (1:39:08.7).
XC girls qualify for state
Competing at the 3A Region 1 meet in Denver on Oct. 19, the Basalt/Roaring Fork girls cross country team took third place behind regional champion Aspen and second place Middle Park to qualify for the state championships coming up this weekend in Colorado Springs.
Junior Isabella Moon was the team’s top finisher in third place with a time of 21 minutes, 28 seconds over the 5K course. Sophomore Caroline Cole was 11th (21:59.5) and junior Morgan Fink was 14th (22:09.2).
Two Longhorn boys qualified for the 3A state championship meet individually, senior Owen Lambert who took third at regionals with 17:51.8, and sophomore Towler Scott (seventh, 18:09).
Soccer playoffs underway
The Roaring Fork boys soccer team entered the 3A state playoffs Wednesday as the No. 8 seed in the 32-team field, facing No. 25 Timnath at home. The game concluded after the deadline for this story.
The Rams finished the regular season last week with a pair of home wins, 9-0 over Moffat County on Oct. 19, and 10-1 over CRMS on Senior Night, Oct. 20.
Roaring Fork goes into the playoffs at 10-3-2 overall and finished at 6-1-1 for second place in the 3A Western Slope League behind Vail Mountain, also at 6-1-1, but with the head-to-head advantage over Roaring Fork based on the Rams 1-0 loss to the Gore Rangers on Sept. 21.
Rams soccer seniors Cooper Chacos, Foster Hayes, Gabriel Salas, Noel Richardson, Jose Canas, Yandel Silva, Eli Cohen, Jake Barlow, Bennett Jardine, Jeffrey Candela, Maddox Stainton, Josh Hernandez and Yusbani Duarte. Coach Nick Forbes is held in center. Photo by Sue Rollyson
Rams volleyball fights for playoff spot
The Roaring Fork girls volleyball team took a step closer to making it into the 36-team Class 3A regionals with a 3-2 win over Olathe for Senior Night at home Tuesday.
It was another thriller, as the Rams are accustomed to giving their fans, as they rebounded from losing the first two sets to the Pirates, 25-21 and 25-14, before claiming the next two sets, 25-17 and 25-19 and before taking the tie-breaker, 15-13.
Senior Ruby Denning finished the night with 15 kills, while sophomores Yakelin Hernandez and Nikki Tardif had nine and eight, respectively.
Junior Erica Crownhart served up 10 aces for the match and scooped up 25 digs.
On Saturday, the Rams downed Moffat County on the road, 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-17). Denning had nine kills and Hernandez had eight in that one.
Roaring Fork closes out the regular season on Friday at 4A Steamboat Springs, and will await the regional pairings to be announced early next week to see if they’re in the mix.
Rams Volleyball seniors (left to right) Ruby Denning, Coach Karen Crownhart, Nora Lindgren, and Fernanda Ruiz embrace after the seniors’ final league game at Roaring Fork High School against Olathe. Photo by Sue Rollyson