The combined Glenwood Springs Demons girls swim team, which includes student-athletes from Roaring Fork High School, concluded its season with several members representing at the 3A State Swimming and Diving Championships in Thornton Feb. 13-14.
The top individual finisher for the team was sophomore Sylvia Duchscher, who placed fifth in the 100 Freestyle event with a time of 56.05 seconds.
Duchscher also took 10th in the 200 Freestyle (2:06.68), and was a member of two Demons relay teams that made it to state. She was joined by junior Ainsley Taucher, Roaring Fork sophomore Isla Friel and freshman Ellie Rippy in the ninth-place 200 Medley Relay (1:59.67), and by senior Vespera Steiner, junior Mazy McEwan and Rippy in the eighth-place 200 Freestyle Relay (1:47.23).
The 400 Freestyle Relay team of Taucher, Steiner, Friel and sophomore Maya Valean also competed, taking 17th with a time of 4:17.31.
In other individual events, Rippy was ninth in the 50 Freestyle (25.95) and 10th in the 100 Freestyle (57.93); Friel was 13th in the 100 Breaststroke (1:16.26); Valean was 17th in the 500 Freestyle (6:01.43); Taucher was 23rd in the 100 Backstroke (1:10.61); and Steiner was 31st in the 500 Freestyle (28.08). Glenwood Springs finished 10th in the team competition with 139 points.
Also, competing in the Unified Sports division 50 Freestyle, Claire Hadaker from Roaring Fork High School finished third.
State wrestling qualifiers
The Basalt High School boys wrestling team, which also combines students from Roaring Fork, will be sending four representatives to the 3A State Wrestling Championships in Denver this Thursday through Saturday.
Heading to state will be James Opp at 157 pounds, Luca Del Cid at 165 pounds, Herberth Requeno at 190 pounds, and Brooks Ragan at 215 pounds.
The quartet advanced by virtue of their results at the 3A Region 3 qualifying meet in Delta last weekend. There, Del Cid and Ragan placed second, while Opp and Requeno were fourth in their respective weight divisions.
Roaring Fork basketball
After a week off, the Roaring Fork boys and girls basketball teams were back on the court Tuesday night for a non-league matchup at 4A Rifle.
The Lady Rams led from the opening quarter and were victorious, 65-34, to improve to 18-2 overall, while sitting at 9-2 in the 3A Western Slope League.
“We started out with strong defense and got into our groove with our press, and were able to run them down quick and get ahead,” junior Hazel Jenkins, who had 11 points and 11 rebounds on the night, said afterwards.
“We continued to play hard throughout the game and didn’t let the score dictate how we played. Coach always wants us to play like the score is 0-0, and that’s what we did,” she said, referring to head coach Mike Vidakovich.
Junior Riley Bevington led the way with 32 points and 12 rebounds, and senior Nikki Tardif had nine points and 11 rebounds.
The boys team found themselves down 14-10 after the first 8 minutes of play, before taking the lead and going up 29-21 at halftime. They kept the advantage for a 55-47 win and improved to 17-2 overall (9-0 and in first place in the 3A WSL).
Four Rams scored in double digits, junior Quentin Galbraith with 14, senior Lucas Carballeira with 13, senior Ryder Tezanos with 12, and junior Cole Fenton with 10.
Roaring Fork’s boys came into the second to last week of the regular season ranked No. 8 among 3A teams. If that holds up, the Rams and Carbondale would be awarded one of the eight regional host spots to start the playoffs.
The Roaring Fork girls entered the week ranked 10th, meaning they would need to move up a couple of spots when next week’s final regular season rankings come out in order to host.
The Rams teams host Cedaredge for senior night on Friday, Feb. 20 (5:30pm varsity girls, 7pm varsity boys).