The Roaring Fork High School boys basketball team launched itself into first place in the 3A Western Slope League standings with a pair of wins last weekend.

Meanwhile, the previously undefeated girls team stumbled a bit in their bid for the league title, but scored a pair of wins on the rebound.

Hosting Cedaredge on the home court Friday, Jan. 17, the Roaring Fork girls fell 78-40 to the still-undefeated Bruins, while the boys won the nightcap 67-33.

On Saturday, the Rams teams were on the road at Olathe. The girls rebounded from the previous night’s loss to score a 71-19 blowout win, while the boys won 82-61.

“I think we’re in a good groove right now, and hopefully we can keep it going,” boys coach Jason Kreiling said.

Versus Cedaredge, junior Lucas Carballeira had 18 points, including five 3-pointers, and junior Kiko Pena had nine points and nine rebounds.

With Pena out with a minor ankle injury the next day at Olathe, the Rams had balanced scoring. Carballeira had 22 points in that contest, junior Ethan Wilson and senior Luis Andrade had 15 each and sophomore Quentin Galbraith contributed 14.

“We’re getting a good taste of some road games in the mix,” Kreiling said of back-to-back weekends with a Friday home game and a Saturday road game. “We’re in a good place right now, but there’s definitely some improvement that needs to happen yet.”

Better consistency on both ends of the court will be key as the Rams face a tough test at home this Saturday against a hot Meeker Cowboys team. Tip-off is at 4pm.

“Meeker has been on a roll,” Kreiling said of the Cowboys’ recent three-game win streak. “With the Western Slope League, sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to get, so we’ve got to be on our game.”

The boys stand at 9-3 overall, and are now 4-0 in league play.

Ladies hold strong
After the Olathe win, the Rams girls picked up another convincing win on the road at Aspen on Tuesday night, 61-23, to move to 12-1 overall and 4-1 in the league, sitting in third place behind Cedaredge and Gunnison. 

Against a big, physical Cedaredge team last week, sophomore Riley Bevington was the only Ram to score in double figures with 18 points in the loss.

Bevington again led the way at Olathe with 25 points and eight rebounds, while senior Carley Crownhart had 20 points, and junior Nikki Tardif had 10 points and 12 rebounds. 

“The girls faced a very talented and physical Cedaredge team on Friday night, but they bounced back nicely on Saturday afternoon after the long trip to Olathe,” girls head coach Mike Vidakovich said. 

The Cedaredge loss dropped Roaring Fork to 12th in the state 3A rankings, while Cedaredge replaced the Rams, who were featured on MaxPreps Colorado last week, at the fifth spot.

“We face another tough test this week on Saturday afternoon at home against Meeker,” Vidakovich said.

Saturday tip-off for the varsity girls is 2:30pm.

Wrestling results
Hosting a Jan. 15 dual meet with Battle Mountain, the combined Basalt/Roaring Fork boys wrestling team prevailed, 47-12. Wrestled match winners were Graham Rose at 113 pounds (fall 5:27), Bronze Urfrig at 144 pounds (TF 23-8, 5:12), and Vaclav Hejda at 157 pounds (fall 2:14). 

The girls team fell to Battle Mountain, 18-12, with Roselynne Bernal-Rodriguez scoring a win by fall in 1:12 at 155 pounds, before taking second at the Queens of the Mountain tournament on Jan. 18. 

The boys are at the Cardinal Invitational this Saturday, Jan. 25, and both teams are at the Meeker Duals on Feb. 1.

Nordic skiing
The Colorado Rocky Mountain School Nordic ski team hosted a 5-kilometer skate competition on Jan. 15, inviting skiers from 13 Colorado high schools to the Spring Gulch ski area outside of Carbondale.

The top CRMS finisher for the boys was Wyatt Smith, placing ninth out of 67 skiers with a time of 17 minutes, 6 seconds; and for the CRMS girls it was Wren Groves Benedict in 44th place out of 72 skiers, in 24:45.