RFHS spring sports underway

An old Roaring Fork High School spring sports observation goes something like this: There’s a good chance the weather for any given baseball game will be colder than any football game in October or November. You can also add girls soccer and lacrosse, and co-ed track to the mix.

The month of March shows up most brutally, with snow, freezing train and wind sometimes postponing games or sending practices inside to the gym. Warmer days of April mean baseballs smack into mitts a bit louder than when it’s cold, and batters must only battle pitchers instead of the elements. The same goes for soccer, lacrosse and track, as those athletes can actually have fun in the sun, competing with their teammates.

The girls junior varsity lacrosse team has already had three scrimmage games in Grand Junction last week (going 2-1), while the baseballers see their first action at home at 3 p.m. on March 10. Here is a partial preview on Roaring Fork spring sports.

Baseball

Head coach Marty Madsen reports that a total of 24 players are coming out, which includes eight starters from last year’s 2-17 team. The Rams play in the Western Slope league, which includes: Delta, Battle Mountain, Hotchkiss, Aspen, Meeker, Grand Valley, Steamboat Springs, Basalt, Rifle, Coal Ridge, Cedaredge, Moffat County, Olathe and Gunnison. The regular season concludes with a home game against Gunnison at 11 a.m. on May 6.

Girl’s lacrosse

Roaring Fork is fielding a junior varsity girls lacrosse team that also includes girls from Basalt, Glenwood Springs and Yampah Mountain High, which currently totals 12 players with three coaches. Seven are returning players and five are new. Colorado girls lacrosse is organized into one 5A class. Roaring Fork plays in the Mountain League, and plans to field a varsity team in 2019.

“The coaches and I are so proud of our players,” said head coach Sarah Klingelheber. “It is no easy task to build a new sports program and we could not do it without our players’ dedication, enthusiasm and motivation.” The assistant coaches are Chelsea Robson and Amanda Wynn.

Track & field

The Roaring Fork co-ed track team has 30 students and competes in the 3A Western Slope league. “We have a lot of new faces this year but we return some strong veterans from last year,” said head coach Ryan Erickson. “Last year we took eight competitors to the state meet, which was the most we have had since I started coaching at Roaring Fork. We will be looking to try to improve on that total this year.”

The Rams are led by junior Jasper Germain, who took first place in last year’s 3A state meet with a school-record jump of six feet, five inches. He also placed 12th in the 110-meter hurdles. Other tracksters who competed in state last year and their finishes are:

• Jazmin Contreras (senior), 100 meters, eighth place;

• Kendall Bernot (sophomore), 300 hurdles, 18th place;

• Ronald Clemente (sophomore), 4×800 relay, 16th place;

• Trevor Stroud (junior) – 4×800 relay, 16th place;

• Justin Thompson (junior), long jump sixth place and

 110 hurdles 16th place.

Girl’s soccer

Information on girls soccer was not available at press time. They start the season at Rifle at 4 p.m. on March 14 and conclude the regular season at home against Middle Park at 4 p.m. on May 4.