Preps: AHS girls golf qualifies four to state; Basalt baseball makes regionals

Despite falling short of qualifying as a team in the traditional sense, the Aspen High School girls golf team will send all four regional players to next week’s Class 2A state tournament.

The Skiers played on Monday in their 2A Region 4 tournament, held at RainDance National in Windsor. Colorado Academy won the regional title (243), followed in close second by Resurrection Christian (244). Aspen was a distant third with 280.

Only the top two teams qualified through, with the next 13 individuals not on an automatic qualifying team also making state.

Individually, Colorado Academy freshman Sophia Lee won the region by shooting 1-under 71. In second was AHS senior Lenna Persson, who shot 4-over 76, with a pair of Resurrection Christian golfers taking third and fourth.

Aspen senior Madison Nelson was 10^th overall (97), junior Josie Cole was 11^th overall (107), and freshman Palmer Elston tied for 16^th overall (114). All four AHS golfers made the state qualifying cutoff.

The 2A state tournament is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday at Pueblo Country Club. This is the first season there has been a 2A classification in girls golf.

Last spring, Aspen finished fourth as a team in 3A at state, behind champion Prospect Ridge, runner-up Colorado Academy, and third-placed St. Mary’s Academy. Persson — a South Dakota State signee — tied for fourth overall.

Baseball

The Basalt baseball team made the 32-team, Class 3A regional field, it was announced on Wednesday by CHSAA. Seeded No. 20, BHS (10-12 overall) will play out of Region 4, hosted on Saturday by four-time defending state champion Eaton.

In the first round of the four team, single-elimination tournament, the Longhorns will play No. 13 Lamar (16-7) at 12:30 p.m. The winner advances to play the winner of the early game (10 a.m.) between No. 4 Eaton (17-6) and No. 29 La Junta (8-15) in the final that same afternoon.

Only the regional champion will advance to next week’s state tournament. BHS last won a regional title in 2021, pulling a major shocker as the No. 21 seed. BHS went 0-2 at state that spring, with Eaton eventually winning the first of its four straight championships.

Basalt played at Eaton as recently as this past Saturday, May 10, losing 14-4. The Longhorns then closed out the regular season with an 11-5 win over Meeker on Monday.

Neither Aspen (8-15) nor Roaring Fork (7-16) made regional play. The Rams finished No. 36 in 3A in the CHSAA seeding index, while the Skiers came in at No. 41.

The other regional hosts — the top eight seeds — include No. 1 University, No. 2 Colorado Academy, No. 3 Coal Ridge, No. 5 Sterling, No. 6 Resurrection Christian, No. 7 Montezuma-Cortez, and No. 8 The Classical Academy.

Track and Field

The state track and field qualifiers were announced earlier this week, with the meet beginning Thursday and going through Saturday at JeffCo Stadium in Lakewood.

Here’s a quick look at the local athletes who qualified, with a handful from the Roaring Fork Valley making the cut.

BOYS

Basalt seniors Jared Tennenbaum and Lorenzo Salazar-Tedin both made state in the 110-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles. In the former, Tennenbaum will compete in Heat 1 of prelims with a qualifying time of 15.29 seconds; Salazar-Tedin is in Heat 3 (15.87 seconds).

In the 300, Salazar-Tedin will be in Heat 1 with a qualifying time of 40.74 seconds and Tennenbaum in Heat 2 with a time of 39.03 seconds.

Among the best chances for a podium finish comes from BHS junior Towler Scott, who is seeded sixth in the 3,200-meter run with a qualifying time of 9 minutes, 51.62 seconds. He’s about 14 seconds off the pace set by top qualifier Jackson Cook of TCA (9:37.38).

Scott also snuck into the 1,600-meter run, taking the 18^th and final qualifying spot in 4:34.58. Athletes will be chasing Resurrection Christian’s Jackson Fagerlin, who has the top seed time of 4:12.41.

The Basalt boys also qualified in three relays: 4×200 (1:31.68), 4×400 (3:32.29), and 4×800 (8:24.13).

GIRLS

Basalt junior Sidney Barill will compete in the long jump at state, qualifying with a distance of 33 feet. BHS junior Addison Raymond snuck into the 1,600-meter run, qualifying 18^th in 5:30.07; Coal Ridge’s Effie Fletcher has the top qualifying time of 4:57.34.

Roaring Fork junior Nikki Tardif qualified in the 300-meter hurdles in 48.83 seconds.

Both the Aspen and Roaring Fork girls have a team in the 4×800 relay.

Boys Lacrosse

Aspen boys lacrosse takes its No. 1 seed and perfect 16-0 record into the Class 4A state semifinals on Saturday.

The Skiers will play No. 4 Air Academy (15-1) at 12:30 p.m. in a game held at the University of Denver. The 10 a.m. semifinal features No. 3 Evergreen (15-2) vs. No. 2 Dakota Ridge (15-2).

The 4A state championship game is 5 p.m., Monday on DU’s campus. Aspen’s lone state title in lacrosse came in 2015.

acolbert@aspentimes.com