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Preps: Aspen lacrosse teams earn first-round byes as brackets released

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Austin Colbert
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Aspen High School boys lacrosse's Ryder Cohan, left, controls the ball against Steamboat Springs on Thursday, April 30, 2026, on the AHS turf.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

The CHSAA state playoff brackets were released Sunday for three different spring sports, with most of it good news for Roaring Fork Valley teams. Here’s the postseason rundown as championship season hits its stride.

Boys lacrosse

Aspen High School boys lacrosse will be the No. 4 seed in the Class 4A state tournament and will receive a first-round bye on Tuesday. The Skiers’ second-round home game will be Friday, May 8, on the AHS turf against either No. 13 Ponderosa (9-6) or No. 20 Crested Butte (7-8). A start time will be announced later.

Aspen finished the regular season 12-3 overall after Saturday’s 18-0 senior night win over Vail Mountain. AHS had lost the game prior, falling 5-4 to Steamboat Springs on Thursday.

Should Aspen advance to host the May 12 quarterfinal, possible opponents include No. 5 Lutheran, No. 12 Golden or No. 21 Smoky Hill. The semifinals will be May 16 and the championship game on May 18 at the University of Denver.

The No. 1 seed is Air Academy (14-1), which beat Aspen 13-6 on March 24. The Kadets also gave AHS its only loss of the 2025 season, beating the Skiers 10-3 in the state semifinals. Dakota Ridge beat Air Academy in the 2025 championship game, 12-7. The defending champions are seeded No. 19 this spring and play at No. 14 Fruita Monument in the first round.


The No. 2 seed is Evergreen (12-3), which beat Ponderosa on Saturday, 16-2, to close out the regular season. Evergreen’s second-round opponent will be the winner of No. 15 Glenwood Springs (9-5) and No. 18 Mullen (7-7); the Demons will host the Mustangs at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the GSHS field.

The No. 3 seed is Grand Junction (14-1), which gave Aspen its other loss, beating the Skiers 8-7 on April 23. Other teams with first-round byes (top eight seeds) include No. 6 Telluride (12-3), No. 7 Battle Mountain (11-4) and No. 8 Steamboat (10-5).

The Skiers seek the program’s second state championship in boys lacrosse, following their lone title from 2015.

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Girls lacrosse

Aspen will be the No. 8 seed in the 4A girls lacrosse state tournament and will also receive a first-round bye. The Skiers (8-7) will host a second-round game on Thursday, May 7, against either No. 9 Telluride (9-4) or No. 24 Denver North (1-14). A start time will be announced later.

Aspen and Telluride played March 21, AHS winning 24-12 at home. The Skiers finished the regular season with back-to-back wins over Grand Junction (12-9) and Montrose (21-1).

Earning the No. 3 seed was Roaring Fork. The Rams (13-2) will also sit out Tuesday’s first round and await the winner of No. 14 Fruita Monument (7-6) and No. 19 Horizon (5-10), who it will host in Thursday’s second round in Carbondale.

The No. 1 seed is Battle Mountain, a team Aspen could potentially face in the quarterfinals. The Skiers lost both regular-season games against the Huskies this spring. Golden is the No. 2 seed, with other top seeds going to No. 4 Evergreen (6-7), No. 5 Steamboat (8-6), No. 6 Cheyenne Mountain (10-5) and No. 7 Air Academy (10-4).

The 4A girls semifinals will be May 13 and the final May 15 in Denver.

Girls soccer

After missing out in 2025, Aspen girls soccer made the 3A postseason field, earning the No. 27 seed in the 32-team tournament this spring. The Skiers (6-4-4) will play at No. 6 Pueblo Centennial (14-1) in the first round on Thursday. A game time had not been announced as of Sunday afternoon.

The Bulldogs’ lone loss came April 28 at Pueblo County, 6-1, a team seeded No. 11 in the 4A bracket. After a strong midseason stretch, AHS closed out its regular season with back-to-back losses to Vail Mountain (2-0) and Glenwood Springs (2-1).

The Aspen-Pueblo Centennial winner will face either No. 11 The Classical Academy (8-4-1) or No. 22 St. Mary’s Academy (6-7-2) in Saturday’s second round, hosted by the highest remaining seed.

Aspen High School girls soccer player Spencer Irvin controls the ball against Basalt on Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Basalt.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

Roaring Fork (4-8-3) made the bracket as the No. 30 seed and will play at No. 3 Colorado Academy (10-5) — the reigning 3A state champions — in the first round on Thursday. The winner gets either No. 14 Berthoud (9-5-1) or No. 19 Manitou Springs (6-7-2) in the second round.

Kent Denver is the No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 Longmont. Steamboat is No. 7, Delta is No. 8 and Vail Mountain is No. 17.

Basalt girls soccer did not make the postseason, finishing the spring 4-9-2 overall.

Glenwood (8-6-1) is the No. 30 seed in Class 4A and will play at No. 3 Air Academy (11-2-1) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the first round.

Girls tennis

Aspen girls tennis had two players named as alternates for the Class 3A state tournament, set for this Thursday through Saturday in Colorado Springs. The regional tournament was held this past week in Grand Junction.

Earning the alternate recognition — which effectively means finishing third at regionals — were AHS sophomore Sofia Abbaszadeh at No. 1 singles and AHS freshman Mara Hoffner at No. 3 singles. They would only compete at state should one of the top two regional placers drop out.

Basalt did not have any players qualify for state.

Waiting game for the rest

Baseball, track and girls golf remain on the doorstep of postseason play.

Aspen baseball’s standout season continued Saturday with a pair of road wins over Gunnison, 12-2 and 13-3. The Skiers are 16-3 overall and were ranked No. 5 among 3A teams in the CHSAA seeding index as of Sunday afternoon. AHS next hosts Roaring Fork (9-11) on Wednesday before traveling to Carbondale on Saturday.

Roaring Fork (No. 28) and Basalt (No. 37, 7-13 overall) remain in the postseason picture, but with work still to do over the final two weeks of the regular season. The Longhorns head to powerhouse Eaton (16-3) on Saturday.

Aspen girls golf still has a couple of tournaments to go this week (Tiara Rado, Steamboat), although it seems unlikely any players will qualify for the state field. There are no longer regional tournaments, players instead making the cut based off their best regular-season rounds.

State track and field is scheduled for May 14-16 in Lakewood. Check back before then for a complete breakdown of area qualifiers, of which Aspen and Basalt will both have their share.

Reach Austin at acolbert@aspentimes.com

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