Preps: Longhorn wrestlers win middle school tournament; state basketball begins

The Basalt Middle School wrestling team won the PEG League championship on March 1 in Basalt. The league is made up of Pitkin, Eagle, and Garfield County athletes, both male and female. It was the sixth time BMS has won the tournament in the past 17 years.

Basalt finished with 209 points, followed in second by Rifle (182.5) and in third by Grand Valley (162). Six other local middle schools took part, including Aspen Middle, Aspen Community, Carbondale Middle, Carbondale Community, Cornerstone, and home-schooled students.

Champions included: Jocelyn Rivera (CMS), 130lb girls; Samantha Nunez (CMS), 135lbs girls; Leo Heinrich (BMS), 140lbs; Bode Philen (AMS), 155lbs; and Kaleb Regan (HS).

Runners-up included: Amy Romero (CMS), 110lb girls; Isabella Gonzales (CMS), 120lb girls; Eli Requeno (BMS), 140lbs; Albert Marquez-Machado (BMS), 155lbs; Olivia Trevisan (ACS), 135lb girls; and Iker Palomares (BMS), 170lbs.

The Basalt team was coached by Keegan Gilligan, Eric Hunsberger, and Ryan Bradley.

State basketball begins on Friday for 4A, 3A

Times and pairings are set for the first round of the Class 4A state basketball tournament.

At 7 p.m. on Friday, the No. 3 seed Aspen boys will host No. 30 Pagosa Springs. Prior to that game, at 5 p.m., No. 14 Montezuma-Cortez will play No. 19 Timnath inside the AHS gymnasium.

The two winners will meet at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Aspen for the regional championship.

The No. 26-seed Basalt boys will play at 7 p.m., Friday at No. 7 Sterling. The winner plays again at 1 p.m. on Saturday against either No. 10 Colorado Academy or No. 23 DSST: Montview.

Neither the Aspen nor Basalt girls made the postseason.

In Class 3A, the No. 15 Roaring Fork boys will play No. 18 Denver Christian at 6 p.m., Friday, hosted by Windsor Charter Academy. The Rams would play again at 1 p.m., Saturday with a victory.

The No. 9 seed Roaring Fork girls play at 3 p.m., Friday against No. 24 Lyons, a game hosted by No. 8 Strasburg. That regional championship game is also on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Regional champions will advance to next week’s “Great 8” round in Denver.

High school ski season concludes

The high school ski season concluded this past weekend with the Nordic state championships, hosted by Steamboat Springs. This was the first year CHSAA separated the Alpine and Nordic finale, giving each discipline its own champions.

Aspen sent a handful to compete in the skate race at state. The top finisher was Kate Goldfarb, who was 10^th overall in the girls 5-kilometer skate in 16 minutes, 26.1 seconds. Also finishing top 20 was Aspen’s Annabelle Case, who was 16^th in 17:04.8.

Vail Mountain’s Isla Elton won the girls skate race in 15:07.7. She also won the girls classic race on Day 1.

Aspen’s top finisher in the boys skate race was Will Goldfarb, who was 47^th in 17:13.4.

Lacking numbers, the Aspen girls finished 10^th and the boys 12^th as a team. Lake County won the girls Nordic title, while Summit won the boys championship.

The Alpine state championships were held a week prior and hosted by Aspen Highlands, with AHS sweeping both the boys and girls state championships on home snow.

Spring sports are here

Spring sports practices are well underway, and for some teams, the season begins as soon as this weekend. In action, according to the MaxPreps schedules, will be Basalt girls soccer, who plays Saturday at Longmont in their opener. The Aspen girls don’t play until March 14 against Telluride.

Aspen boys lacrosse plays March 11 vs. Eagle Valley, and AHS girls lacrosse opens March 13 vs. Summit. Basalt baseball will play Saturday at Rifle, while AHS baseball doesn’t get going until March 14 against Steamboat.

Aspen girls golf, under new coach Hallie McQueeny, is scheduled to play Monday at Chipeta Golf Course in Grand Junction. Tennis and track will also get underway within the coming days.

acolbert@aspentimes.com