Colbert’s Prep Playbook: Golf, tennis kickoff the championship season
Anna Stonehouse/The Aspen Times
With the state golf tournament underway, championship season is officially here. It feels like school only started a week ago, but here we are.
After golf, next on the docket is boys tennis. If you haven’t been paying attention, the Aspen High School tennis team is having quite the season, its first with coach Steve Sand in charge. The Skiers are 10-0 in individual regular-season matches, including last weekend’s finale at Basalt, a 7-0 win.
Aspen even finished fourth out of 16 teams in a competitive tournament in Grand Junction earlier in the fall. All three teams ahead of them were 5A schools.
Now, the Skiers travel to the regional tournament, a place it has dominated almost every year for more than a decade. Steamboat Springs surprised them by winning in 2016, but AHS took no prisoners a year ago to regain their regional crown. Aspen sent all 11 varsity players to the state tournament in 2017, taking eighth, and will have a good chance to do the same this fall.
The Skiers’ 4A regional will be a one-day affair on Wednesday in Grand Junction. Steamboat and Vail Mountain will look to upend Aspen, while Durango and Basalt will also compete. This will be the Longhorns’ first regional meet, as this is their first season competing at the varsity level.
The Class 4A state tournament will be Oct. 11-13 in Pueblo.
Prove it time for volleyball
Tuesday night is the night for Aspen High School volleyball. The Skiers, who are off to a strong start, host powerhouse Coal Ridge at 6:30 p.m. for a chance to take over the driver’s seat in the 3A Western Slope League. The Titans have long dominated the WSL, but this could be the year the Skiers take control.
Although, it’s hardly a two-team race, as Cedaredge has put together as good of a resume as either Aspen or Coal Ridge. The Bruins are No. 10 in 3A this week by CHSAANow.com, while the Titans are sitting a few spots out of the top 10.
Aspen, which has lost a little bit of traction after a ho-hum tournament at Battle Mountain last weekend, travels to Cedaredge later in the month.
Basalt football still rolling
I have no idea who gave them the vote, but the Basalt High School football team had one person vote them as the No. 1 team in Class 2A this week by CHSAANow.com. Overall, they are only No. 6, which is hardly a bad thing. La Junta is holding down the top spot with six of the 11 first-place votes, with Platte Valley in second and Rifle in third, both with two first-place votes.
At 5-0, Basalt is off to what could be its best start in program history. We’ll have to do some research on that. The Oct. 19 Basalt and Rifle matchup is going to be something. Before that, BHS has to face No. 10 Delta on Oct. 12. The Panthers broke into the rankings this week after a shootout win over Aspen on Friday.
This week, Basalt will host Coal Ridge while Aspen hosts Moffat County. Home games are rare for the Skiers this season, so don’t miss out.
