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Colbert’s Prep Playbook: Resetting the high school stage after X Games

The Basalt High School boys basketball teams plays at Moffat County.
Andy Bockelman/Craig Press

What a week. Hopefully many of you got over to Buttermilk to catch some of the X Games action. If not, there are stories galore on our website you can browse through.

Now that it’s over, I can get back to regularly scheduled programming. We are down to our final couple of weeks in the winter high school sports season — we are less than a month from the start of spring sports practice — so let’s do a quick catching up and see where the local teams stand as we approach the finish line.

ASPEN HOCKEY



This past weekend wasn’t great for Aspen High School hockey. The Skiers played to a 2-2 tie at Summit before losing 2-1 at Mountain Vista a day later. AHS is 5-5-4 overall with four games to play. They still control their own destiny in terms of the playoffs. Friday the Skiers will play at Battle Mountain, a team it lost to 4-1 earlier in the season, in a critical league game. Then AHS will have back-to-back games at Crested Butte on Feb. 8 and 9 that will likely determine the league championship. The regular season wraps up Feb. 16 at Resurrection Christian.

ASPEN BASKETBALL




Sitting 4-10 overall, Aspen High School boys basketball is running out of time to make something of the season. The Skiers have lost four straight since running by Cedaredge on Jan. 11, including a 47-34 loss at Roaring Fork over the weekend. AHS will host Moffat County on Saturday before playing Cedaredge one more time Tuesday. Then it’s back-to-back home games versus Coal Ridge and Delta before a trip to Basalt on Valentine’s Day to close out the regular season.

The AHS girls are 4-8 overall after a 53-18 loss at Roaring Fork on Saturday. Despite similar records, the girls season will probably be viewed as a relative success considering the program had a combined four wins over the past four years. The girls finish out with the same schedule as the boys, outside of a Thursday home game against Summit.

BASALT BASKETBALL

The Basalt High School boys basketball team is coming off a 62-55 loss at Moffat County over the weekend. At 3-11 overall, the Longhorns will step out of league play and travel to Rifle Tuesday.

The Basalt girls sit at 1-13 overall after a 65-40 loss at Moffat County on Saturday. Both teams are slated to finish out with the same schedule. After facing the Bears, BHS will play at Roaring Fork on Friday and host Grand Valley on Saturday. The regular season concludes with a road game at Olathe on Feb. 8 and a home game with Aspen on Feb. 14.

THE BEST OF THE REST

Championship season is upon us, and first up will be Aspen girls swimming. The Skiers head to Grand Junction later this week for the conference championships before heading to the Class 3A state meet Feb. 8 and 9 in Fort Collins. AHS is only two years removed from a state championship and were eighth as a team last year.

Basalt wrestling will close out its regular season with three duals. Next up is a Thursday dual at Coal Ridge, followed by a home dual with Rifle on Feb. 7 and the finale at Meeker on Feb. 9. Regionals are scheduled to get underway Feb. 15 in Alamosa. The Longhorns are usually a safe bet to get a couple of wrestlers through to the state tournament, scheduled for Feb. 21-23 in Denver.

I’ll come back later this week to catch up with AHS skiing. Of note, the Nordic team has its home meet on Saturday. The state championship, where Aspen is a regular contender for the combined Alpine-Nordic crown, is scheduled for Feb. 21 and 22 at Purgatory Resort. Aspen swept the boys and girls teams titles a year ago.

acolbert@aspentimes.com