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Preps: Basalt girls XC shines in big Cali meet; Rigney strong for Aspen JV golf

Basalt High School juniors Ava Lane, left, and Katelyn Maley competed on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic near Los Angeles. Courtesy photo.

The Basalt High School cross country team traveled to California this past week to compete in the 2021 Woodbridge Cross Country Classic, hosted by Woodbridge High School just outside of Los Angeles. The race was held at the SilverLakes Sports Complex in Norco.

Like she does here in Colorado, Basalt High School junior Katelyn Maley raced her way to victory on Friday, winning the varsity girls A race in Division IV (the smallest of the divisions) with a time of 17 minutes, 7.1 seconds. Her BHS teammate, junior Ava Lane, was third in 18:02.5. In second was JiaLian Mackey of Viewpoint (located in nearby Calabasas) in 17:18.9.

Basalt freshman Isabella Moon was 20th overall in 19:54.2 in a race that featured 149 runners. All seven of the Longhorns’ scoring runners finished in the top 80, a list that includes Payton Barill (49th), Lacey Lindberg (54th), Emma Jeffries (61st), and Juniper Anderson (78th).



The Basalt girls narrowly finished third among 18 teams with 88 points, while Viewpoint was second with 86 points. Linfield Christian, whose top runners finished fourth and sixth, won the team title with 55 points.

Aspen competed Friday in Ridgway at the Ramble at the Reservoir, where junior Elsie Weiss continued her strong season by winning the girls race in 23:25.50. Colorado Rocky Mountain School senior Lola Villafranco was second in 23:43.10 and AHS junior Michaela Kenny was third in 23:52.50.




The Aspen girls easily won the team title with 36 points, followed in second by Coal Ridge’s 80 points and in third by Grand Junction’s 86 points.

Aspen’s top finisher in the boys race was junior Eske Roennau, who was 16th in 22:29. Ouray’s Vincent Schierenberg won the race in 20:06.6. Grand Junction won the team title with 30 points. AHS did not record a team score on the boys side.

There is still a month to go in the Colorado high school cross country season. Highlights include Aspen’s home race on Oct. 9 and the regional meet on Oct. 22, hosted by Coal Ridge. Maley is the defending Class 3A girls state champion.

Rigney leads AHS golfers at JV championship

Aspen High School freshman golfer Ryan Rigney put together an impressive performance Friday at the Western Slope JV Championships, played at Chipeta Golf Course in Grand Junction.

Aspen High School freshman Ryan Rigney poses with his haul after winning the Western Slope JV championship on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, at Chipeta Golf Course in Grand Junction. Courtesy photo.

Playing on a par-59 course, Rigney shot 3-over 62 to win the freshmen tournament as well as take top honors among all golfers competing, regardless of year. Aspen’s Luke Leonard shot 71 to finish fourth and Eric Pearce shot 77 to place seventh in the freshmen tournament. The AHS freshmen team finished third.

In the JV sophomore tournament, the Skiers won the team title behind Sasha Forman’s 65, which won that flight by six strokes. Tying for second was Aspen’s Aidan Tracey (71) and in 13th was Aspen’s Nik Kuhn (81).

In the JV upperclassmen tournament, Aspen finished second behind a third-place finish from junior Peter de Wetter (67). In eighth was senior Cooper Kendrick (76) and in 15th was senior Joseph Clark (86).

The JV championship was open to all players not competing at varsity regionals. Regional play is Monday and Tuesday statewide, with the state tournaments scheduled for Oct. 4 and 5.

Aspen boys soccer blanks Moffat

The Aspen High School boys soccer team won its fourth straight game on Saturday, rolling 10-0 over visiting Moffat County on the AHS turf.

It was the league opener for the Skiers, now 4-1 overall, who travel to Roaring Fork for a non-league game on Tuesday. The Rams entered the week ranked No. 8 in Class 3A, although dropped to 4-1 with their first loss on Saturday, falling 2-0 to Liberty Common.

Basalt (1-6) was off this weekend and next plays Tuesday at home against Rifle.

Aspen volleyball sweeps Gunnison

The Aspen High School volleyball team went on the road Saturday and took care of Gunnison, winning 3-0 for its first sweep of the season. Set scores were 25-15, 25-19 and 25-15.

Gunnison fell to 1-7 overall, while Aspen improved to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in league play. Saturday’s win was the first of the team’s four matches this season to not have gone a full five sets.

The schedule will pick up for the Skiers going forward. Next up is a non-league home match with Roaring Fork on Tuesday, followed by a visit from Coal Ridge on Thursday in a key league game.

Basalt was off this past weekend.

acolbert@aspentimes.com