Colorado Preps Weekly

The calendar may still say that it's summer (and the weather agrees), the fall sports season is in full swing. Several sports are closing in on an entire month of competitions, including boys golf.

Fort Morgan had a rough outing in the LPL event hosted by Skyline last Monday, finishing ninth out of the ten squads in the tournament. However, Jeriah Blake just missed out on a top ten finish, shooting a 9-over-par 81, good for 14th place. That was only two shots out of 10th. He was three shots better on Thursday in the Frederick Classic, with his 78 tying for 15th. Due to tiebreakers, Blake ended up in 22nd place overall.

Sterling, Brush and Yuma all hit the course on Thursday at Estes Park Invitational, with the Tigers taking sixth as a team. Brush was two spots back and Yuma finished 13th. Jack Bornhoft of Sterling was the top local finisher, tying for eighth with an 81, eight shots back of the leader. Myer Wickham paced the Beetdiggers with a 91, while Kyle Schuetz topped Yuma by shooting a 101. Wray did not qualify for the team race, but the Eagles saw Corbin Sprague post a 92.

Wray won the team title the following day at the Holyoke Invite, beating Sterling in a tiebreaker. Sprague earned the top individual spot with an 85, two better than Ty Dirks of the host Dragons. Sterling and Stratton both had two in the top 10, with Colin Linn (89) tying for third and Dayten DiOrio (90) finishing fifth for the Tigers and Jarrod Gibbons (93) and Rustin Williams (94) placing seventh and eighth for Stratton, respectively.

Swink and Fowler were separated by a single shot in the Centennial Invitational in Pueblo last Wednesday, with the Lions posting a 261 to Fowler's 262. They finished sixth and seventh in the team standings, respectively. Harrison Proctor tallied an 83 to lead the Grizzlies, tying him for 16th, while Nick Paolucci paced Swink with an 84. Damien Baca from Las Animas tied for third, recording a 74.

It's been a great start to the season for Baca, who turned around and won the Eads Invitational on Friday, shooting a 75. He's only finished outside of the top three one time in six tournaments, with three championships.

The biggest event in cross country this past week was the 49th Annual Rocky Ford Invitational on Friday. Lamar's Cole Krug won the boys' title, posting a winning time of 17 minutes, 14.30 seconds, just over 11 seconds ahead of Josh Snyder, representing the hosts. Other local runners in the top 10 included Caden Miller (Rocky Ford, 6th), Mylo Lovejoy (Springfield, 7th) and Aaron Robles (Burlington, 8th). Rocky Ford finished second as a team, with Lamar (3rd), Rye (4th), Byers (6th) and La Junta (7th) also having strong finishes.

Quincy Bowling, a freshman from Byers, took third in the girls' race, just 54 seconds behind the winner. Summer Hernandez of Rocky Ford (7th place) was the only other local runner in the top 10, but Lamar's Vanessa Chairez only missed by one spot. Rocky Ford, with four in the top 20, took third in the team race. Byers had four in the top 21 to finish fourth overall.

Fort Morgan had two girls finished in the top 10 at the Severance Silver Knight Invite on Saturday, with Gabriela Arteaga taking eighth and MaryAnn Hill bringing home a 10th place finish. Diego Rangel paced the Mustangs in the boys race, finishing 11th.

Sticking with Fort Morgan, the boys' soccer team went 1-1 last week, dropping its opener 1-0 to Liberty Common on Tuesday and then defeating Valley 5-0 on Thursday. Aram Bonilla was strong in net in the loss, stopping nine of 10 shots, but the Mustangs could only generate two shots on goal. He stopped all five shots in the win over the Vikings and Fort Morgan got a pair of goals with an assist by Farhan Abdi. Victor Mora added two helpers.

Lamar picked up a 3-0 win over Alamosa on the road on Friday, improving the Thunder's record to 3-0, but six second half goals on Saturday led to a 7-0 loss at Pagosa Springs. The Pirates put 13 shots on goal.

Football's first week of action saw some big scores put on the board, especially in six-man. Walsh was outscored 19-6 in the fourth quarter and dropped a 64-62 shootout at La Veta, while Genoa-Hugo outlasted Eads, 70-50. The game that had everyone's attention in the classification saw Cheyenne Wells score on the opening snap of its game against Stratton in a rematch of last year's state title game when Ty Scheler connected with Carson Noe. Stratton scored the final 53 points to avenge the championship game loss. The Eagles make another trip south on Friday, when they visit Granada, who defeated Branson/Kim 68-24. Cheyenne Wells hosts Cheylin, one of the top teams in Kansas.

One of the top games in 8-man in week one saw Swink hold off Fowler, 44-34. The Lions have another tough match-up this week, as they host Sanford of Friday. The Mustangs are coming off a solid 34-20 win over Dayspring Christian in week one. Holly, who opened the year inside ranked sixth, got a nice 44-8 win at Custer County on Saturday. The Wildcats and Swink are expected to fight for the top spot in the Arkansas Valley conference.

Three Plains division teams earned lopsided wins in the opening week, with Akron bouncing Byers 50-26 and Caliche winning 46-20 at Rangely on Friday. Merino blanked Pikes Peak Christian 44-0 on Saturday, with the defense allowing a total of 59 yards. Haxtun, the defending champion, was off and will open against Holyoke this week.

Holyoke will be looking to get the foul taste of a 37-6 trouncing by Strasburg out of its collective mouth. The Dragons were one of two North Central teams to fall in week one, with Burlington dropping a tough 42-34 decision at 2A La Junta. Limon, Wray, Wiggins and Yuma all picked up wins. For Wiggins, the Tigers broke a 7-7 tie in the fourth quarter to beat Brush 27-7. Yuma blasted Sterling 56-14 on Thursday.

Joining La Junta in the win column in week one in Class 2A was rival Lamar. The Thunder shutout Trinidad 44-0 on the road. The lone 3A team in the region, defending champion Fort Morgan, could not hold on against Conifer, falling by a 13-10 score.

Tournaments once again dominated the landscape in volleyball and several local teams took home hardware. Merino dropped a single set on its way to winning the title at the NJC tournament. The two-time defending State champs in 1A picked up wins over ranked teams Fleming, Haxtun and Otis, as well as a 2A ranked foe in Dayspring Christian.

Flagler improved to 4-0 on the season by rolling its way through the Miami-Yoder tournament. The Panthers have not dropped a set so far this season. Arickaree earned its second tournament crown, blanking all three opponents in the Twin Peaks Charter tournament. The Bison are 9-1 on the year.

Sedgwick County, Wiggins and Wray join Merino out of the LPAA as unbeaten teams two weeks into the season. Sedgwick County swept Weldon Valley and then held on to defeat Burlington in five sets. Wiggins added a four-set win over a very tough Stratton team and Wray had to go five sets to beat Lone Star. For Burlington, it was their second straight five set defeat, as the Cougars dropped a heartbreaker to Kit Carson on Thursday.

Fowler is one of three teams in 2A to have not dropped a set so far this young season. The Grizzlies picked up straight set wins over Manitou Springs and Crowley County last week.

Lamar swept a very good Centauri squad on Saturday to improve to 2-0 on the year. The Thunder were ranked third beginning last week, with Centauri the first team outside of the top 10. Fellow top-five team, Sterling, had an interesting week. After dropping the first two sets to Fort Morgan on Tuesday, the Tigers roared back to take the match in five sets. They could not keep that momentum on Thursday, as they were swept by Sidney, Neb.

Conversely, Fort Morgan was able to shake off that disappointing loss to defeat Weld Central in five on Thursday. This time, it was the Mustangs who overcame a 0-2 start, winning the third 26-24 and taking the decisive fifth set by a score of 17-15.

In softball, Wiley improved to 6-0 with a sweep of Yuma County, winning the first 19-2 and following it up with a 19-1 win in the second. Both games were called via the run rule after four innings. La Junta outslugged Limon 14-9 on Tuesday and then took a four inning 16-0 win at Burlington on Thursday. Six of their first 10 runs were scored with two outs.

Lamar also picked up a 10-0 win over Burlington on Saturday, bouncing back from a 3-1 loss at Guymon, Okla. on Thursday. Sterling also got a rebound win, this one on Friday, as the Tigers defeated Holyoke 11-1 behind Reagan Fehringer, who struck out eight in six innings. Sterling had suffered its first loss of the season on Tuesday, as the Tigers fell 11-3 on the road at Scottsbluff, Neb.