Redemption

Take that, snowman. One day after an 8 on par-3 No 12 at Tiara Rado Golf Course spoiled an otherwise respectable first-round for Samantha Medina, the Central High School junior made amends Tuesday. She started her second round in the Class 5A girls golf state championships on the back nine, faced No. 12 as her third hole of the day and put it in its place. There was no wild unplayable shot off to the left like Monday. This time Medina planted her tee shot 15 feet from the pin and carded ...

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Montrose’s Keltz claims 4A state golf title

Montrose senior Kala Keltz started today two strokes off the lead and ended it in the lead by two strokes as she claimed the Class 4A girls golf state championship. Keltz sank a three-foot par putt on No. 18 at Broken Tee Golf Course in Englewood to card the tournament’s lone round under par, a 70, which gave her 146 strokes for the tourney, two better than Jefferson Academy’s Jennifer Kupchom, the runner-up. “It was crazy,” Keltz said of her final round and the ...

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‘Nothing to lose’

Jordan Eller didn’t shoot the score she knows she can shoot at Tiara Rado Golf Course, which she has played four times a week for the past couple of months in preparation for this week. On the other hand, armed with a state-tournament patch and a photo of herself taking a swing, two post-round purchases Monday on the Tiara Rado clubhouse patio, life was good. “I didn’t get the score I was looking for, but it’s not horrible,” she said, then repeated, ...

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Keltz, Walters seek grand finales

Rifle senior Taylor Walters has been at her ball-striking best down the stretch of her final high school season. Her 74 at River Valley Ranch Golf Club earlier this month was the lowest round of her career and netted her a regional championship, and she hopes more is in store. Following that victory two weeks ago, she said, “I don’t want to reach my full potential yet. I want to save some for state.” Walters will play in her fourth Class 4A Girls Golf State Tournament ...

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Linked by golf

Taylor Walters didn’t hit the drive she wanted on hole No. 10 at Rifle Creek Golf Course, but a minute later she didn’t care. Kala Keltz stepped into the tee box and tattooed a drive down the middle. “That’s my partner,” Walters exclaimed. Five holes later, after Keltz was less than satisfied with her shot from the elevated tee box to the No. 15 green, Walters returned the favor. Her tee shot gave them a much better putt, and Keltz turned to Walters and said. ...

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Triathletes have their pick of distances at HITS Triathlon Series

Approximately 650 triathletes will run, bike and swim Saturday and Sunday when the HITS Triathlon Series makes its Grand Junction debut. Five triathlons of varying lengths — full, half, Olympic, sprint and open — will take place at Highline Lake State Park. The longest two will be featured Saturday: the full triathlon (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run) and half triathlon (each distance is half of the full triathlon). Each starts at 7 a.m. It probably will be close ...

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Multiple medals may await Cedaredge’s Gates at 3A state track meet

Decisions, decisions. Reid Gates had a couple of easy ones: compete in the boys high jump, where he’s seeded first, and the long jump, where he’s seeded third. Then the Cedaredge High School junior had a couple of tough ones because athletes are limited to competing in four events at the Class 3A State Track and Field Championships. Gates, who said he’d like to be a decathlete in college, tried a few new events this year and excelled in them, too, posting qualifying times ...

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Fruita swimmer more than Fair in the pool and out

Tyler Fair will cap his swimming career at Fruita Monument by competing in several events at the Class 5A state swim meet a week from now, right here in Grand Junction. Then, it’s off to college — options abound — where it appears bigger things await a young man who “gets it” in the classroom and in life. That’s why he was one of two Colorado seniors, one boy and one girl, honored recently with a Farmers Insurance Most Valuable Participant Annual ...

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Grand Junction-Fruita Monument baseball game canceled

Tonight’s high school baseball game between Grand Junction and Fruita Monument, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Suplizio Field, has been canceled. According to Grand Junction Athletic Director Ned Pollert, the game will not be rescheduled, because today is the last day CHSAA allows for regular-season baseball games. CHSAA will release the state playoff pairings for Classes 3A, 4A and 5A on Wednesday.  ...

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Making a statement

As she began to talk about it, Sierra Filutze began to realize how much her accomplishment meant to her. Qualifying for the girls tennis state tournament means “a lot,” the Grand Junction High School senior said. Then, her eyes got watery as she added, “It just kind of hit me.” After a back-and-forth first two sets filled with long volleys and games reaching deuce against Cherokee Trail’s Sydney Reese, Filutze reduced the suspense in the third set. She ...

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Making quite a racket

Led by Central High School’s Aimee Basinski, Grand Valley girls tennis players will vie for championships in every flight except one today at the Class 5A Region 6 tournament. Basinski, a senior seeking her third consecutive regional title at No. 1 singles, cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win in the first round Thursday, then turned back Grand Junction freshman Carolena Campos in the semifinals 6-2, 6-4. Basinski had to work for the second set as Campos took a 3-2 lead. Then, after Basinski ...

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Drake’s goal lifts Tigers past Warriors

Jordan Drake didn’t think she was going to be celebrating. Her shot from just outside the right corner of the 18-yard box Wednesday night was angling downward toward the feet of Central goalkeeper Marisa Brown, who for 165 minutes in two contests against Grand Junction this season had been an impenetrable wall in front of the Warriors’ goal. “Marisa’s a really good goalie. I thought she had it,” Drake said. So did Brown. But, as Brown reached down with both ...

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Champion ‘Dogs

Palisade baseball players gathered for a team photo after their game Tuesday because they had just clinched at least a share of the 4A Western Slope League championship. But it was only after Delta, the last team in the league with a chance to tie the Bulldogs, made them play like champions. Palisade remained unbeaten in the WSL by rallying from deficits of 7-1 and 10-9 to leave Suplizio Field with an 11-10 victory over the Panthers, whose two league losses are to the Bulldogs (15-2, ...

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Durango header deflates ‘Cats

Durango’s goal with about 10 minutes left in the first half came on a penalty kick after Fruita Monument was called for a hand ball in the box. That was frustrating for the Wildcats. But trailing 1-0 was nothing to get down about. They had been playing the Demons evenly in terms of possession and scoring opportunities. What happened with about two minutes left in the half, however, seemed to take the fight out of Fruita in a 2-0 loss Saturday to the Demons in a girls soccer game ...

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Central battles to 1-1 draw

Ties rarely yield satisfaction, but Central and Delta each had reasons to feel good after fighting to a 1-1 draw in their nonleague girls soccer game Friday. Central lost a 1-0 game to Southwestern League leader Montrose on Tuesday, and Warriors coach Jacob Pingel said it wore his team out. Similarly, Delta got off the bus at midnight after the long ride back from Summit after a 2-1 loss Thursday. Two tired teams mustered the energy, however, to battle for 80 minutes of regulation and 10 ...

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Fruita ends dream

Wins in the first two completed matches Thursday had Central High School daring to dream of upsetting Fruita Monument. “Hey guys, cheer like nuts, because we could pull this out,” Warriors girls tennis coach Kathy Elliott told Aimee Basinski and Keira Trujillo, the victors at Nos. 1 and 2 singles, respectively. And for Basinski, a senior, Elliott added, “We could beat them for the first time since you’ve been here, Aimee.” But the two matches where Central ...

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Basinski taking her tennis ability to Winona State

Most young tennis players can work on their strokes tirelessly for years and never achieve the swing that comes naturally to Aimee Basinski. That assessment comes from Basinski’s coach at Central High School, Kathy Elliott, and she said Basinski has always had that swing, be it her forehand, backhand or serve. And by always, she meant always, as in from the time Basinski picked up a racket at age 3. “Her swing is a God-given gift,” Elliott said, “and I’ve ...

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Fruita trio signs college letters

Jenni Sneddon hates cold weather, so Arizona is the place for her to continue playing softball, a sport she’s not ready to leave just yet. Corey Henricksen is willing to deal with the cold weather that Wisconsin embraces in order to get the intense coach and pressure he likes to feel when playing lacrosse. And Lauren LaBonde hopes to show Missouri she can shoot 3-pointers and play the in-your-face defense she loves on the basketball court. The three Fruita Monument High School ...

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Central hires Armendariz to be new volleyball coach

Jennifer Armendariz gets to take her volleyball coaching to another level, and she’ll do it with players she already knows. The freshman head coach and a varsity assistant at Central High School for the past three seasons, Armendariz was selected head coach of Central’s volleyball program Wednesday. The seniors on the team this fall will be players from Armendariz’s first season as the Warriors’ freshman coach. The familiarity was greeted with delight by the ...

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Sanchez pitches Central past ‘Cats

His excellent start to the season, a shutout and no earned runs in his first three starts, turned south with a trip down south to Arizona, and Noah Sanchez hit rock bottom a week ago. Grand Junction chased the Central senior in the third inning of a 16-2 shellacking of the Warriors. That embarrassment probably was motivation enough to spark his return to early season form Tuesday, but Sanchez had much more on his mind as he tossed a complete game to help Central turn back Fruita Monument ...

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Bulldogs’ Combs signs to play soccer at Sonoma State

Next stop, California. Then, the world. Natalie Combs has greater ambitions than being the best soccer player she can be, but she’ll continue doing that while getting her education at Sonoma State University, beginning this fall. The Palisade High School senior signed a national letter of intent Wednesday to play soccer for the Seawolves, who come off a season that ended in the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs and a final national ranking of No. 18. Combs, a four-year ...

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Reward for hot start: 6 head staples

First, Justine Johnson fell to the ground, not knowing what just hit her. Then, the Montrose senior felt the back of her head, and when she pulled her hand away, it was covered in blood. And that’s how her day ended in the Grand Valley Invitational on Monday at Battlement Mesa Golf Course. A shank off the tee by another player made a beeline for the back of her head. Johnson estimates she was about 10 yards away and not in a position where anyone normally would fear being struck by ...

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Finishing flourish

Lightning delayed the start of Colorado Mesa University’s men’s lacrosse game Friday night by about an hour. But it was another 15 to 20 minutes after the game started that the Mavericks (5-3, 3-1) decided they were ready to play. Then, it was lights out for Notre Dame de Namur as the Mavericks scored 12 of the final 13 goals for a 14-4 victory in Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association play. The Argonauts (3-5, 0-3 WILA) took a 3-2 lead with 1 minute, 46 seconds left in ...

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Harty: Speed of GJ’s Kochevar impressive

While Central senior Marisa Brown impressed me to no end with what the diminutive goalkeeper did to keep Grand Junction out of the goal in the Warriors’ 1-0 win Thursday, my biggest “Wow!” moment from that night came from a Tiger defender. Central’s Makaylee Cloud dribbled down the left side and appeared poised to fire a shot on goal when Grand Junction sophomore center-back Taylor Kochevar said, “Not so fast,” with a tackle out of nowhere. Well, not ...

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One is enough

Grand Junction’s first-half Thursday night was filled with good scoring opportunities and nothing to show for them. Central had one good scoring opportunity, and the Warriors won their first girls soccer game of the season with it. Moreover, it was the first goal of the spring for Central, which improved to 1-5-1 overall and 1-3-1 in the Southwestern League with the 1-0 victory at Walker Field. The Warriors’ goal was all about right place, right time, right people. With ...

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Swinging a hot bat

Kyle Serrano wanted to bring back more than one win from Central High School’s three games in Arizona last week, but he left the land of cacti with something else the Warriors are thrilled to see: his groove. The senior catcher got into it in Phoenix, going 6 for 9 with two doubles, two triples and a home run, and he remained in it Wednesday, banging two doubles among his three hits. And it could have been three doubles, but his line shot off Suplizio Field’s left-field wall ...

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Career-low round helps Junction’s Freismuth finish 2nd at Tiara Rado

Consistency and confidence have introduced Grand Junction High School’s Maya Freismuth to a brave new world on the golf course this spring. Playing more golf last summer than she had in any previous summer, she became consistent with her ball striking. In turn, the four-year varsity player opened her senior season this spring with an 89 in her first stroke-play tournament. It was better than her previous best round of 91, accomplished as a junior in the final meet of the season, the ...

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Central volleyball coach Nelson resigns to take Delta job

Beth Nelson said she loved coaching volleyball at Central High School and enjoyed coaching every girl she encountered there. So, Tuesday was hard. It hurt when she gathered her players that morning to tell them she wouldn’t be their coach in the fall. After 12 seasons at Central, the past eight as the head coach, she resigned so she could take the volleyball coaching job at Delta High School. Nelson said she had to put her family first, and as someone who loved growing up in a small ...

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Volleyball coach leaves Central for Delta

After eight years as the head volleyball coach at Central High School, Beth Nelson has resigned the position and will become the head volleyball coach at Delta High School. Nelson said she and her husband had been planning to move to a smaller community, and the timing worked out with the Delta job opening. Nelson was the Southwestern League coach of the year in 2009 after guiding the Warriors to the league title.  ...

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Peterson putts way to victory

When Chelsea Peterson is on the green, Montrose High School girls golf coach Jim Scarry is welcome any time. “He’s allowed to watch me putt,” Peterson said. “I do better (with him there).” But once she walks over to the next tee box, Scarry better have made himself scarce. “I’m not even allowed to watch her,” he said. Scarry realizes it’s for the best. “It’s a completely mental thing,” Peterson said. “I love ...

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Double trouble

The double play and double trouble in the form of Jessica Belsterling kept the Colorado Mesa University softball team from doubling up Saturday on the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. After the Mavericks rode the pitching of Jessica Severinsen to a 2-1 win in Game 1 of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference doubleheader at Bergman Field, Mesa set its sights on a series win and some separation from the Mountain Lions (20-11-1, 14-7) for fourth place in the conference ...

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Shortest race requires long answer from swimmers

If you want to swim the 50-yard freestyle for the Montrose High School boys swim team, it comes with a caveat: To swim the shortest race, you have to swim the longest race. Otherwise, Montrose coach Silas Almgren explained, “Everyone will choose the 50.” Count the Indians’ Clay Zentmeyer among the undeterred. Then count him among the swimmers who are just plain fast in the water regardless of the race’s length. In the Indians’ season-opening dual against ...

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Kid brother gets Gates soaring to new heights

Little brothers, pains in the butt that they can be, sometimes are the best thing for Big Bro. Cedaredge high jumper Reid Gates will admit as much. The Bruins’ junior, of whom Cedaredge track and field coach Kirby Henderson said, “I’ve never been around a more competitive kid than Reid is,” got a boost of competitive energy in his first meet of the season. Thank you, Shane Gates. Shane, a freshman, already had cleared 6-feet as the high jump at the Montrose ...

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Fruita Monument hires Eddie Mort to be softball coach

Hustle and attitude defined Eddie Mort as a fastpitch softball player, and that’s what he plans to impart to the Fruita Monument High Schools girls softball team. Fruita Monument Athletic Director Denny Squibb announced Tuesday the hiring of Mort as the Wildcats coach, and in doing so he said he likes Mort’s experience as a player and coach and the relaxed demeanor and positive approach he brings to coaching. “I’ve never seen him down. He just enjoys life,” ...

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Mort named Fruita Monument softball coach

Eddie Mort has been hired as the softball coach at Fruita Monument High School. Mort was an assistant women’s softball coach at Colorado Mesa University for 12 years and an assistant baseball coach at Grand Junction High School. He succeeds Jack Thomas, who was hired shortly before the season began last summer. The Wildcats had to act quickly to hire a coach last summer after the mid-July resignation by Jamie Dunn, who left to take an assistant coaching job at the college ...

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Jump around

Whitney Jackson won the long jump with Niki Hunt finishing second. Hunt won the triple jump with Jackson finishing second. Get used to it. What the pair did Saturday in the Mickey Dunn Invitational track and field meet at Stocker Stadium is likely going to happen over and over this spring. Maybe they’ll flip-flop places, but expect them at or near the top of every meet. They are competitors whose desire to win will push each other, bringing out each other’s best. “I ...

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Defense helps Central to 3rd straight shutout

Central High School catcher Kyle Serrano saw the Rangeview runner stray too far from second base, so he threw down to the bag. No more lead runner in scoring position. Then, it was center fielder Josh Weller’s turn. Consecutive batters hit balls toward the gap in left-center, and Weller got there each time, on the run, leaning forward to make the catch for outs two and three. That ended Rangeview’s half of the second inning with no runs after putting runners on first and ...

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Disregard the order; don’t disrespect GJ’s DeRush

Pitchers who walk No. 9 hitters in high school baseball generally deserve scorn. For crying out loud, it’s the No. 9 hitter. Throw him three strikes and sit him down. It’s not like Grand Junction High School’s Tristan Lafferty or Owen Taylor are residing there, where, yeah, you’re an idiot if you throw them a fastball in the strike zone. But at Grand Junction, you’re also an idiot if you disrespect Derek DeRush. The No. 9 hitter. The guy who in two games is 6 ...

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Go fourth and hit

Once around the batting order wasn’t enough for the Grand Junction High School baseball team in the fourth inning Tuesday. So, the Tigers went all the way around again. Eighteen batters went to the plate in a 14-run inning as Grand Junction pounded Poudre 20-3 in a nonleague game that was limited to five innings by the run rule. Grand Junction preaches discipline and patience at the plate, and it looked like it paid off in the third inning: four runs on three hits and two walks. ...

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Perfection

The nerves were gone. Go figure. In the finals of the Big O Tires March Madness Match Play Bowling Tournament, when the pressure should have been the highest, Cherrie Summers was immersed in tranquility. She was nervous earlier in the two-day tournament, even earlier Sunday when she needed a one-ball roll-off to defeat Richie Staats in their quarterfinal. But come the finals at Freeway Bowl, there was no pressure. None. And the result was impressive, especially in Game 2 of the tourney ...

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Thoughts, quotations, and even some news

The high school basketball state tournaments are in their final weekend with no area teams still in the hunt for state titles. But it doesn’t end for me until I say two more things: I can’t wait to see Grand Junction’s D.J. Wells play next year, and I’m sorry to see Olathe’s Haley Turley go. He’s gonna be a beast A 6-foot-7 sophomore, Wells already is operating in a man’s body and at times is playing like a man. No gangly, uncoordinated kid here. ...

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Ramunno’s return bodes well for Bulldogs

If it sounds like Joe Ramunno’s return to Palisade High School as the head football coach is a big deal, well, it is. Most head football coaches never win state titles. Most would be thrilled to win just one. Ramunno coached four state-championship teams during his first go-around at Palisade. Four in a row. And it wasn’t an accident. But it wasn’t what Ramunno set out to do in any of those seasons, because as much as he prepared his teams for the success they achieved, ...

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Ramunno returns

Palisade football players, prepare to work harder than you ever have. That’s the Joe Ramunno way, which worked well when he coached the Palisade High School football team from 1988 to 1997, leading the Bulldogs to four straight state titles from 1994 to 1997. And Ramunno’s approach will become the Bulldogs’ way again as he is returning to the Palisade sideline as the head football coach. Palisade Athletic Director Mike Krueger announced Wednesday the high school hired ...

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Win for Coach

Maybe Bill Fanning wanted his night to last a little longer, so he turned out the lights. That would be the baseball romantic’s explanation for the lights going out before Grand Junction High School, where Bill Fanning fashioned his legendary coaching career, could bat in the bottom of the fifth inning. An electrician’s explanation was that the main breaker for Lincoln Park switched off at 8 p.m., and out went the lights at Suplizio Field for 27 minutes. School District 51 ...

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Harty: Granard begins recovery

Three of the Colorado Mesa University teammates he joined at the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships were back at nationals Friday and Saturday. Chester Granard, however, had to stay home. And that’s a bloody shame. Yes, this involves blood, or more accurately, what hasn’t been in the junior 165-pounder’s blood: enough iron and hemoglobin. Granard, who qualified for nationals in his redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons, hadn’t been himself in some time ...

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Meeker’s ride ends

The first quarter was a terrible tease, a failure at portending what was to come Saturday between Meeker and Simla in their Class 2A Region 5 girls basketball final. Meeker thought its offense had kicked into gear after a slow start, turning a 6-0 deficit into an 11-9 lead with one quarter in the books. Meanwhile, Simla’s Kenzi Mitchell looked nothing like the Cubs’ leading scorer, missing all four of her shots in the opening frame. Then came the second quarter, the ...

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The Milholland Way: Cedaredge coach gives respect, gets it in leading Bruins to title

The game film he watched three years ago told an ugly truth: The attitude of the Cedaredge High School football players stunk. But Brandon Milholland, after seven years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Central High School, wanted to be a head football coach. And what he saw on film, he believed, he could change. Oh, yeah, things changed. When Milholland in 2010 became the Bruins’ fourth coach in six years, players immediately learned new ways of doing things, starting with ...

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And now, the rest of the story
... almost

Forty-five column inches is a long story for a daily newspaper. Unless, of course, you are Daily Sentinel features writer Rachel Sauer, who calls that a brief and considers Michener and Tolstoy “wonderful short-story writers.” That kind of real estate is rare at a daily newspaper, where Shakespeare would have pulled out the rest of his hair after an editor staring at a small news hole asked, “Bill, can you make that sonnet a haiku instead?” Anyway, my story on ...

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Slowing the best

Analysis of the statistics leads to a statement of the obvious: To beat the Regis Jesuit High School boys basketball team, you must slow down Josh Perkins. Every team that played the Raiders (20-4) this season knew that. Of course, no one stopped the 6-foot-2 junior guard who leads Regis in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. Now, Grand Junction (18-5) will try. Tigers head coach Dutch Johnson didn’t mince words about the one-man gang his team will face at 6 p.m. tonight at ...

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Catch me if you can

Both teams like to press on defense, force turnovers, score in transition, speed up the tempo and tell their opponent: Catch me if you can. Neither got caught much this year, which is why Fruita Monument (18-6) and Arapahoe (22-2) are facing each other at 7 tonight in Centennial in the Sweet 16 of the Class 5A girls basketball state tournament. The suggestion that the teams are strikingly similar was met with a pause by first-year Fruita Monument coach Richard Atkins and the ...

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