Dan Linsacum building a better breed of Mavs

In the constantly changing field of strength and conditioning, Daniel Linsacum brought even more change to Colorado Mesa University, staying ahead of the trends like a kayaker out-paddling a current. In the fall of 2009, Linsacum became Mesa’s first full-time strength and conditioning coach, bringing techniques he discovered on the Front Range, and even in Mexico, to the Western Slope. He was born in Montrose, graduated from Moffat County High School in Craig and Mesa State College, ...

---

Dressed for success

A pause, and the thumb and forefinger touch the chin, while the brain considers defensive switches and foul totals, ball movements and man-to-man matchups: the thinker’s pose. Now they’re crouched. Tense moments, always. Later, they spring in the air and flail a finger at a referee, then demand a timeout and pour words of wisdom on their players. Show me serious. Give me suspense. Laugh. With so many poses, and on such a courtside pedestal, fashion truly is on display when ...

---

Twin titles for Palisade

The Palisade High School boys basketball team does not have anyone who can dunk. But they do have 5-foot-6 Tass Crow. In the first quarter of the Class 4A Southwestern/Western Slope District tournament championship game Saturday, Crow hit a jumper from some six feet behind the 3-point line. Palisade coach Brian Tafel said he knew it would go in. He was right. And the 4A Western Slope champion Bulldogs are now district champions with their 63-41 win over Durango at Brownson ...

---

Long-range shooting lifts Montrose to title

How do you defeat a team that’s on an 18-game winning streak? One way, as Montrose High School showed against streaking Delta on Saturday in the Class 4A Southwestern/Western Slope District girls basketball championship game, is to make 14 3-pointers. Montrose senior Kala Keltz hit a school-record eight at Brownson Arena. They accounted for all of her 24 points in the Indians’ 67-41 win over Delta. Freshman Holly Brooks hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points and Stephanie ...

---

Talking titles

They weren’t going to talk about the Southwestern League boys basketball title until they had played Fruita Monument. Grand Junction wrapped up the league championship earlier this week, but on Friday, after a 63-52 win over Fruita Monument, the Tigers could talk titles. And Grand Junction seniors Kyler Rose, Zach Kiel and Liesen Crow ended their final high school basketball regular season the right way. In the teams’ final regular-season game, host Grand Junction defeated ...

---

CHAMPS!

At the end of the sort of furious fast break that has defined Fruita Monument girls basketball team all season, Lauren LaBonde, at top speed, took a bump and flew face first on the court at Grand Junction as though on a Slip ‘N Slide. The Wildcats senior changed the game in the first half with three 3-pointers on Friday, and she ended it in the second half with the free throws that followed her slide as Fruita defeated Grand Junction 48-39. In doing so, the Southwestern League title ...

---

Skoe’s unlikely 3 helps Indians top ‘Dogs

She said she never shoots 3-pointers, and that she rarely makes them. But she added: “You only live once.” And so Montrose High School guard Tess Skoe, with the game pace slow and the scoring low, pulled up Thursday night for a second-quarter 3-pointer that hit the right side of the rim, nicked the back, then curled through the hoop. The crawling pace was broken, and top-seeded Montrose cruised to a 40-27 win over eighth-seeded Palisade in their Class 4A Southwestern/Western ...

---

Curtis helps Delta girls cruise into 4A district semis

Make it 17 in a row for the Delta girls basketball team. The Panthers added to their winning streak with a 52-27 victory over Eagle Valley on Thursday in the first round of the Class 4A Southwestern/Western Slope District tournament at Brownson Arena. Leading scorer Skylyn Webb faced one-on-one pressure throughout, and that was no problem for No. 2-seeded Delta (17-3). Shelby Curtis simply took over with a game-high 15 points. Taylor Martin led seventh-seeded Eagle Valley (12-9) with 10 ...

---

Inside edition

At one baseline, Grand Junction High School’s Zach Kiel made the steal. The ball was passed from Kiel to Greg Eccher to Broderick Robinson in half-beats, and Robinson’s layup at the other end was an example of how the Tigers got it done on Tuesday: Baseline to baseline. And inside to outside, the Tigers were effective in their 63-40 win over visiting Central. Inside, D.J. Wells (12 points), Kiel (12 points) and Kyler Rose (10) were dominant, and outside, Broderick Robinson ...

---

Beautiful Rose: Olathe senior survives wrestlebacks to qualify for Class 3A state tournament

PARACHUTE - T.J. Rose, Olathe head coach and father of Olathe 145-pound wrestler Troy Rose, hopped off his seat. His son had scored a takedown for a one-point lead with 40 seconds remaining. A senior, and coach’s son, was wrestling for his season in the state-qualifying wrestleback. The final 30 seconds of the Class 3A Region 1 wrestling tournament at Grand Valley High School ended with son making dad proud, fighting off a takedown and finishing with an air-jabbing celebration that ...

---

Competitive cousins

Cousin locked eyes with cousin. “I knew exactly what he was going to do,” said Central’s Trey Fair, who with 20 seconds remaining at Central High School on Friday was standing in front of the basket, facing a driving Spencer Fair. “I knew he was going to try and get me my fifth (foul).” Trey Fair said the cousins are “competitively close,” and on the play that came with Central up by two points, they were exactly that. Spencer Fair drove at Trey ...

---

Not getting bowled over

Ben Bambino said he bowled nine games a day last week until, at long last, a chunk of skin from his right, middle finger tore. Must have been preparation for state. The Colorado High School Bowling Foundation State Tournament is Saturday and Sunday, and Central High School, the Western Slope Championship winner, is taking three coed teams to AMF Belleview in Englewood. Fruita Monument also qualified a team. The state team tournament is Saturday, and an individual tournament will take ...

---

In the zone

MONTROSE — Angelo Youngren left the Montrose High School locker room Tuesday the way he entered it: football in hand. Because it’s still the sport he wants to play in college, even after the Indians point guard flashed numerous second-half crossover dribbles that led to assists and jump shots and sparked Montrose to a come-from-behind 49-48 win over Central. Youngren scored a game-high 18 points. But long after Youngren was finished, his teammates took over, holding Central ...

---

‘Dogs embrace February Madness

There’s something different going on with the Palisade boys basketball team this week. February Madness, if you will. “It’s March Madness for us players,” Bulldogs guard Caden Woods said. It’s simple for Palisade: Win its first two games this week at Glenwood Springs at 7:30 p.m. tonight and at Eagle Valley on Friday and the Bulldogs are the Class 4A Western Slope League champions. Lose either, and just like last season, the league title could come down to ...

---

Rifle’s Moeller bound for Boulder

Ryan Moeller had said it’s the college he’s wanted to attend since he was a kid. And now Ryan Moeller is fulfilling a dream by going to the University of Colorado. Moeller, Rifle High School’s running back and safety who rushed for 3,002 yards last fall, has committed to the University of Colorado as a preferred walk-on. This, despite scholarship offers Colorado State University-Pueblo, Colorado Mesa University and Idaho State University. Colorado State University had ...

---

A happy ending

After being bumped, Sydni Brandon kissed a low-angle shot off the glass and through the basket. She slid to her back. Staring at the Grand Junction High School rafters in the fourth quarter, Brandon clapped. First lead of the game. There were 55 seconds left. With Montrose a win away from taking a stronghold on the Southwestern League girls basketball title, Grand Junction rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Indians 44-37. Where did Grand Junction’s sudden array of steals ...

---

Tigers go fourth

Back in his Orchard Mesa Middle School days, D.J. Wells used to run the floor. First man bringing the ball up the court, because, as he said, “We had nobody.” Wells has grown some since then. Now 6-foot-7, he not only owned the paint Friday, scoring a game-high 25 points in Grand Junction’s 63-41 Southwestern League boys basketball win over Montrose, the sophomore rebounded and bolted up the court a couple of times. “I know that if I get a rebound and can’t ...

---

Large signing class pleases Tigers football coach Owens

When Kyler Rose signed a national letter of intent Thursday at Grand Junction High School to play football at Colorado School of Mines, it marked the largest signing class in the five years Robbie Owens has been the Tigers head coach. Already, Austin Berk, headed to Colorado State University, and James Diamanti, who will attend the University of Wyoming, became the first Division I signees in Owens’ tenure. Rose, who during national signing day Wednesday was with the boys basketball ...

---

Triple the fun?

Before she leaves high school swimming, Logan Morris would like to make it three. The Montrose swimmer will be going for her third consecutive Class 4A 100-yard breaststroke title today and Saturday at the 4A state swimming championships at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton. Last season, Morris touched the wall in the 100 breaststroke final in 1 minute, 4.03 seconds to set a 4A state meet record by 0.25 seconds. Although Morris enters this meet ranked No. 3 in the event, ...

---

Western theme

Of the dozens of area high school football players who inked national letters of intent during national signing day Wednesday, eight are headed to Western State Colorado University. Colorado Mesa University had its share of signees with four, and Colorado School of Mines grabbed two. Division I signees Austin Berk of Grand Junction, headed to Colorado State University, and James Diamanti, headed to the University of Wyoming, long ago committed to their colleges. Rifle running back and ...

---

Valley soccer players ink college letters

In its second year, the Colorado West Select regional youth soccer club has helped area high school players gain exposure to college scouts and competition. On Wednesday, 11 players from the club that pulls elite players within a 100-mile radius of Grand Junction signed national letters of intent. Eight came from the Grand Valley. Although many of the club players continued to play for their local club teams, they say the club has allowed players from the Western Slope to gain notoriety ...

---

Youngren helps Indians top ‘Cats

There was some proof Tuesday that football skills can translate to the hardwood. Angelo Youngren, a prolific running back last fall for Montrose High School, showed off vision, speed and poise in the fourth quarter at Fruita Monument. After Montrose held off the Wildcats for a 48-44 win, even Indians coach Martin Maloney was speaking about Youngren in football-like terms. “It’s nice to have a kid with so much awareness,” Maloney said. “He gets the ball to the ...

---

Rotational win

Of the techniques involved in basketball, a defensive rotation may be the last celebrated in a highlight, cheer or song. But for the Fruita Monument High School girls basketball team Tuesday, snappy rotations across court were repeated like a chant. And the Wildcats performed a chore for the Southwestern League with a 42-27 win over league-leading Montrose, ranked No. 7 in Class 4A. Lauren LaBonde scored a game-high 19 points for the Wildcats (13-6, 4-2 Southwestern League). But she ...

---

Going for two

For the past year, much like his dunks and high-arching 3-pointers and football field goals, Fruita Monument High School senior Spencer Fair had said his college decision was “all up in the air.” It’s finally landed. Fair, a 6-foot-7 kicker who is capable of hitting from 50 yards out with consistency, yet loves basketball, chose both sports. Last week, instead of dedicating his college days to just kicking and having the top-flight coaches and big crowds and possible ...

---

No sight, no problem

Swimming the final freestyle leg Saturday, she bobbed her head out of the water, and, through the right section of her goggles that was half full of water, spotted a garbled patch of the dark red and black flags above. She knew she was almost to the wall at El Pomar Natatorium. But Taylor Kidd could hardly see. “When I tried to breathe I could see where I was,” Kidd said. “I’ve swam in this pool so long I can tell where I am.” She maintained top speed and ...

---

Finally a victory

Alone in the secondary basketball gym at Fruita Monument High School, long before the host Wildcats defeated Grand Junction 41-37 on Friday, Spencer Fair shot free throws. He shot them for 20 minutes, all alone. “I just thought God was telling me to shoot free throws,” he said. Then came the game. In the final minute against Grand Junction, Fair hit 5 of 7 from the line to ice Fruita Monument’s win over the Tigers. But there was more than the free throws of Fair, who ...

---

Back at it

She ran loops to get open on offense on Friday, sprinted around on defense, and the brace on her left knee was a clue of a story 1 year old. Last year on Feb. 2, Grand Junction High School’s Erika Meister was undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee. This year, on Friday, one day before the anniversary of the surgery needed because of the injury sustained at the beginning of her basketball season, Meister filled in for teammates ...

---

Arledge ousted

John Arledge would not change a thing about his coaching style, he said Thursday evening about being released from his football coaching contract by Palisade High School. Arledge, 49, guided the Bulldogs to the state playoffs in each of his eight seasons as head coach. “I’m disappointed with some of the loyalty and character of some of the people involved,” Arledge said. “I don’t think it was right how it happened, but if I had to do it all over again, ...

---

Palisade High School: John Arledge out as head football coach

Palisade High School on Thursday announced that head coach John Arledge, who has coached the Bulldogs football team since 2005, has been released from his football coaching contract. Arledge, who guided the Bulldogs to eight straight state-playoff-qualifying seasons, has not been reached for comment. In a press release, Palisade athletic director Mike Krueger said: “It is not easy to part ways with a person who has done so much for our kids, and for me personally such a good friend. ...

---

Ready for a cat fight?

It’s Fruita-Junction week. Wrestling on Thursday and basketball on Friday. The Friday basketball doubleheader at Fruita Monument begins at 5:30 p.m. with the Grand Junction girls (13-2, 3-1 Southwestern League) against Fruita Monument (12-5, 3-1), followed by the boys game at 7 p.m. Both girls teams will try to keep pace with Montrose 
(11-2, 4-0). Even more, it’s a game many players, coaches and community high school sports enthusiasts look forward ...

---

Seniors take the lead

The men stood before the players at halftime. Not enough energy, they said. Have to play with more energy. The men were Grand Junction High School senior leaders Zach Kiel and Kyler Rose. Head basketball coach Dutch Johnson gave up the locker room Saturday at home against Montezuma-Cortez. “I really thought Zach and Kyler were really the two kids that played the hardest in the first half,” Johnson said. “That’s what senior leadership is. I told them the locker room ...

---

Diving and dancing

Preacher’s pose on a diving board one day, pom-poms splaying on hardwood the other. Two cultures in one body, and they agree. Fruita Monument junior Tamera Newland, in her first year on the Wildcats Poms team, has excelled at both this winter. “To do them successfully is very rare,” Fruita Monument swimming coach Jessica Haley said. “I’ve had some other swimmers try and do Poms and swim, but Tamera has been able to hold herself to a standard in both. ...

---

Robinson’s dunks fuel Tigers’ win

Grand Junction had just defeated the Durango High School boys basketball team 57-38. Two teenagers in street clothes took turns charging down the lane at Grand Junction High School, trying to dunk. Almost did, too. Not quite like Broderick Robinson. The Tigers’ junior guard highlighted his team’s win Friday with the first two dunks of his high school career on his first two attempts as Grand Junction (11-3, 3-0 Southwestern League) broke the tie with Durango (8-4, 2-1) atop the ...

---

Tigers stay the course

The team that likes to jump passing lanes and go on fastbreak runs suddenly was stunted by continuous fouls. But the Grand Junction girls basketball team, which shot 36 free throws in a 65-40 win over Durango on Friday, did not let the fouls frustrate them. “You just have to keep your head in the game, not get frustrated, and make free throws,” said Tigers guard Sydni Brandon, who scored 11 points. “You start making free throws, and (frustration) already goes ...

---

A reason to get stoked

Stocker Stadium could become the site of a Class 3A state high school football championship game. At The Colorado High School Activities Association’s legislative council meeting on Thursday in Aurora, the site of the 3A championship was moved from a neutral site to a home site. Palisade, which won a 3A state title at Stocker Stadium in 2003, now has an opportunity to stay home once again for a title. The changes included a caveat: Host stadiums must support a capacity of at least ...

---

A very eventful night at the pool

The District 51 Championships at El Pomar Natatorium on Wednesday had a speech, an 18th birthday, roses passed out in honor of a friend, a ceremony to honor graduating seniors, and a coach drenched in the pool to celebrate the Grand Junction Tigers’ win. All in one swimming and diving meet. Grand Junction won 10 of the 12 events on Wednesday. Specifically, Jessica Deters won the 200-yard freestyle; and Taylor Kidd placed first in the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle and swam ...

---

Off the mark

DELTA — Sure, hands often were there to contest, and maybe the shooters were at times a tad off-balanced, but if you ask Palisade High School boys basketball coach Brian Tafel, the Bulldogs had quality shot attempts. They just missed them. And in the final minute of the 4A Western Slope league game Tuesday, Delta, which had often practiced protecting leads such as the three-point margin it held in the final minute, rebounded and communicated on its help defense and made just enough ...

---

Fruita Monument fast break on full display in runaway victory over Durango

Their identity is beginning to shed layers, one by one, and now Fruita Monument is established as a fast-breaking, head-snapping team. Who is this Fruita Monument girls basketball team? It’s Lauren LaBonde in the first quarter on Saturday catching up to a fast break and, surging from behind, knocking the ball off a Durango’s guard’s leg and out of bounds, then snatching the inbounds pass running and hitting Sam Parks for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Another layer to the ...

---

End game struggles

For one minute Saturday, it was so promising. Two Fruita Monument steals late in the fourth quarter, a Spencer Fair layup and two Fair free throws. The Wildcats led by two. But so many first-year varsity players. Many such Wildcats had hardly negotiated dicey moments of a close varsity game. And for the final minute, it was so disappointing for the Fruita boys basketball team. Turnovers pushed Durango (9-2, 2-0 Southwestern League) ahead for a 37-36 win over the host Wildcats. Summon a ...

---

Breeding basketball banter

Crooked by a few degrees, the basketball hoop tips toward Sam Provenza’s house. It marks the middle of “basketball row.” In a quiet north Grand Junction neighborhood, where roads marked now and again by deer-crossing signs crosshatch houses built in the 1960s, three basketball gurus have found themselves neighbors. A total coincidence. But one that affords plenty of basketball-related banter through the three houses separated by fences of chain link and wood. And one ...

---

Down low lowdown

They couldn’t get the ball down low to Trey Fair, and that was the downfall for the Central High School boys basketball team Friday in the Warriors’ 
39-28 loss to Durango. “We’re just so much better when we get the ball down low,” Central coach Ryan Hayden said. Central (5-9, 0-1 Southwestern League) shot 7 of 38 from the field, and Fair finished with four points in the league opener for both teams. Still, despite Central putting up only two points in ...

---

Central hires Marsh as coach

He’s back. Shawn Marsh once again will be a Grand Valley high school head football coach, this time at Central High School. Central Athletic Director Randy Powell on Friday announced the hiring of Marsh, who graduated from Central in 1987 and from Mesa State College in 1992. Marsh coached at Grand Junction High School for 13 seasons, seven as a head football coach, and led the Tigers to a Class 4A state runner-up finish in 2005. He took over as head coach of Fruita Monument in ...

---

Central hires Shawn Marsh as head football coach

Central High School has hired Shawn Marsh as its new head football coach, Warriors athletic director Randy Powell announced on Friday. Marsh has been a longtime football coach in the Grand Valley. Most recently, Marsh was an assistant coach at Colorado Mesa University. He also had high school head-coaching stints at Fruita Monument and Grand Junction. In 2005, he led the Tigers to the Class 5A state championship game. Marsh graduated from Central High in 1987 and Mesa State College in ...

---

Weir praises swimmers in final interview

After a double-dual at Durango on Jan. 4, Central/Palisade girls swimming coach Steve Weir, despite his failing health, called The Daily Sentinel to report results for his team. It turned out to be his final interview with the Sentinel. Weir, who died the following Friday, Jan. 11, of lung cancer, made it a point to praise senior Mercedees Benavidez and junior Karolina Latek for their leadership of the young team. “They are my captains and have taken over leading our team,” he ...

---

Western Slope trio among state’s FB scholar-athletes

Hotchkiss’ Conner Beard, Rifle’s Ryan Moeller and Grand Junction’s Kyler Rose are three of 11 Colorado high school football players the National Football Foundation selected Thursday as its Colorado Scholar-Athletes. The honor recognizes the athletes’ academics, leadership at school and citizenship. They will be honored during a Feb. 18 banquet at the Marriott Denver West hotel. Moeller, a running back and safety, received the honor only days after being selected ...

---

Trey magnifique

The wrist bands were long gone. During shooting practices, they kept the hand that steadies the ball in line with the forearm. And the “shot doctor,” as forward Spencer Fair called Fruita Monument High School coach Billy Dreher, was now on the sideline Tuesday. Dreher watched as the Fruita Monument boys basketball team sank seven 3-pointers in a 78-31 over Olathe at Colorado Mesa University’s Brownson Arena. What Dreher thought might be a Wildcats’ weakness, ...

---

Speedy ‘Cats

For a few opening minutes Tuesday, like an eight-cylinder engine grinding and cracking and expanding in a morning freeze, the Fruita Monument High School girls basketball team waited to warm. “I think we had just come back form a long trip in New Mexico, and we really wanted to play well together,” Fruita Monument guard Lauren LaBonde said. “Sometimes that happens. And all that matters is that we brought it.” The Wildcats brought traps on Olathe’s guards and ...

---

WarDogs swim coach Weir dies

His first passion was coaching. His final words were “I love you,” spoken to his wife, Mary, before Steve Weir died Friday, having spilled his energy into those he coached and those he loved. The contradiction is astounding. A state champion in the 100-yard butterfly his senior season at Arapahoe High School. Never breathed with his head up, always to the side. Weir swam at Colorado State University on a full-ride athletic scholarship. Mary Weir said Steve, in high school, ...

---

Valley girls showcase VB skills

In the end, regardless of the club, the goal is to compete with volleyball teams on the Front Range. At the Western Colorado Volleyball Showcase on Saturday at Colorado Mesa University and Grand Junction High School, 36 teams composed of girls ages 14–18 showed up to compete in front of four college recruiters. The showcase continues today. A little more competition is emerging on the area’s club volleyball scene. The Western Colorado Volleyball Club was started 15 years ago. ...

---

Logan Morris helps Montrose win own swim invitational

MONTROSE - The lane lines began drifting together. Many had been yanked from the pool. Yet long after the Montrose Invitational swimming meet was over, there was Logan Morris, still swimming. She added a long cool-down to the end of back-to-back events Friday: a first-place, state-qualifying 100-yard breaststroke and the anchor leg of Montrose’s winning 400 freestyle relay. She loves being in the water. She just wanted to feel OK during practice next week. “And I was cooling ...

---