Some quality competition

While a lightning delay interrupted proceedings during the youth soccer Grand Mesa Invitational Tournament at Canyon View Park — and Long Family Park became a soggy mess — the largest youth sports event in Grand Junction squeezed in games Saturday. Despite the best efforts of Mother Nature, who forced some games to start nearly an hour late, the U13 Grand Junction boys team was able to play to a 2-2 draw with Real Colorado. Real Colorado, a Denver area club, recently was ...

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Small victories

After Tyler Fair won his heat in the 100 breaststroke, District 51 boys swimming coach Jessica Haley nearly fell in the pool while cheering. After one of her assistants hoisted her from the pool, soaked from the knees down in water, Haley couldn’t stop smiling. To her, it was the ultimate underdog story. With three individual qualifiers, District 51 had fewer swimmers in the entire Class 5A State Swimming and Diving Championships than some teams had in a single event. So, as seven ...

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Huge youth soccer tournament hits town

The 22nd annual Grand Mesa Invitational Tournament, a youth soccer tournament hosted by the Grand Junction Soccer Club and Fire FC today and Sunday, will bring more than 2,000 families to Grand Junction from 134 youth soccer teams across four states. The tournament was already the largest youth sports tournament in Grand Junction, according to the event’s executive director, Shaun Howe, but this year it added more than a dozen new teams. Howe said the biggest draw for the event is ...

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Right as rain

Mountain bike rider Greg Stoneburner is a red and black blur, weaving between trees. The Grand Junction native disappeared moments after leaving the starting gate, and reappeared only a few yards from the finish line. Spectators watched with craned necks, trying to catch glimpses of Stoneburner burning down the hill. But it was what the viewers behind the guard fence couldn’t see, Stoneburner said, that made this Ranchstyle super slalom the best of the past three years. The Glade ...

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Course takes toll on riders at Ranchstyle

The slopestyle course at the Ranchstyle mountain biking event near Glade Park demands speed. Two table-top jumps — one tall and narrow, one with less elevation but a wider base — directly follow an uphill transfer from wooden half-vertical to a hard-packed dirt landing. Come up short on the transfer, like many riders did Saturday, and all the pedaling in world won’t get you over the final jump. Riders either crashed or had to end the run without crossing the finish ...

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Short-handed GJ falls in OT to St. Mary’s

With three minutes remaining in regulation, the Grand Junction girls lacrosse team was short three players. Colorado Mesa recruit Megan Gromke was ejected with her second yellow card and subsequent red card during the first half, leaving the Tigers one player down for the majority of the game. Leading scorer Kacie Jay left with two cards of her own in the second half. The grand total of six cards put the Tigers another player down. Per Colorado High School Activities Association rules, ...

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Weathering a win

MONTROSE — Rain poured Tuesday evening and made the field a slippery mess. Balls skipped and bounced across the slick surface and both teams struggled to maintain possession.  Montrose girls soccer coach Jaime Gurule expected every possession would be crucial in the Indians’ Class 4A state playoff against Palisade, but the weather required a second level of attention from a team already focused on possession. So, with four shots on goal, Montrose converted every on-net ...

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How sweep it is

The final 35 seconds weren’t the prettiest 35 seconds the Grand Junction boys lacrosse team had in their game against Fruita Monument on Thursday night. They shoveled the ball around the field and struggled to maintain possession as the Fruita defense closed in. But when the final horn sounded, the Tigers maintained possession and sealed the first season sweep in either program’s history against each other with a wild 10-9 win at Stocker Stadium. Paul Dohm flicked in the ...

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Central uses hot bats to cruise past GJ

In the third inning, the Central High School baseball team loaded the bases three times. After the sixth inning, the Warriors were celebrating a 17-4 run-rule win over Grand Junction that could have major playoff implications. Central converted more than half of the opportunities it had with runners in scoring position and notched 11 hits in the first three innings. The win gave the Warriors new playoff life, Central coach Chuck Yost said, if they can beat Southwestern League champion ...

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Dunn helps ‘Dogs top Sailors on penalty kicks

Katie Dunn has that swagger, that confidence and borderline cockiness only a successful goalie can have. She believes she’s the best, and she believes she can stop just about any ball. So, when the Palisade girls soccer team’s chance to play in the Western Slope League championship game came down to penalty kicks Tuesday, well, she stopped them. Dunn stuffed two Steamboat Springs penalty kicks and watched one sail wide as Palisade topped a 2-2 regulation and double-overtime ...

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Keeping 
it close

Between the Grand Junction and Aspen high school lacrosse teams, they average a combined 20 goals per game. So a 2-1 Aspen lead after one quarter, with only pockets of clean passing, was something Tigers coach James States needed to adjust. “We just talk about playing smart lacrosse, using each other and playing as a team,” States said. “It seemed like in the first quarter we were flat and weren’t really jelling with each other, but we fixed it up after ...

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A love for lacrosse

Nine-year-old Santiago Renteria really likes lacrosse. He uses his mini lacrosse stick, finds a wall and plays catch with himself in his spare time. Postgame, while his friends enjoy Dippin’ Dots, he carries his ice cream in one hand, his lacrosse stick in the other. So against Aspen on Sunday, a long-established youth lacrosse program, it wasn’t much of a surprise when Renteria notched an impressive goal in a 5-1 loss to Aspen in a U9 game at the Quick Stix Lacrosse ...

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Home runs lead Mavs to sweep

In the first inning, Jessica Severinsen walked out of the batter’s box. Didn’t run. Didn’t jog. She didn’t even trot until she was three or four steps down the first-base line. She knew her center field bomb was gone off the bat. In the third inning, Severinsen took a stride before trotting, this time casually watching her first-pitch fastball turned home run drift over the fence in left-center field. “I just like to be relaxed and hit the ball as hard as I ...

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Relentless Tigers take 1-0 win

As Friday’s girls soccer game between Grand Junction and Durango progressed, it developed into something resembling extreme Ping-Pong. Playing on an already battered field at Long Family Memorial Park, the squads tore it up further with their brutal back-and-forth. The Tigers came out on top 1-0 in a game where relentless counter-attacks stopped only for rough tackles. “We always know that they’re consistently one of the best teams in the league each year,” ...

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Wildcats flash potential in loss to Aspen

During one moment of respite in a frantic girls lacrosse game Thursday evening, the field froze in front of Fruita Monument attacker Lindsey Burenheide. She stood alone, behind Aspen’s net and yelled something unintelligible. A couple of Fruita players moved, shadowed by Aspen defenders, but Burenheide had to fumble with her mouth guard to bark out the play. As the Wildcats wheeled into motion, Burenheide’s initial pass flew wide, deflected near the crease, and rolled ...

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Consistent Tigers

There was a point after halftime in Tuesday night’s Fruita Monument and Grand Junction girls lacrosse game where the Wildcats scored three goals in roughly 20 seconds. Each time the league-leading Tigers threw a punch, the rival Wildcats counterpunched. For Grand Junction, it wasn’t the most explosive offensive night. Rather, it took a slow-and-steady, consistent performance near the crease for Grand Junction to sour Fruita’s senior night at Walker Field with an 18-14 ...

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From neighbors to rivals

For almost five years during childhood, Justin Young and Jared Harrison were neighbors. Young, a Fruita Monument High School junior, talked Harrison, a Grand Junction freshman, into playing lacrosse. Young coached Harrison and got him involved. Monday was the first time the pair would meet on the field. Harrison said he was nervous about the game, and Young didn’t help. In the days leading up the Fruita and Grand Junction rivalry game, Young visited Harrison, and gave him some ...

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Road warriors

Chains whizzed and gears clanked as bikes banked left off Main Street onto Third Street at the Palisade road race stage of the Maverick Classic on Sunday. As quickly as they came, riders made another turn before zipping out of sight. The 20.5-mile course featured long sections of track through downtown Palisade. Business people and late breakfast-eaters were situated in the thick of the race, and traffic was diverted from downtown for most of the day. The road race changed venues from ...

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Bulldogs pitch in to win

For most of this season, the Palisade High School baseball team has been swinging absurdly hot bats. The Bulldogs, ranked sixth in Class 4A, are hitting a combined .410 this season and have scored a league-high 146 runs. They’ve scored double-digit runs in every game but one. Coach Steve Moore knew the bats would cool eventually, and when that game came, his pitching would have to pick up the slack. Palisade swept a doubleheader Saturday against Rifle behind two solid pitching ...

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Melchor’s late goal lifts Tigers past Wildcats

Moving quickly proved to be the key for the Grand Junction High School girls soccer team Thursday night at Walker Field. Instead of waiting for her team and the defense to set up on a free kick in the second overtime, the Tigers’ Taylor Kochevar sent a twirling, knuckling 25-yard shot into the Fruita Monument box. A miscommunication between Wildcats goalkeeper Kylie Goetz and a defender led to a collision and the ball landed at the feet of Grand Junction’s Sam Melchor. Melchor ...

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‘Cats make early goal stand up

With roughly 21 minutes remaining in the first half of Tuesday night’s girls soccer game, where a wet and windy Walker Field looked like a snow globe, a hard touch from Fruita Monument’s Sarah Mercer turned into a tweener-ball for Central goalkeeper Marisa Brown. As the ball skipped behind Central’s defense and Mercer broke through, Brown had to decide whether to charge at Mercer or stay in the net. When Brown shifted to her heels, Mercer attacked and blasted a ...

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21 for 21 at 18 Road

Over the weekend, the Livetrainrace (LTR) cycling DEVO team went 21 for 21 in qualifying riders for the Juniors USA Cycling race in Trexlertown, Pa. According to coach Mike Driver, the 18-and-under squad qualified every single rider who competed at this weekend’s Rumble at 18 Road mountain bike races, which took place on the North Fruita Desert Trails. The sweeping success comes a year removed from an influx of talent. “Last year versus this year, every one of them did a ...

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Yates chasing his UFC dream

In a few months, mixed martial arts fighter Andrew Yates has seen his stock sharply rise. The former Central High School wrestler began his MMA career after choosing not to compete in college wrestling. His dad, Steven Yates, was at one point his manager. Since then, Yates has compiled a 7-0 professional record, according to mixmartialarts.com and sherdog.com, the two main ranking systems for non-Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) professional fighters. Yates, 24, was featured on ...

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Wind the big winner at rodeo

Hang on to your cowboy hats — a wind storm Saturday night sent Stetsons soaring around the Mesa County Fairgrounds. The final day of the Intercollegiate Maverick Stampede Rodeo favored riders rather than ropers, but the wind was brutal for both. A whipping west-to-east wind with gusts up to 45 miles per hour blew dirt and rain sideways and caused a roper-heavy Colorado Mesa University rodeo team to strike out early, but eventually secure the program’s first individual home ...

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Mesa’s Haillie Taylor takes big lead in breakaway roping

During the inaugural Maverick Stampede Rodeo at the Mesa County Fairgrounds on Friday, freshman rider Haillie Taylor had an easier than normal task during the breakaway roping event. Hook the rope around the bolting calf, and don’t incur a 10-second penalty for breaking the barrier that gives the calf a head start. Taylor was the final rider, and the leader’s time was 13.9 seconds, which included a 10-second penalty. Taylor streaked into the arena as the barrier rope whipped ...

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Indians not satisfied

An outsider can look at the Montrose High School baseball team’s 11-0 record and think it must be satisfying. But now is not the time to be content for the Indians. Montrose’s 8-5 win Wednesday over Fruita Monument at Canyon View Park sealed the best start in coach Landon Wareham’s tenure and the Indians’ best start since at least 2008. But Wareham said he always is looking for more from his team, which sits atop the Southwestern League standings at ...

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Creative ‘Cats

A knee injury apiece for the Grand Junction and Fruita Monument girls soccer teams meant each coach had to adjust for Tuesday’s game at Walker Field. Fruita lost Courtney Coffee to a season-ending knee injury recently, forcing the Wildcats to get creative in her absence. Grand Junction forward Leah Swander tweaked her knee last week, and although she was cleared to return to action against Fruita, it was in a limited role. Tuesday, the Wildcats’ adjustment carried it to a 2-0 ...

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Killer instinct

Everything about the Grand Junction girls lacrosse game against Battle Mountain on Monday was a little bit angry. The hits, the grunts, the goals, even the sky was spitting cold rain. The Tigers are a week removed from relinquishing the No. 10 ranking in Class 5A and dropped two games against quality opponents in Denver, a 16-10 loss to Douglas County and a 11-7 loss to 5A’s new No. 10, Palmer Ridge. But at Long Family Park, the Tigers rediscovered their “killer ...

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‘Heartbreaker’

In 2012, it was a last-minute regulation goal during a 5-4 win over Dominican (Calif.) that helped propel the Colorado Mesa University men’s lacrosse team to a Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association championship. This season, a Dominican goal in double overtime likely sank the Mavericks’ WILA championship aspirations in an 8-7 loss Sunday at Walker Field. Coach A.J. Stevens said it was most disappointing to see a 3-0 halftime lead disappear. “It’s a ...

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Himes has tough debut in Cage Wars XV

Grand Junction mixed martial arts fighter Courtney Himes knew about her first professional fight at Saturday’s Cage Wars XV about two weeks beforehand. She had never stepped in the cage, but the Fruita Monument High School graduate was lifting regularly, attending Colorado Mesa University, and raising two daughters, Karson, 8, and Rylie, 5. After a Texas fighter dropped out at the last minute, Himes became the opponent for pro Paige VanZant, who at one point was ranked No. 25 in the ...

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Broncos bandwagon

Rahim Moore might have sunk the Bronco’s postseason hopes when he allowed a late Baltimore touchdown, but with the amount of optimism at the Broncos’ Mile High Salute to Fans Tour, you wouldn’t know it. It’s like the Broncos already have won the Super Bowl. The six-day, 20-city tour stopped Saturday morning at the McDonald’s off Highway 6&50. Fans filed in for a visit with Broncos safety David Bruton and lineman Malik Jackson, as well as Broncos ...

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Flick solid again in goal as GJ tops Eagle Valley

Kolton Flick stood in his goal and watched Friday as an Eagle Valley attacker prepared to shoot. As the 25-yard shot headed his way, the Grand Junction High School boys lacrosse goalie twirled his stick between his legs to block the shot. The ball deflected off Flick’s stick into the air and, in one motion, he pocketed the ball, now a foot above his head, and flung it to Marques Combs, who fed Scott Foster for a goal. Although a mountain of praise has been heaped on the potent ...

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Frustration for Fruita

There were few moments the Fruita Monument boys lacrosse team weren’t one or two men down Thursday. A steady stream of penalties, 18 in all, cost the Wildcats in a 14-4 loss to Aspen, the No. 2-ranked team in Class 4A, at Fruita Monument High School. One by one, sticks hit the grass, gloves pounded the turf, and helmets were thrown as frustration grew. It would be easy to blame the loss on the referees or just an off game, but according to Fruita Monument coach Mark Young, the ...

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Phillips scores first goal in Fruita’s rout

Two years ago, Fruita Monument High School senior Tim Phillips had never played a contact sport. During his junior year, his friends Corey Henricksen and Sean Rozowski convinced him to try lacrosse. Phillips watched one game and decided it was for him. Phillips hadn’t played many varsity minutes over his two-year lacrosse career, but Wildcats coach Mark Young said a 14-1 drubbing of Glenwood Springs two days before facing Class 4A’s No. 2-ranked Aspen offered the perfect ...

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Bullpen Warrior

Jeremy Champlin, in a very small time period, gives the Central High School baseball team a very big chance to win. The sophomore reliever has the mentality, the drive, and the clutch gene required to come off the bench and shut down an opposing team. Although the Warriors fell to Doherty 7-5 at Canyon View Park on Saturday, Champlin shutting out Doherty in the sixth and seventh innings was exactly what Central coach Chuck Yost needed. “He’s a competitor, and I think he has ...

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DeRush’s bunt sparks GJ’s offense in victory

After poking a bunt into the no-man’s land between the pitcher’s mound and third base, Grand Junction’s do-everything second baseman and No. 9 hitter, Derek DeRush, narrowly beat a throw to first base from the Rangeview third baseman. With the bases loaded and no outs, the crowd and dugout got louder, and suddenly the Tigers had life. “I wanted him to bunt it just to move guys over,” Tigers coach Donnie Alexander said. “He put down a fantastic bunt and ...

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Once bats wake up, GJ cruises past Doherty

The Grand Junction High School baseball team’s first hit Friday didn’t come until the bottom of the third inning when Owen Taylor hit an opposite field home run inside the left field foul pole at Canyon View Park. It wasn’t until after the Tigers chased Doherty’s ace that their bats really got going, allowing Grand Junction to storm past the Spartans for a 16-6 nonleague victory in six innings after trailing 4-1 heading into the bottom of the third inning. Grand ...

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Grand Junction tops rival Central on courts

The Grand Junction High School girls tennis team this week got its answer to an important question going forward: Who’s No. 1? Tigers coach Carol Elliott watched a third and final “challenge” play out for the No. 1 singles spot on Monday and Tuesday, and freshman Carolena Campos emerged as the new 
No. 1, unseating Anne Hughes. Three challenges allow any player to secure any spot on the roster, Elliott said, adding it keeps players competitive. Campos, who locked ...

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Scrappy ‘Dogs win fifth straight game

Cruz Maestas’ goal 15 minutes into the first half was a scrappy score worthy of a scrappy Palisade High School girls soccer team, which made it stand for a 1-0 victory over Delta at Walker Field on Tuesday night. The single-goal victory was a far cry from the previous year’s squad, where NCAA Division I-bound Flannery Davis led a more finesse-focused team as coach Raina Sorensen was developing a hard-hitting crop of underclassmen. The absence of a bona fide star has allowed ...

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Ortale’s slam sparks Mavs

Sunday afternoon, Brooke Ortale sauntered to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning, knowing the Colorado Mesa University softball team probably didn’t deserve to win the game. Down 3-2, the Mavericks had miscues with Fort Lewis College playing small ball, at one point dropping three fly balls in a row, and Mesa was being outhit 10-3. Boom. One swing of the bat, and Ortale’s grand slam drastically changed the mind-set of the players and the outcome of the game. The ...

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In the spotlight

Saturday morning, Grand Junction No. 3 singles player Sierra Filutze was playing puppeteer. Backhand, forehand, slam. Not particularly creative, but brutally effective. Her ability to control her opponent allowed Filutze to win the first set of her semifinal matchup 6-2 by demanding her opponent, Palmer Ridge’s Diana Babcock, move from one end of the court to the other. Day 2 of the Western Slope Open at the Elliott Tennis Center and Canyon View Park put Filutze, along with ...

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Pressure performer

After winning the first set 7-5, Fruita Monument High School’s Jacque Soychak began to wilt with temperatures topping 70 degrees for the first time year. After beating Heritage’s Joanna Kempton on Friday morning, the junior No. 2 singles player was struggling through her second match of the Western Slope Open during Day 1. Soychak dropped the second set 6-3. The tape around her wrist, guarding a fresh and thoroughly raw blister, was slipping. Facing a bigger and stronger ...

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Tigers show their teeth

By the end of the night, Grand Junction High School attacker Kacie Jay had her Tiger Woods fist pump down. Jay scored three goals midway through the first half and sparked a 5-0 run that the Grand Junction girls lacrosse team carried to a 22-13 win over Fruita Monument at Walker Field on Tuesday night. Down 5-4, Jay rolled around a defender and peeked around the left side of the net before flicking the ball past the near post into the top left corner. The Tigers never trailed after that ...

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Wildcats beat the elements, Greeley Central

Apparently there is a near-infinite amount of dirt that Fruita Monument baseball coach Ray McLennan can summon to patch Gary Thomas Field at Fruita Monument High School. While Saturday’s other two games in the Bill Fanning Classic were canceled, Fruita was able to start shortly after its 10 a.m. scheduled time and edge out Greeley Central 9-3 in 4½ innings after a last-minute venue change. Suplizio Field was swamped with rain and snow Saturday morning, so McLennan decided to ...

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Bulldogs grind out a win

Normal winters in recent years have favored Palisade’s pitchers over its hitters to start the high school baseball season. A stellar rotation has aided the Bulldogs year after year. But Palisade opened the season Friday at the Bill Fanning Classic with a grinding 12-3 victory over Rampart at Suplizio Field. The two teams combined for 16 walks, eight errors and nine hits. Rampart scored all three of its runs in the second inning, but loaded the bases twice later in the game, mostly ...

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Play ball!

At 302 feet, the left-field foul pole at Suplizio Field is an easy target for home runs. Central High School catcher Kyle Serrano’s solo shot Thursday well over the fence was one of the few offensive highlights in a 4-2 season-opening loss at the Bill Fanning Classic to Horizon, in which the Warriors struggled defensively. “We hit the ball pretty well all game long,” Central coach Chuck Yost said. “We just didn’t have any timely hits early in the game. You ...

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Heartbreaker

The miracle looked like it was going to be the Palisade High School boy basketball team’s furious fourth-quarter comeback to avoid an upset and remain alive in the state playoffs. Instead, it was what Wheat Ridge did with time about to expire. With Palisade inbounding on Wheat Ridge’s end of the court, the Farmers’ Danny Allen intercepted an overthrown lob pass with just over two seconds on the clock. Standing several feet behind the 3-point arc on the left wing, Allen ...

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‘Dogs take 6th in girls bracket

It was one of those games the Palisade High School girls basketball players had to grit their teeth and make it through. The Bulldogs, with one senior, had very little experience playing games in a bracket format. Their 44-29 loss to Durango at Central High School on Saturday afternoon offered a few silver linings, however. With a sixth-place finish in the Class 4A Southwestern/Western Slope District tournament, the Bulldogs qualified for their second straight state tournament. Last ...

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McLean, Bulldogs advance to district title game

In the best circumstances, Luke McLean has a handful of games left as a basketball player. The Palisade High School forward and Colorado Mesa University football signee joked with Bulldogs coach Brian Tafel before Friday’s game that he “has a couple 3s left in him.” It was a McLean 3-pointer that salvaged an up-and-down game for the Bulldogs and sealed their trip to the Class 4A Southwestern/Western Slope District tournament final with a 49-44 victory over Eagle Valley ...

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Clamping down

Montrose’s Angelo Youngren was one of the top scorers in the Southwestern League, but to the Palisade High School boys basketball team, he was a mystery. The Western Slope League champion Bulldogs, despite being only an hour away from Montrose, had not faced the Indians this season. A mix of man defense and a 1-3-1 zone severely hampered Youngren on Thursday and allowed Palisade to advance in the Class 4A Southwestern/Western Slope District tournament with a 60-53 win at Brownson ...

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