Prep notebook: Devils volleyball wins again, Saints exit state tennis tournament in first round
Blair selected for U.S. World mountain and trail championship team
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily
Volleyball: Eagle Valley won its seventh straight game on Thursday night, taking down Palisade 25-8, 25-21, 21-25, 25-18 in Gypsum to improve to 14-6 on the year and 9-0 in league play. Up next for the league-leading Devils is an Oct. 18 matchup with Battle Mountain. The Huskies (8-5) won the first two games of a weekend tournament on Friday, defeating Centaurus 25-20, 25-20 and Basalt 25-20, 20-25, 15-2. On Saturday, they fell to Roaring Fork 25-22, 25-22.
Tennis: Vail Christian’s Leo Yang and Daniel Blanch lost their first-round games at the 4A state tennis tournament at City Park in Pueblo on Thursday. Blanch faced Denver South junior Max Morales in the No. 2 singles first round. The Saints sophomore won the first set, 6-0, before dropping the next two, 3-6, 3-6 to drop the match. Yang, a senior, fell to George Washington’s Ryan Hajek, 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 3 singles bracket.
Football: Vail Christian won its fourth game in a row, defeating Soroco 58-18 on Friday. The Saints improved to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in league play. They are at West Grand (6-1 overall, 2-1 league) next Friday.
Alumni: 2022 Eagle Valley graduate Samantha Blair was selected for the inaugural U.S. World mountain and trail running championships team last week. The 39 American trail athletes, who qualified via automatic spots earned at selection races as well as resume submissions for at-large slots, are set to compete at the first World Mountain and Trail Running Championships Nov. 4-6 in Chiang Mai, Thaliand.
The World Athletics event replaces both the World Mountain Running Championships and the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships. The four-day event features 80 and 40-kilometer trail races plus uphill-only races for senior athletes and classic up and down mountain races for senior and U20 athletes.
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Blair is one of four Colorado athletes on the seven-member U20 team, which will race a 6.4-kilometer up/down on Nov. 6. It isn’t her first time competing internationally. She finished eighth in the junior women’s race at the 2019 World Mountain Running championships and fifth at the 2019 International U18 Mountain running Cup, where the U.S. earned a bronze medal. Blair is currently a freshman at Division I running power Northern Arizona. She placed second overall as an unattached athlete at the Sept. 3 George Kyte Classic.
