Prep notebook: Saints take down Plateau Valley for seventh win in a row

The Vail Christian boys basketball team used a balanced effort to defeat league rival Plateau Valley (9-3) 51-45 at home on Saturday. Quinn Downey dropped 14 points as three Saints hit double figures. Will Neumann went 5-for-6 from the field for 10 points and Jack Pryor added 10 points and four rebounds. Theo Moritz led the team in rebounds (seven), assists (six) and steals (three) as Saints cruised to a seventh-straight victory and handed the Cowboys, who are ranked No. 8 in 1A in the CHSAA selection and seeding index, their first league loss. The Saints selection and seeding index ranking is currently No. 10 in 1A.

Vail Christian improved to 10-2 and 5-0 in the Western Slope with the win — Vail Mountain School is the other undefeated team in the league at 3-0 (the Gore Rangers are 5-6 overall). The two teams face off on Feb. 7 at Vail Christian.

The Lady Saints stayed with the Cowboys for the first half of the girls game, also on Saturday. Leading just 20-17 at halftime, Plateau Valley used a 10-2 third quarter to pull away, dropping Vail Christian 47-29 to improve to 8-4. The Saints (4-7) head to Hayden (7-5) on Friday.

Grand Junction Central got the best of both Eagle Valley squads on Saturday. The boys moved to 7-9 after a 66-50 loss and the girls fell to 6-8 with a 61-32 defeat. Josie Fitzsimmons and Alyssa Jones each had eight points and Jones also collected nine rebounds to guide Eagle Valley; Cedar Fitzsimmons gathered five boards and distributed four assists as well.

Alessandra Caballero had 13 points and four assists and Ashley Rodriguez added 12 points, but Battle Mountain couldn’t take down visiting Basalt in last Thursday’s home non-conference matchup. The Huskies fell 56-45 to drop to 3-9 with a visit to league-leading Glenwood Springs (11-5) on tap for Tuesday night.

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Hockey notes: Huskies fall to Crested Butte 5-1

In a rematch of the 2021 4A state hockey championship (and 2022 quarterfinals), No. 4 Crested Butte took down No. 7 Battle Mountain 5-1 in boys hockey action on Friday at Dobson Arena. Declan Kelly scored the Huskies’ lone goal with the assist from Connor Wadey. Battle Mountain (4-6-1 overall, 0-4-1 league) will be busy this weekend, hosting Durango (4-7-1) on Thursday and Friday and Steamboat Springs (7-3-1, 3-0 league) on Saturday.

Alpine notes: Demino speeds to giant slalom win in Keystone

Battle Mountain freshman Ruthie Demino had the fastest first run and second-fastest second run to top the 85-skier field at last Thursday’s Colorado High School Alpine ski meet at Keystone Resort. Demino finished with a combined time of 1 minute, 28.58 seconds as two Huskies placed in the top 10 and eight in the top 20. Fellow freshman Keena Shikverg (1:31.95) placed eighth to lead Battle Mountain to a third-place team finish.

Ava Crowley (1:31.32) led Vail Mountain School with a sixth-place finish.

Evergreen took a tight team title with 168 points, followed by Summit (167) and Battle Mountain (162). VMS (142) finished in fifth and Eagle Valley (131) placed sixth.

(place, bib, class, school, name, first run, second run, total time)
1   23   Fr    BMH   Ruthie * DeMino       43.16 (1)     45.42 (2)   1:28.58 (1) 
2   731  Jr    EVG   Adriana Kahanek       43.34 (2)     45.91 (3)   1:29.25 (2) 
3   742  Jr    EVG   Lexi Ornstein         44.04 (4)     45.23 (1)   1:29.27 (3) 
4   430  Jr    SUM   Luci Brady            43.70 (3)     46.21 (4)   1:29.91 (4) 
5   421  Fr    SUM   Lauren McCalla        44.90 (9)     46.25 (5)   1:31.15 (5) 
6   381  Sr    VMS   Ava Crowley           44.68 (7)     46.64 (7)   1:31.32 (6) 
7   423  Fr    SUM   Claire Jackson        44.71 (8)     46.68 (8)   1:31.39 (7) 
8   68   Fr    BMH   Keena Shikverg        44.58 (6)     46.98 (9)   1:31.56 (8) 
9   490  So    SSP   Emma McHaffie         44.92 (10)    47.03 (10)  1:31.95 (9) 
10  714        EVG   Sydney Lally          45.58 (15)    46.54 (6)   1:32.12 (10)

On the boys side, Battle Mountain’s Jakub Pecinka led all local skiers with a fourth-place finish in the 92-skier field, followed by teammates Cricket Byrne in seventh and Andrew Conley in ninth.

Steamboat Springs garnered 173 points to take the team win, with Summit (168) placing second and Battle Mountain (163) coming in third.

Vail Mountain, Eagle Valley and Battle Mountain all travel to Aspen for a giant slalom on Feb. 3 between A and B division teams.

(place, bib, class, school, name, first run, second run, total time)
1   461  Sr    SSP   Colin Kagan           41.21 (1)     45.08 (2)   1:26.29 (1) 
2   400  Fr    SUM   Seth Montgomery       41.90 (4)     44.52 (1)   1:26.42 (2) 
3   462  Sr    SSP   Brooks Overstake      41.48 (2)     45.68 (3)   1:27.16 (3) 
4   61   Sr    BMH   Jakub Pecinka         42.39 (6)     46.23 (6)   1:28.62 (4) 
5   411  Sr    SUM   Michael Cheek         42.56 (8)     46.14 (5)   1:28.70 (5) 
6   463  Sr    SSP   Fisher St. John       42.29 (5)     46.44 (9)   1:28.73 (6) 
7   12   Sr    BMH   Michael 'Cricket'     42.51 (7)     46.27 (7)   1:28.78 (7) 
8   412  So    SUM   Riccardo Novoa        42.71 (9)     46.41 (8)   1:29.12 (8) 
9   17   Sr    BMH   Andrew Conley         43.07 (10)    46.09 (4)   1:29.16 (9) 
10  19   Sr    BMH   Phillip D'Andrea      43.67 (12)    48.64 (14)  1:32.31 (10)