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Friday’s preps wrap: Huskies and Devils XC impress; Saints volleyball and Battle Mountain soccer win

COLORADO SPRINGS — It is only August. Just a reminder, it is only August.

Cross-country teams want to be at their best come late October.

But, dot, dot, dot, as Mel Brooks would say …



This has the makings of one whopper of a season if the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede, aka the pre-state meet, on Friday, Aug. 24, in Colorado Springs was any indication.

Eagle Valley’s Joslin Blair and Samantha Blair went 1-2. Yes, the Force is strong in that family. That’s not too bad of a debut for a freshman in Samantha, and the grizzled vet, Joslin, a junior, is still pretty good.

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The Devils girls finished sixth at the meet with 151 points.

As for the two-time defending state champion Battle Mountain? All the Huskies did was win the meet. Battle Mountain posted just 70 points, ahead of Air Academy (87) and Cheyenne Mountain (98).

The fun thing to note here was the Huskies weren’t necessarily racing to win this race. Battle Mountain was treating pre-state as a tempo run, which in cross-country speak is that the Huskies ran as a pack for the first 2 miles of the 3.1-mile circuit before going off on their own.

In a testament to sister power as the theme of the day, Battle Mountain’s Naomi and Lizzy Harding finished ninth and 10th, followed by Grace Johnson in 11th. Brogan Murray was 16th and Emma Reeder was 24th.

For the Devils, Joslin Blair finished in 18 minutes, 57.1 seconds. Samantha was right behind her in 18:59.1.

The Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley boys were scheduled to run later Friday night. The Vail Daily will update this story for Sunday’s edition.

GILPIN COUNTY

Saints volleyball wins

The streak is dead. Long live the new streak.

Vail Christian volleyball snapped a 21-match losing streak, dating back to Oct. 28, 2017, a win against Hayden in the district-tournament opener of that season, with a three-set win over Caliche, 25-19, 25-16, 25-13, at Gilpin County High School on Friday, Aug. 24.

With the win, the Saints can bury the memories of 2018, an 0-19 campaign in which they did not win a set all season.

“It’s so exciting,” Vail Christian coach Lisa Bradley said. “The girls played really well as a team and went out and fought for it.”

Class 2A Vail Christian started the season on Thursday, Aug. 23, with a three-set loss to 4A Battle Mountain, but bounced back.

“A lot of it was our serving. That definitely improved,” Bradley said. “The girls went out with the mental attitude that this is our game to win and we’re going do it.”

Vail Christian (1-1) returns home on Friday, Aug. 31, to open the 2A Western Slope with Paonia.

MONTROSE

Huskies soccer wins on road

Huskies soccer coach David Cope could be a play-by-play commentator on some form of media. When Battle Mountain soccer is on the road, he texts out the developments on his phone.

The news was good on Friday, Aug. 24, as the coach thumbed details of a 4-1 win at Montrose in the team’s season opener.

Daniel “Dani” Barajas is back with the Huskies after a year’s absence, and he scored the first two. Senior Chris Lopez chimed in during the 44th minute with the assists going to Barajas and goalie Jackson Borg.

Dutch Schroeder capped the scoring as the Huskies recorded a big road win.

“It’s huge,” Cope said. “We came down here last year with what I felt was a very good team and lost, 3-1. (Montrose) was the No. 4 seed in the (state) tournament last year and seventh in the preseason poll so it’s a huge win on the road in a lot of ways.”

While Battle Mountain is in the neighborhood, the Huskies wing down to Durango on Saturday, Aug. 25.


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