Valley athletes and coaches earn all-conference recognition

Players from Vail Mountain School, Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley High School were awarded 11 of the 19 spots on the Western Slope boys lacrosse all-conference team. Eagle Valley’s Erich Petersen earned conference player of the year, while VMS coach Steve Michel and Battle Mountain assistant Chris Inks earned coach and assistant coach of the year, respectively.

Petersen, his younger brother Julius and his senior teammate Eric Hasley all earned all-state nods as well. Petersen was one of six 4A first-team attackmen while Julius and Hasley were named to the second team. Vail Mountain defenseman Owen Grimmer also made the state second team.

In his first year at the helm, Michel led VMS to a 9-1 league record, with the only loss coming at the hands of Aspen. The Gore Rangers faced the Skiers for a third time in the second round of the 4A state tournament, falling 12-10.

Inks helped a young Battle Mountain team improve to 10-7 in 2022 after a 5-5 2021 campaign. The Huskies ended their regular season league schedule with a memorable 10-9 double-overtime win against the Devils after losing 16-8 earlier in the year.

Petersen led his team with 94 points this season, scoring 43 goals and notching 51 assists, 27 more than the second-most on his team. In November, he announced his plans to attend Colorado Mesa to continue his academic and athletic career. Hasley was the leading goal-scorer with 55.

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