YOUR AD HERE »

Vail Valley preps wrap for Saturday

Chris FreudVail, CO Colorado
EVBaseB Van Dyke 1 KA 04-24-10
ALL |

GYPSUM – On Senior Day for Eagle Valley baseball, the seniors led the way.The Devils swept the Bulldogs in a pre-prom doubleheader at Nolan Field in Gypsum, 6-4 and 7-6. The night cap came in extra innings.Eagle Valley took the opener with a four-run fifth inning. Senior Nick Pietrack knocked in two runs with a double. Senior Bryce Zehring followed with a triple and came home on a base knock by Pat Knabel, who also happens to be a senior.Westin Blevins started, going 3 2/3 innings, and senior Jack Barbella ended up picking up the win in relief with six punch-outs.Barbella was busy Devil Saturday. He started Game 2 and had a two-run double in the top of the first – Eagle Valley was the visiting team in the nightcap. Senior Seth Williamson plated Barbella for a 3-0 lead.That advantage disappeared and the Devils trailed 6-4 going into the top of the seventh. Barbella reached base on a error and came home on a Williamson double. Pietrack tied it up with an RBI single.In extras, Reece Ellsworth, running for James Van Dyke, scored on a passed ball to give Eagle Valley the sweep.”(Moffat is) a pretty good ball club,” Devils manager Ken Reagan said. “We did enough to take care of them. We didn’t hit the ball as well as we could have, but it was nice to come back in both games.”And it all made a good day for Adam Horst and James Sanchez and rest of the Devils seniors. Eagle Valley is 8-3 in the 4A Slope and 11-5 overall. The Devils are at Battle Mountain Tuesday at 4 p.m. – the diamond at the old campus in6 Eagle-Vail – before a twinbill Saturday at Steamboat Springs.Boys lacrosseBattle Mountain 7, Aspen 3ASPEN – Yes, sir. That’s for what Battle Mountain boys lacrosse has been looking. Having clearly established a mastery of the lower-tier squads in the Mountain Conference, Huskies lacrosse needed to move into new territory.They did that emphatically Saturday with a 7-3 win at Aspen, their first win over the Skiers.”It’s huge,” Huskies coach Seth Jones said. “It’s a stepping stone. We talked earlier about how they are multiple levels of our league, and Aspen is in the upper echelon. For us to beat a team of that caliber is big.”It’s worth noting that Aspen squished Battle Mountain last year, 13-2, in the Huskies’ first CHSAA lacrosse match.Defense led the day for Battle Mountain. Goalie Spencer Currie, who has been the bedrock of this team, was his usual spectacular self with 16 saves. Jones also singled out defenders Stephen Licciardi, Carl Hamrick, Nick Vossler and Sawyer Bluhm for their effort in keeping the Skiers off the board.While Saturday’s game was delayed by snow, that didn’t stop the Battle Mountain’s offense from rolling. Reeve Sanders had two goals and an assist, while lucky No. 13, Jake Robertson, also scored twice.Timmy Licciardi, Tommy Travers and Parke Robbins ripped the twine as well, and Hamrick even got in a helper from the long-pole defenseman position.”They played a great game,” Jones said. “They played their best lacrosse yet. It was a fun game to be coaching.”The Huskies and Skiers meet again Monday, this time in Edwards at 4 p.m.Girls soccerMoffat County 4, Eagle Valley 0CRAIG – Despite a strong first-half effort, Eagle Valley girls soccer fell at Moffat County, 4-0.Ana Flores, Kelly Ciesco, Anastasia Todd, Justine Jones all scored in the second half for the Bulldogs.”They had beautiful shots. They deserved it,” Devils coach Francois Nanin said. “Nonetheless, we played extremely hard and controlled the ball well.”Saints trackRIFLE – Now, wherever did Vail Christian’s Kylie Alexander learn to pole vault?Probably in same house that she learned to be a pretty darn good volleyball player.”It started when my dad was coaching at Battle Mountain and I’d go to practice,” Alexander said after winning the event with a leap of 8 feet, 6 inches, Saturday at the Rifle Invitational.The sophomore prequalified for state with the 8-6 and is headed to the Front Range next month along with Ashlyn Gruber who’s all set in the 400.”It was awesome,” Alexander said. “I love getting up there high and falling.”Not to be outdone, Gruber was third in the 200 and 400.Vail Christian has the pole-vaulting qualifier Thursday in West Grand, which is less of an issue now for Madama Alexander, and then the Saints head to Montrose Friday.Huskies trackRIFLE – We’re going to be hearing about this for a while, folks.”Yeah, it’s all about the kids, but we were in the coaches’ 4-by-1 and Battle Mountain won the gold,” Huskies coach track Jeff Krumlauf said happily.Yes, the mighty Huskies coaches – Annie Hensen, Pat Tvarkunas, Ken Long and with Krum as the anchor – flew to victory in the annual coaches relay at the end of Saturday’s Rifle Invitational.”Pat Gabriel and I declined. I want to feel my extremities until the Fourth of July,” Eagle Valley coach Jeff Shroll joked.And in other developments, by the by, David Shearon broke 10 minutes in the 3,200 meters. Shearon took the 3,200 out in 4 minutes, 56 seconds for the first mile. “The other kids were like, ‘Oh, let him go. He’s going to die,'” Krumlauf said. “David kept going. He had a five-minute second mile. His first lap was 67 seconds. His last lap was 66.”And with that, Shearon achieved one of his goals of the season with a whole two meets to go in the regular season – a 9:56. (And, knock wood, that time looks pretty solid for the state 18.) General improvement was the theme for Battle Mountain Saturday.”Everybody’s training is beginning to show,” Krumlauf said. “Everyone’s times are starting to drop or they’re jumping or throwing farther.”Shawn Martinez placed in both hurdles events. Reidesel Mendoza was sixth in the 400 and Edward Banegas was eighth. That was Banegas’s first 400. The guys’ 3,200 relay (Jesus Nunez, David Shea, Remsen Allard and Eric Spry) was second.In a pattern rather similar to that of cross country season, Amelia Ortiz made the Huskies 2-for-2 in the 3,200. She was also fourth in the mile.Molly Childers flew 7-6 in the pole vault for bronze. And if we didn’t mention it, the coaches capped the day with a the 400 relay win.Battle Mountain is at Fort Collins Friday.Devils trackRIFLE – Ladies and gentlemen, we have a boys 1,600 relay team at Eagle Valley.The Devils quartet of A.J. Rhoades, Jalen Aquino, Nate Barker, Mario Gonzalez clocked a blazing 3 minutes, 30.85 seconds in the mile relay at the Rifle Invite, and – knock wood – could be state-bound.As of press time, 3:30.85 put the Devils eighth in the state with around 4 seconds-worth of breathing room for the state meet.James Jagger flew to second in the 110 hurdles with a 16.66, and is nearing that state 18, and Erin Burnett, fourth Saturday in the 100 hurdles, is sitting in 17th.And yes, Jamie Bair, who won both the shot and the discus again, is bordering on a mortal lock for Denver.”We were all stunned, shocked and amazed,” Devils coach Jeff Shroll joked about Bair.It’s a time of good vibes in Eagle Valley’s camp. One of the many good stories was Kendra Clements who ran three different 400s with steady, quick times in the medley, the 1,600 relay and the open 400.Shila Branch, Emily Kingston, Kassi Gall and Clements finished second in the medley. The mile of Nikki Harvey, Erin and Rachel Burnett and Clements was fourth. And Clements was sixth in the 400 coming out of lane No. 8, no mean feat.Another big one was the girls’ 3,200 team winning that relay for the first time in recent memory. Kelly Cassidy, Harvey, Logan Kinser and Rachel Burnett clocked and 11:08. That’s a new record for that crew by 12 seconds.The 800 relay of Harvey, Gall, Elizabeth Schwaiger and Casey Lammert punched in at fifth. Cassidy had a season-best 6:08 in the mile, taking sixth.In the pole vault, Rachel Harvey was third with a personal record of 8 feet. Gall was fifth in 7-6. Megan Osteen leapt to eighth in the triple jump.For the gents, Hunter Burnham, Javier Gallegos, Prather Silverthorn and Eddie Campos rolled to eighth in the 3,200 relay. Gonzalez won the mile again and his time of 4:35 is in the state 18.David Shea, Nate Barker, Jalen Aquino and Omar Saucedo teamed up for a fast 45.09 in the 400 relay. That’s a season-best. Barker was seventh in the 300 hurdles. Gonzalez was sixth in the 800 sand Saucedo was in the same slot in the 200.In the pole vault, Brian Olsen flew 11 feet to second, while Westin Brock was fourth at 10 feet. Willie Magdziuk hopped to fourth in the triple jump.Eagle Valley is at Montrose Friday.PostponementsNot surprisingly, snow wiped out some of Saturday’s events. Vail Mountain School soccer against Coal Ridge at venerable Bandonii Alumni Field went by the boards as did Battle Mountain baseball’s doubleheader at Steamboat Springs. No make-up dates have been announced.Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 or cfreud@vaildaily.com.


Support Local Journalism