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Vail Valley preps wrap for Sunday

Chris Freud
Vail, CO Colorado
EVBS Rhoades KA 10-10-09
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GYPSUM – After two tough losses, Eagle Valley soccer reminded us all that Rifle is generally the cure for all that ails you.

The Devils breezed past the Bears, 9-1, setting up a giant week of soccer locally. Eagle Valley, now 6-2-1 in the Slope and 8-2-1 overall, hosts Glewnood Springs Thursday at 6 p.m. at Hot Stuff.

“I think it will be good,” Devils coach Jason Rittmiller said. “We’re looking forward to Thursday. We’ve changed things all around and I think we’re a little more ready.”



Eagle Valley had been coming off losses against Steamboat (1-0) and Glenwood (2-1), but there was happily no drama against Rifle. Nate Barker had the hat trick, while David Shea scored twice. Kevin Escobar, Eddie Venser and Israel Gomez all found the back of the net. For Gomez, that was his first high-school goal.

Though Thursday’s showdown with Glenwood has huge implications, Rittmiller likes his team’s demeanor.

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“We’re really not an emotional team,” he said. “We’re just there to do the job.”

Battle Mountain 6, Moffat County 0

EDWARDS – The hors d’oeuvres are done also for Battle Mountain soccer. The Huskies hope the main course is Tuesday against Steamboat Springs at 6:30 p.m.

Battle Mountain slapped Moffat, 6-0, Saturday behind two from Ubaldo Trujillo and one each from Connor Tedstrom, Jorge Rojas, Yini Ruiz and Joe LyBarger. The Huskies moved to 7-0-2 in the league and 9-1-2 overall, heading into the Steamboat game.

With a win against the Sailors, the Huskies would need just one point in their final two games of the season (both at home against Rifle and Eagle Valley) to clinch the Slope crown. That said, the two teams tied, 1-1, up north earlier in the season and there’s no predicting this rivalry. By the way, a tie or a loss puts both Eagle Valley and Steamboat right back into position.

“In (that) game, we scored early and I think we got a little complacent,” Huskies coach David Cope said. “We never could add to it and they got the late goal. An early goal doesn’t mean four. We may need to hang on or try to get the second. The fellas are fired up and it’s going to be exciting.”

Vail Mountain 1, Roaring Fork 1

EAST VAIL – And now a look at the Vail Mountain School boys soccer schedule for 2010 – at Roaring Fork, home for Roaring Fork, at Roaring Fork, home for Roaring Fork, and repeat. VMS just isn’t going to bother with Aspen or Basalt or anyone else.

After Saturday, the Rams don’t want anything to do with the Gore Rangers any more. That’s because the formerly league-leading Rams are now tied for first with the Colorado Rocky Mountain School after a 1-1 draw with VMS Saturday at Bandoni Alumni Field.

Roaring Fork’s only blemishes on its league slate are a loss and Saturday’s tie to VMS.

“They hate us right now,” VMS coach Slade Cogswell joked. “The competition in our league is really exciting, I talked to their coach and we’ve never remembered the competition being so good in this league.”

And remember that Cogswell also played at VMS. He knows of what he speaks. He also knows that his team tends to play its best against the best. The Gore Rangers were down 1-0 until Aaron Lewis fed Austin Cerny for a lovely tally. Cerny ran onto Lewis’ pass on the right side and pumped the ball across his body toward the far post for the equalizer.

VMS moved to 2-6-1 in the 3A Slope, but in this whacky year, still can make a run at the postseason. The Gore Rangers head to Paonia Tuesday, host Basalt Thursday and have CRMS next Monday at The Bob, not to mention a nonconference tilt against Summit on Saturday.

Volleyball

Eagle Valley 3, Delta 0

Eagle Valley 3, Palisade 0

PALISADE – “Good day, 3-0 and 3-0,” Eagle Valley coach volleyball coach Shawn Weatherred said.

The Devils spikers just keep taking care of business. Saturday, it was a an efficient western swing through Delta and Palisade as Eagle Valley swept the Panthers, 25-19, 25-14, 25-19, and the Bulldogs, 25-20, 25-21, 25-23.

“It was a long day. We played very solid volleyball, but good volleyball,” Weatherred said. “We were patient and pulled out the close games when we needed to.”

And just as matter-of-factly as their coach said that, the Devils moved to 9-0 atop the Slope and 11-2 overall.

Eagle Valley calls on Battle Mountain in Edwards at 6 p.m. The Devils won the first match between the two rivals in three games last month, but know they will be facing a challenging environment Tuesday.

“We’re embracing the noise and hostility because it’s going to be there whether we like it or not.” Weatherred said. “We might as well use that energy to advantage. This isn’t one of those games where you have to manufacture energy.”

Palisade 3, Battle Mountain 0

Battle Mountain 3, Delta 0

DELTA – That would have been a long bus ride home for the Battle Mountain volleyball team had the Huskies not rebounded for a win at Delta Saturday.

Actually, it was a long ride back for some of Battle Mountain because the Suburban broke down Saturday, but that’s not important right now.

After falling to Palisade, 25-15, 25-13, 25-16, the Huskies (4-5, 5-7) snapped right back to take out Delta, 25-16, 25-23, 25-18.

“We played as a team in the Delta game,” said Huskies coach Lara Bossow, who was among those stranded in Western Colorado. “The Palisade game was one of those games where if one person made an error, there was just a domino effect. Against Delta, if someone made an error, we just shook it off and helped everybody along.”

Against the Panthers, Sammy Miletich was the hitting star, crushing the ball at .500 rate in Game 2. Piper McMillin also knocked them down well and had three aces in the match. Jayna Horn led the Huskies with five aces.

Up next, provided that the marooned Huskies get rescued, is a minor game with Eagle Valley.

“We need to go out there and raise our game, starting with our defense,” Bossow said. “When I think back on our last game (with Eagle Valley), our defense was caught by surprise and we didn’t rebound well. This game, we know what to expect, and we’ll stick to our game plan.”

Vail Christian 3, Lutheran Parker 2

PARKER – Vail Christian wanted a long volleyball match and the Saints got it Friday night. The Saints overcame a 2-1 deficit to beat Lutheran Parker, 25-22,15-25, 21-25, 25-17, 15-9.

While a lot of teams like 3-and-0, and ready to go, coach Cathy Alexander and the Saints were happy to have a lengthy game because they have five matches in the next two weeks and hope to be playing in some critical five-setters in the next month.

The Saints moved to a heady 13-1, easily their best start as a 2A squad. Brooke Bowles and Beri Dwyer each had 12 kills. Kylie Alexander led the offense with 25 assists.

Vail Christian now turns its attention to closing stretch of league play which starts Tuesday at Rangely.

“We know they have two big hitters and it’s going to be an important game,” Cathy Alexander said. “We have two matches this week and three the next, so it’s nice that we actually got the whole weekend off.”

After Rangely, Vail Christian is at North Park Saturday.

Vail Mountain 3, Plateau Valley 0

Vail Mountain 3, Soroco 2

OAK CREEK – Vail Mountain School volleyball coach Mike Garvey loves his Dallas Cowboys, but we need to go to the college ranks and “Texas Fight” for this one.

“Hail, hail, the gang’s all here,” applied nicely to VMS as the spikers are finally at full strength after a battle with the flu. With the full complement, Vail Mountain downed Plateau Valley, 25-20, 25-11, 25-5, on Friday and Soroco, 25-19. 24-26. 25-19, 18-25, 15-10, Saturday.

VMS hadn’t played in nearly two weeks before facing the Cowboys (Plateau, not Dallas), and it showed. But the Gore Rangers got into a rhythm after the layoff and rolled.

Betsy Batts, Kathryn Conlin and Holly Domke all came back for Soroco, and VMS needed everyone. Perhaps, most noteworthy is that Garvey reported that Brigitta Gehl had 13 kills. The coach does not usually report stats, so Gehl’s performance had to be big.

“The nice thing is that both night everyone felt great,” Garvey said. “It’s great to be back to full health. It was nice to be stretched to five because we were able to do it.

Garvey also handed out postgame props to Cynthia and Ellen Edgerton, Sarah Landreth and Emily Domke.

Vail Mountain (3-2 and 8-6) hosts Paonia Tuesday.

Cross county

Cassidy leads Devils

ASPEN – We don’t mean to alarm you, but the organizers the Aspen Invitational cross country race messed up the team results of Saturday’s meet.

We will now allow every Nordic or alpine skier who’s ever raced there on the high-school level to stop snickering.

Eagle Valley cross country coach Melinda Brandt did keep unofficial times from Saturday’s meet and liked what she saw.

Kelly Cassidy returned to action after taking a meet off and led the Devils with a time of 25 minutes, 51 seconds. (The course at Aspen High School was tough and long.) Logan Kinser had a superb race as the Devils No. 2, finishing in 26:35. Pearl Nanin (26:55), Rachael Burnett (27:30) and Blanca Gonzalez (27:37) rounded out the scoring for Eagle Valley.

“Kelly’s racing pretty stongly,” Brandt said. “She’s definitely dealing with a few injuries. Logan is getting better and better. I’m so proud of how hard she’s been working in practice. It’s paying off.”

With some absences on the boys’ side due to the flu and SATs, there were some new names there. After the ever-familiar presence of Wade Fowler (20:55) , Riley Simonton earned the Hoss Award by clocking a 22:38. Freshman Aaron Kline popped into the No. 3 spot with a 22:42. Ben Muehlethaler ran a 22:48, followed by freshman Caleb Krueger.

Hannah Hibbs, who’s bounced between varsity and JV, stated her case to run with the former Saturday, topping the JV ranks and winning the Hoss Award the process.

Eagle Valley’s stop next week is in Montrose.

Huskies meet a moose

Last week, bees took over Battle Mountain cross country’s home meet. As the Huskies were warming up for Saturday’s meet in Aspen, a moose wandered by. Next week, the Huskies are at Wiggins High School near Greeley.

Can you say cattle stampede?

The moose aside, Huskies cross country still rushed to good finishes, despite the absence of some noteworthy names.

Mitch Walker rolled to a 19:13 to lead the boys. Remsen Allard cracked the top 20 with a 20:04. (Like Eagle Valley, actual places were difficult to ascertain.). Eric Spry finished in 21:10, followed by Tommy Crisofulli (21:30) and Charlie Barry, making his first varsity start, in 21: 34.

For those scoring at home, that’s no David Shearon, Eric Gallagher or David Suarez and still what coach Ken Long thinks was a fifth-place finish out of 16 teams.

“That gave us an opportunity to test our depth,” Long said. “It was a chance to give the guys a little experience.”

Amelia Ortiz had a rough day and still finished in the top 10 for the girls in 23:23. Mandy Ortiz punched in at 27:24, followed by Anya Korronen (28:23). Sam Engle’s 28:26 was roughly 3:30 faster than she ran this course last year.

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 or cfreud@vaildaily.com.


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