The playoff season got into full swing over the weekend with the announcement of the final rounds of the winter sports playoffs for hockey and basketball.
Women’s basketball kicked off Tuesday night, as did a men’s basketball district competition in Carbondale. Those contests began after Tuesday’s press deadline for the Aspen Daily News, so check aspendailynews.com for the results of those contests.
Ski
Aspen High saw the girls finish fourth in the state ski tournament, with the boys finishing 15th.
The girls collected 601 points between skate and classic Nordic skiing and giant slalom and alpine slalom. Six more points would propel them into second place behind state champion Battle Mountain.
Skiers were anchored by the first-place giant slalom group, where seniors Stella Sherlock and Cate Simpson took gold and silver, respectively. Both posted times of sub-52 seconds in the first moto, a feat unmatched by any of their competitors during either moto. The slalom team finished third, led by junior bronze medalist Sienna Hendrickson.
On the Nordic side, Julia Diaz and Michaela Kenny finished ninth and tenth respectively in skate and twelfth and tenth in classic, securing Aspen sixth place in both events.
The boys’ team saw who didn’t start or finish in the slalom and giant slalom knocked them off the standings, finishing ninth in the GS and not scoring in the slalom.
Colorado Rocky Mountain School took 14th overall among boys, with 102 points in classic skiing led by 35th-place Tiernan Pittz. CRMS did not score in the women’s state contest.
Struggle
Basalt’s Brady Samuelson earned a bronze medal in the 3A 190 lbs class, rebounding from a big decision loss in the semifinals to a tight 2-1 decision and a spot in the third-place match, where he pinned Cal Sidwell of eaton.
Also for the Longhorns, José Muñoz went 1-2 in 285 with a pin to earn three senior team points.
In 5A, Glenwood’s Kodiak Kellogg went 4-2 in 215 to finish fifth. Kellogg earned three pins and a decision in his wins.
In the women’s tournament, Basalt senior Nayeli Membreno saw a pair of losses in the 125m and Paola Cruz earned a pin in the 120m in the program’s first year.
Hockey
Glenwood Springs will get favorable matchups heading into the state championship on March 7 thanks to the #1 seed in bracket 4A.
The Demons will receive a first-round bye and host the winner of No. 8 Battle Mountain and no. 9 Liberty. With a win there, they will compete against the #1 Colorado Academy winner. 4 and Crested Butte No. 5 in the semifinals at Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs. The Demons are a collective 6-0 against any potential opponent through the semi-finals, with a goal differential of +15 in those matches.
They stumbled some in the playoffs, beating Crested Butte on February 15 before losing the regular season finale at the Summit 4-3 on Friday. Glenwood finished 15-4 overall on the season.
Boys basketball
The defending 3A state champion Aspen Skiers closed out their inaugural 4A season in disappointment, falling just 42-41 to Coal Ridge in a game that would have moved them to second place in the league with a win. Instead they finished third. Aspen finished the regular season at 16-7 with a 9-5 record in the league.
They will face No. 7 Eaton as the No. 26 team in the 4A State Tournament tonight, looking for an upset in their bid to repeat as state champions.
Basalt snuck in as the No. 30 seed in the 4A state tournament after a must-win win in Friday night’s home final, sinking Delta 48-36. The win sparked a three-game losing slide, dropping them to 11-12 overall and 7-7 in the WSL, good for a fourth-place finish. They were rewarded with a trip to No. 3 of Alamosa tonight. The tip is scheduled for 18:00
Glenwood Springs had the privilege of being the only local boys’ team to host a playoff game, slotting just into the host level with a No. 1 seed. group matches). They’re hosting #17 Green Mountain at 6:00 pm tonight.
The Demons defeated Eagle Valley 73-56 on Friday night to clinch their first major league title since 2020 with a flawless 6-0 record, finishing 16-7 overall. They won their last 10 games of the regular season after starting 6-7.
In 3A, Roaring Fork entered the district tournament as the No. 1 seed. Roaring Fork finished 14-5 overall in the regular season.
The Rams hosted No. 7 Olathe Tuesday night in the first round. In the two regular season meetings, Roaring Fork won 54-30 at home and 45-35 on the road.
Women’s basketball
The women’s basketball playoffs began Tuesday night after the press deadline. The N. 8 of Glenwood Springs hosted the no. He clinched the team’s fourth consecutive league title.
The Demons would have hosted the winner of No. 9 Green Mountain and No. 24 Denver North had they avoided the upset Tuesday night.
In 4A, Basalt went to #6 Eaton as the #27 seed. The Longhorns finished 12-11 overall and 4-8 in WSL play in the regular season. They beat Aspen 50-16 on February 15 and lost their season finale to Delta on Friday.
Aspen and the Roaring Fork entered the WSL District 3A playoffs Tuesday night with the tournament champions earning an automatic bid to the state tournament. The Skiers went on to regular season champion Grand Valley on Tuesday after finishing 0-23 in their return to college-level basketball.
The Rams No. 6 went to no. 3 Olathe Tuesday night. After crashing in the regular season finale on Friday at Grand Valley, Roaring Fork finished the campaign 6-13 overall and 4-10 in the league.
