State swimming and diving for girls happens this weekend, with Class 3A hitting the pool at the VMAC in Thornton on Friday for prelims. Diving has its turn on Saturday morning, and swimming takes center stage in the afternoon with finals.
Holyoke competed in the Patriot League championships in Fort Collins last Saturday, and they brought home a third place finish in the team standings. Summer Martin turned in the top two times in the 500 freestyle, and she also had the second best time in the 200 freestyle. Holyoke also had top five and top 10 times in all three relays.
La Junta was busy in the Tri-Peaks championships over the weekend, where they finished fifth as a team. Aurora Baiardi took titles in the 50 and 100 freestyle events.
Wrestling has reached its regional round for both boys and girls. Wray’s boys lead the way in the Class 2A North Region, that will be hosted by Northeastern Junior College this weekend. Other local squads in that region include Sedgwick County/Fleming, Byers, Merino, Yuma, Limon, Burlington, Akron, Holyoke, and Stratton.
Rocky Ford and Wiggins highlight the South Region, which will be hosted by Otero Junior College. Rye, Las Animas, Swink, Fowler, Holly, County Line, and Baca County will also be in the field, setting up some incredible brackets.
Crowley County and Trinidad will have to travel to Del Norte this weekend. They will be part of a field that includes top-ranked Centauri.
Brush is the location for the Class 3A South Region, and the Beetdiggers will be in that field. Sterling is also part of that region, that is headlined by #1 Eaton. Lamar and La Junta will be at Sierra High School for the East Region, while Fort Morgan goes to Holy Family High School for the North Region. Second-ranked Mullen leads that field.
Basketball is entering its penultimate week of play, with postseason beginning on Feb. 21st. Briggsdale is the lone unbeaten team in the Class 1A field and the Falcons host Lone Star on Tuesday in a clash of teams that will likely have first round byes in the North Region in three weeks time. Briggsdale also has another huge non-league tilt on Saturday, when the Falcons host 2A Sedgwick County. Briggsdale beat both of those opponents in December.
McClave, Kim/Branson, and South Baca continue to lead the way in the south, as all three are unbeaten in their respective leagues. McClave owns a win over the other two, as well as quality league wins over Kit Carson and Cheyenne Wells. Kim/Branson hosts South Baca on Friday, with the winner likely securing the title in the Ark Valley.
Holyoke has almost locked up the LPAA league crown after last week’s wins over Yuma and Merino. The Dragons close out with league games against Wiggins, Akron, and Caliche. They were the #1 team in Class 2A last week, with league rivals Sedgwick County and Wiggins also holding top ten rankings.
Rye is the only team in the classification without a blemish as they moved to 17-0 with wins over Swallows Charter, Hoehne, and Fowler last week. The Thunderbolts see Hoehne again on Tuesday. Standout senior twins Sophie and Sydney Adamson have both gone over the 1000 career point mark this season, and they are combining for close to 40 points a night.
Limon can close out a perfect run through the Union Pacific with a win over Byers on Friday. The Badgers saw their own senior star, Trista Marx, go over the 1000 point plateau in her career just over a week ago. She’s averaging a little over 17 points a game this season.
Lamar and La Junta are both over .500 in Class 3A, but both find themselves in the middle of the pack in the Tri-Peaks. Vanguard, St. Mary’s, and Colorado Springs Christian were all in the top 10 last week, and Ellicott, who sits fourth in the league, and Lamar also received votes.
Brush and Sterling are both looking up at a number of teams in the Patriot League, and it looks like both will need to catch lightning in a bottle to make postseason runs.
Granada improved to 14-0 on the season with wins over Kit Carson and Walsh last weekend. The Bobcats are one of two unbeatens in Class 1A boys, along with Sierra Grande. The final two weeks of the regular season will see the Bobcats face tough match-ups against Kim/Branson, Cheyenne Wells, Wiley, and McClave.
Briggsdale suffered its first loss of the season in a 69-64 decision against Haxtun last Tuesday. The Falcons still lead the North Central and are in line to be the top seed for the District 4 tournament, but Haxtun is heating up, having won four of its last five. The Bulldogs have LPAA games with Akron, Merino, and Wiggins still on tap. Wins over Sedgwick County and Holyoke last week kept Merino tied with Yuma atop the LPAA standings. Those two meet on Thursday.
Yuma will take a 10-game winning streak into that contest with Merino, but the Indians very nearly saw that streak snapped by Holyoke on Friday. Clay Robinson, who recently went over 1000 career points and 500 career rebounds, hit the game-winner with just a couple seconds remaining to beat the Dragons 41-39.
Limon can lock up the Union Pacific crown with a win over Byers, but the Badgers got a scare of their own last Saturday at Burlington. Limon had to work overtime to beat the two-win Cougars 55-52.
Fowler had sole possession of the lead in the Santa Fe heading into last week, but after falling to Rye, the Grizzlies are now tied with the Wildcats for first place. Holly will step out of league play on Saturday to host Cheyenne Wells in an intriguing clash of teams that have been ranked in their respective classes during the season.
Sterling saw its winning streak snapped at 11 by Resurrection Christian last Friday, as the Tigers fell by a 56-53 count. The loss dropped the Tigers to second place in the 3A Patriot League.
La Junta has dropped two straight and sit 10th in the Tri-Peaks. Rival Lamar brought a six-game skid into the week, and sits right behind the Tigers. They play next Wednesday.
Class 4A Fort Morgan had won three straight before dropping a 54-49 heart breaker to Roosevelt last Saturday. The Mustangs are 4-4 in the Longs Peak and they began the week 29th in the RPI in the classification.
