Aspen High junior Greta Holton is off to the state tennis tournament on Friday.
Playoff season is either here, or on the horizon, for Roaring Fork Valley high school sports teams.
Here’s where everything stands entering today, with some important events underway this evening.
Girls lacrosse
The lacrosse playoffs got underway on Tuesday night with home games for both the Roaring Fork Rams and Aspen Skiers — and wins by the home teams.
No. 11 Roaring Fork rolled over No. 22 Rampart 15-6, with juniors Hailey Wolfe and Josie McKinley-Kitchell each scoring four goals. Nine Rams found the back of the net to set up a date with No. 6 Northfield in Denver today. The teams shared only one opponent in the regular season in Mullen, who the Rams lost to early in the season 16-14 on March 19, eight days after Northfield beat them 20-12.
In Aspen, the No. 10 Skiers held off a surge from No. 23 Telluride, who led at halftime 7-6. The Skiers previously topped the Miners by a decisive 17-5 to start the season on March 8.
Aspen survived the upset bid winning 11-9 to advance to face No. 7 Green Mountain today. The game is set for 5:30 p.m. at JeffCo Stadium. Aspen previously faced the Rams on April 18, falling 15-3 in Lakewood.
Boys lacrosse
As the No. 15 seed, Aspen pulled away from No. 18 Grand Junction early and held a three- to four-goal cushion throughout the end of the game to advance to the second round. Junior Landon Thurber scored five goals to lead the Skiers to the 10-7 victory on Tuesday night.
Aspen will face No. 2 Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs on Friday.
No. 21 Glenwood Springs faced off at No. 12 Windsor on Wednesday in the first round, trailing 12-5 in the third quarter at the time of writing.
Girls tennis
Aspen junior Greta Holton is the lone advancer to the individual state tournament in Colorado Springs. Holton was undefeated in regional play this year at the No. 2 singles position, taking the top seed in the regional playoff and advancing to the finals where she lost to Vail. She survived a playback to advance to the state tournament.
“She has been consistent all season and we are excited for her to have the opportunity to play at state,” coach Chris Kilgore said via text message.
Holton faces Sarah Daniels of Timnath on Friday morning in the first round of the state tournament.
Girls soccer
Girls soccer playoffs kick off today with three teams placing in the 3A tournament.
No. 10 Roaring Fork is the lone local host, taking on No. 23 Longmont at 5 p.m. at Carbondale Middle School. The Rams went 8-4-3 in the regular season and finished second in the WSL at 5-1-1. Longmont went 9-6 in the regular season.
No. 20 Basalt travels to No. 13 Eagle Ridge Academy after a 6-8-1 season, finishing third in the WSL at 4-2-1.
No. 30 Aspen snuck into the playoffs and will face No. 3 Kent Denver at 4:45 p.m. The Skiers went 5-9-1 in the regular season.
Boys swimming
Glenwood Springs qualified 10 boys — not including the three qualifying relay teams — to the preliminary heat sheets of the state swimming championship at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton starting today.
Eight Demons qualified for two individual events: Breck Boyd, Tucker Chinn, Connor Cooley, William Jones, Quinn McSwain, Brian Molloy, Luke Thornton and Jackson Trzcinski. Finnigan Long and Ethan Ringer each qualified for one individual event.
The Demons won the Southwest Conference Championship in Grand Junction on Friday, winning 10 of the 12 events.
Girls golf
Aspen High is prepping for its regional to be held at Cattails Golf Club in Alamosa on Tuesday. This week in the Western Slope League junior varsity championship in Grand Junction, sophomore Josie Cole won the sophomore competition outright, shooting an 85 that beat out Lyla Lancaster of Palisade.
Glenwood Springs preps for its regional at Foothills Golf Course, also on Tuesday. This week, the Demons took fourth at the Warrior Open at Tiara Rado Golf Course in Grand Junction on Monday, with sophomores Antoinette Brasier tying for eighth and Sierra Hageland tying for 10th.
Baseball
Local schools finish their final appeals to the algorithm this weekend with much on the line for state playoff seeding ahead of regionals.
In 3A, Basalt is in the most comfortable position, ranked No. 27 in the classification — which takes 32 teams to regionals. The Longhorns hosted Rifle in a non-league game on Wednesday, entering the contest at 7-12. They sit at 5-2 in league play and have a doubleheader against Delta on Saturday remaining on the schedule.
Roaring Fork sat right inside the bubble at No. 32 entering their game against Coal Ridge on Wednesday. The Rams lost that game 6-1, falling to 9-12 on the season and 4-3 in league. They play Cedaredge today and North Fork on Saturday: both at home, and both being league matchups.
Aspen has three games to prove their spot in the playoffs, ranked No. 34 entering today’s game against Grand Valley. The Skiers are 8-10-1 on the season and 3-4 in league play. After today, a doubleheader hosting Olathe wraps up the regular season.
In 4A, Glenwood Springs appears to be out of the playoff picture at 10-11, ranked No. 40. The Demons topped Eagle Valley on Wednesday and wrap the season with a doubleheader against Summit on Monday.
Track and field
Local teams took part in the Western Slope League Championship over the weekend.
In 3A, Aspen tied for fifth on the girls side and finished eighth on the boys side; Basalt girls placed eighth and boys placed sixth and Roaring Fork placed seventh on the girls side and ninth on the boys.
In 4A, Glenwood placed sixth on the girls side and fifth on the boys.
Teams have one more competition this weekend at the Dennis Teeters Tiger Invite in Grand Junction before state next week.