There are important events left in the spring high school sports season, but the Durango girls soccer, girls lacrosse and track and field teams did something that’ll hang in the gymnasium forever: win a league title.
The Demons girls soccer team and track and field teams won on Saturday to wrap up their league titles, while the Demons girls lacrosse team lost a nail-biter to Telluride, but still retained their league title via tiebreaker.
Fruita Monument was the final foe on the regular-season schedule for the Durango girls soccer squad. The Demons achieved their ninth shutout of the season for the 1-0 win on the road. Senior Josie Phare scored the lone goal in the second half off a free kick about 17 minutes into the second half.
Durango improved to 12-2 overall and 9-1 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League to win its second consecutive league title. The Demons beat Grand Junction Central 10-0 on Friday. Demons girls soccer head coach Zac Keeler said it was a great opportunity for a lot of his players to get a goal late in the regular season.
Phare was ready for the moment on Saturday after staying with teammates after practice to put in extra work. She worked on her free kicks many times, even from the exact spot she took it from at the top left corner of the 18-yard box.
“It feels really good,” Phare said. “It was a good way to close the year out, because after we lost to Grand Junction, we were a little bit nervous. But we finished our season off strong, and it's good to go into playoffs like that.”
Keeler complimented juniors Jensen Quenzler and Lila Scherer-Sickler for keeping possession away from Fruita. He was happy with the chances the Demons created in the first half, but Durango couldn’t find the easy shots as Fruita held the Demons outside the 18-yard box.
Durango heads into the 4A state playoffs as the No. 5 seed after dropping in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index despite beating 5A Fruita. The Demons will play No. 28 Frederick at home in the first round on Wednesday at 6 p.m. If Durango wins, it will have another home playoff game before potentially a rematch at No. 4 Lutheran in the quarterfinals. Lutheran beat Durango, 3-0, in the quarterfinals last year.
Durango and Telluride’s girls lacrosse teams seem to always match up very well, and Saturday’s 12-11 Telluride win was another example of that.
It was a back-and-forth game throughout, and Durango had the chance to tie the game with five seconds left, but the Telluride goalie made a fantastic save to preserve the home win for the Miners. The two teams split the season series after the Demons won 13-11 in Durango.
“It was a classic Telluride game, except for it was the exact opposite of the one that we played on Wednesday,” Durango girls lacrosse head coach Eric Elliot said. “We put up three goals real quick, and then they put up four goals, and we onesie, then twosied it all the way to the end. We had it tied up with a minute or so left, and they broke the tie with 30 seconds left.”
Durango dropped to 9-4 overall and 6-2 in the 4A Mountain West League, but did enough to secure its second consecutive league title. Senior Taylor Babcock led the Demons with four goals and an assist, and freshman Janelle Dingler added four goals. Junior Jody Holden finished with 13 saves in goal. Telluride improved to 8-4 overall and 6-2 in the 4A Mountain West League.
Elliot said the team struggled with turnovers, but they did a great job of utilizing junior Indie Eaton’s speed on the fast break. The Demons’ defense was down a couple of players who had family engagements, so Elliot had to shift some players into positions they weren’t used to.
“Our transition game in the last couple of games has really picked up,” Elliot said. “We're still not getting a lot of turnovers, but we're slowing the transition down enough to where our defenders get down and get set, and we haven't had too many fast-break opportunities on us in the last three, four games, which is nice to see. That wasn't the case earlier in the season.”
Durango track and field head coach Johnny Bertrand has said all season that the Demons track and field athletes have been doing what they’ve needed to do, and that culminated in a dominant showing at the Southwestern League Championships in Grand Junction on Friday and Saturday.
The Demons won both the boys and girls championships, with the girls scoring the most points ever in the league championship. The Durango boys scored 125.50 points, with Grand Junction in second with 102 points and Fruita Monument in third with 98 points. The girls won with 180 points, with Fruita Monument tied for second with Grand Junction with 82 points.
“There were so many great performances and PRs (personal records) … That’s pretty fun seeing all of those come in and kids achieving their goals they’ve been working for,” DHS track and field head coach Johnny Bertrand said. “Our girls are pretty good, so we figured they should win. Our boys team is good too, but we knew it was going to be a little bit closer.”
The athletes had beautiful conditions to compete in up in Grand Junction. Bertrand was very happy to see his athletes challenged throughout all the events. The Demons won some events, but it was the scoring in so many different places that got the Demons the title, according to Bertrand.
On the boys’ side, senior Seb Tripp won the boys 100-meter dash in 11.04 seconds. Tripp also won the 200 with a PR of 22.57.
The Durango 4x100 team of junior George Preston, Tripp, senior Grant Gordon and sophomore Hanson Long won in 43.20.
Preston won the 400 with a PR of 50.86 seconds. Preston ran even better in the prelims with a 49.71. Bertrand wasn’t even sure if Preston was going to run because he had a cold. Athletes from other schools were watching and asking Bertrand what Preston’s time was.
Fellow junior Rashad Reece was looking like he was on for a sub-16 second 110 hurdles race before he was disqualified because he didn’t leap over a hurdle. Bertrand knows Reece can bounce back at one of the last-chance meets this weekend.
“Rashad was running the race of his life in the hurdles,” Bertrand said. “You’ve got to be resilient, as we talk about with our portrait of a graduate in the school district. You’ve got to be a resilient risk taker to run close enough to the hurdles … you could’ve probably put a quarter on the top of those hurdles and he would’ve knocked it off … He was way ahead in the finals when, with three hurdles to go, he clipped it and fell.”
Senior Miles Snow set a PR in the 800 by finishing third in 1:59.68. Enea was fourth in 2:00.
Freshman Travis Hugentobler impressed by winning the 3200 with a PR of 10:01.62. Hugentobler was alone at the front for nearly the entire race, according to Bertrand. Junior Jack Purcell was third with a PR of 10:16.17, and junior Jackson Fisher was third with a PR of 10:35.24.
Bertrand complimented distance coach Michael Fadil with doing a great job with the distance runners’ endurance.
Senior Owen Cheatham finished second in the discus throw. Cheatham has recently come back from a shoulder injury, and it was the coaches who had to hold Cheatham back he was so ready to go.
“He’s just a good leader … he would come to meets, but it’s good to have him back and competing as part of the team,” Bertrand said about Cheatham. “He gave a little speech for the meet on Saturday and got the kids fired up. Before it was over, at turn 1 of the distance races, him and Oliver Clark were out there cheering them on, yelling and screaming and running back and forth. They’re great teammates and people.”
On the girls’ side, sophomore Hailey Tripp finished third in the 100 with a PR of 12.78. Sophomore Teagan Kroeger finished second with a PR of 1:01.68 in the 400.
The speedy girls 4x100 team of senior Juliana McKown, freshman Lydia Orlowski, freshman Ava McKown and Tripp won in 49.78.
Senior Aileen McManus had a PR in the 100 hurdles in 17.23 in third, right behind senior Evie Morris in second in 16.28. Freshman Kylie Williams also set a PR in 17.26 seconds. Bertrand was impressed with how Williams has progressed throughout the year and said she doesn’t get the recognition for her speed she deserves because she hurdles.
Freshman Zia Fadil won the 1600 with a PR of 5:15.95. She also won the 3200 in 11:29.67 in front of fellow freshman Rebekah Quayle’s PR of 11:45.72.
Bertrand thought Fadil ran a great 1600. She stayed behind Grand Junction Central’s Sage Siegrist, who’s going to Division I Kansas State University to run, until the final 200 before she kicked past Siegrist for the win.
Senior Oshi Reider finished second in the discus throw with a PR of 116 feet and two inches.
The Demons plan to go to the HOKA St. Vrain Invitational on Friday in Longmont to give the athletes who are on the bubble of qualifying for state another chance. The top 18 times or lengths in each event make it to state. Bertrand hopes everyone qualifies there, but if not, Durango will take athletes to Teddy’s Last Chance Qualifier in Johnstown on Saturday.
“Since we didn’t have a winter, everyone was able to train outside,” Bertrand said. “Times for the 18th place are faster than I’ve ever seen before.”
The Durango baseball team is peaking at the right time as it looks to strengthen its state rankings with playoffs less than two weeks away.
A 3-1 road win at Montrose on Friday and a 19-9 road win against Montrose on Saturday pushed the Demons’ winning streak to seven, as Durango has two massive home games against Palisade this weekend to decide the league title.
Durango improved to 16-5 overall and 7-1 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League after the two wins. Montrose dropped to 8-13 overall and 1-7 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League.
On Friday, the Demons were in a tight battle with the Red Hawks, scoring a run in the second inning and a run in the fourth inning to take a 2-0 lead going into the fifth. Montrose scored a run in the fifth, and Durango scored a run in the top of the seventh to seal the deal.
Both teams finished with seven hits, and junior Duncan Walsh led the Demons by going 2-3 at bat. Junior Coen Anderson led the Demons on the mound, finishing with five strikeouts and five hits allowed.
Durango dominated the Red Hawks’ defense on Saturday, and the Demons mercy-ruled Montrose after five innings.
The Demons had a 4-2 lead after the first inning and led 7-2 after three innings. Both teams scored seven runs in a wild fourth inning, before Durango finished the game with five unanswered runs in the fifth.
Senior Dawson McInnes went 3-3 at bat, and senior Landin “Bubba” Padilla hit a home run for the Demons.
Durango plays Palisade at home on Friday at 4 p.m. and on Saturday at 11 a.m. The Bulldogs are 18-3 overall and 6-2 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League. Palisade is the No. 1 team in the 4A CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index, and Durango is No. 2. If Durango can split the series, it will win the league.
Durango boys lacrosse had a tough final game of the season with a 19-2 road loss to Telluride on Saturday.
The loss dropped Durango to 3-9 overall and 2-8 in the 4A Mountain League. Telluride improved to 12-3 overall and 9-1 in the 4A Mountain League. Seniors Wynn Daniels and Bradin Gurule each scored a goal for the Demons.
Telluride exploded to a 7-1 advantage after the first quarter and to an 11-2 lead at the half. The Miners outscored the Demons 8-0 in the second half.
Durango missed the postseason and will lose 15 seniors. Top scorer Logan Muraro will be a senior next season.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
