The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Numbers over the top, across the board
Crested Butte Titans high school fall sports are bringing the preseason workouts to a close and coaches are touting the jump in numbers across the board. All three high school sports head coaches have the unique luxury of large senior classes returning, with a sizeable influx of freshmen for a healthy dose of youth and experience.
Cross-country
Coach Connie Hayden returns for her second year at the helm of the high school cross-country program. Last year, she had 14 athletes out for the fall season. This year, 26 are on board.
“I’ve been shamelessly recruiting and it seemed to take,” jokes Hayden.
The team is led by five seniors; Madeline Malzhan, Jenna D’Aquila, Erin Kelly, Hannah Smith and Jeffery Hargrove. D’Aquila, Kelly, Smith and Hargrove were tapped to be the captains and Hayden is asking for a lot of support from them.
“I’m delegating big-time,” says Hayden. “I’ve got no assistant to help out.”
During preseason, Hayden has the team focused as a whole on strength work, including core strength.
“Everyone is working on strength,” says Hayden, “increasing running efficiency.”
From there, Hayden has a mixed bag of fitness and while some athletes are working on their fitness base, others have progressed enough to get speed work in.
“Most of them are building a base,” says Hayden, “putting miles in at a nice easy pace. Some ran over the summer and have a good base coming in, which is awesome.”
In addition, the team spent a workout doing yoga in Jerry’s Gym and getting some Pilates instruction from local practitioner Juliette Eymere.
“We’re going to the spa,” jokes Hayden.
Hayden has four returning state runners this season: Juniors Shelby Kopf and Jessie D’Aquila, Jenna and state champion Kelly.
Furthermore, she has senior Smith and sophomore Amber Scott returning from an injury-shortened season last year.
“They’re both ramping back up,” says Hayden.
And, for the first time in a long time, possibly ever, Hayden has a full boys’ team with seven runners on the roster.
And last, but not least, eight freshmen are on the team, including early-season standout Ian Boucher.
“My huge surprise is Ian,” says Hayden. “He’s definitely going to be speedy.”
The team will take a day to hike to Aspen during their preseason workouts and open the season of racing in Delta on Friday, September 3.
Volleyball
While big numbers can mean a bigger pool of talent to pull from, they also mean moving into a bigger league.
The Titans spikers spent the past several years playing 1A volleyball in the Southern Peaks league. This year, due to class size numbers, they will move up into the 2A class of the Southern Peaks league.
“2A is more competitive—we have to buck up,” says head coach Marla Covey, “which is good on all levels. I’d rather play competitive. One other good thing is I finally get JV games.”
And Covey needs JV games now more than ever, with a career-high 30 girls showing up for the fall season with talent across the board. Fortunately, she has assistant coach Heather Perry back to help work the team into shape.
Covey has a couple of returning starters in seniors Karleigh Dean and Shannon Holleran. In addition, she’s looking for big roles from sophomores Cassidy Dodds and Asya Stillo, junior setter Sydney Jernigan and junior Toni Brown.
Then, there are the freshmen. Covey credits the work of the middle school coaching staff for the influx of 11 freshmen joining the team.
“There’s definitely some talent walking through the door,” says Covey. “The freshmen coming in have a higher skill level than past years.”
The proof is in the pudding though and Covey has no idea where the team will end up in the new league.
“With a new league it’s hard to know where we’ll land,” says Covey. “I would love to see us end up in the top five but it’ll be tough. They appear to want it; hopefully they’ll step it up.”
They head to Montrose on Saturday, August 28 for a series of scrimmages and will then open the regular season with a tournament back in Montrose on Saturday, September 4.
Soccer
For the first time in coach Than Acuff’s high school soccer coaching career, the Titans soccer team failed to qualify for the state tournament last year, finishing the regular season in third place.
But this year, the Titans have 11 seniors and a fresh mass of underclass talent on the roster and the hope is the Titans can muster a return appearance to the big show.
Assistant coach Mike Martin is back on board, bringing in a distinct knowledge of the game. The emphasis has been on defense thus far during the preseason.
The Titans offense has strikers senior Sam Evans and junior Luis Aguirre returning to their starting roles up top.
Senior midfielder Henry Linehan will be called upon to direct traffic, leaving junior Ben Reaman free to push forward and add to the scoring mix. Senior Mick Osmundson should continue his starting role as well, both in the middle and on the outside at midfield.
Continued underclass support should come from sophomore Jesse Reeves, who proved himself as a threat on the outside. Seniors Sky Egelhoff and Tanner Gordon will be called upon to anchor the back line, with junior Nolan Blunck and senior Kyle Hecker called upon to help form the back wall. Senior keeper Ben Frame will provide the last line of defense starting in net for his third season.
Seasoned seniors as well as a number of sophomores and freshmen will fill holes left by graduation last year.
The Titans close preseason workouts with their third annual hike to Aspen and scrimmage the Aspen Skiers on Saturday, August 28. They will open the regular season with the Classical Academy tournament over Labor Day Weekend.
