{"id":2454377,"date":"2020-02-10T22:50:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T05:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=320705"},"modified":"2020-02-10T22:50:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T05:50:00","slug":"colberts-prep-playbook-ahs-swim-off-to-state-to-kickoff-championship-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/colberts-prep-playbook-ahs-swim-off-to-state-to-kickoff-championship-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Colbert\u2019s Prep Playbook: AHS swim off to state to kickoff championship season"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.5197889182058\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-320705-739\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/prepcolumn-atd-021120-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/prepcolumn-atd-021120-1-1024x678.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Andy Bockelman\/Craig Press | The Aspen High School girls basketball team plays at Moffat County earlier this season.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>The Aspen High School girls basketball team plays at Moffat County earlier this season.<\/strong><br \/>Andy Bockelman\/Craig Press<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/prepcolumn-atd-021120-1-1024x678.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"The Aspen High School girls basketball team plays at Moffat County earlier this season.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/prepcolumn-atd-021120-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/prepcolumn-atd-021120-1-1-681x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Photo by Anna Stonehouse | Aspen Times sports editor Austin Colbert\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Aspen Times sports editor Austin Colbert<\/strong><br \/>Photo by Anna Stonehouse<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/prepcolumn-atd-021120-1-1-681x1024.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Aspen Times sports editor Austin Colbert\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/AHSswimming-atd-121219-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/AHSswimming-atd-121219-3-1024x576.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Aspen High School swimmer Laila Khan-Farooqi trains last season at the Aspen Recreation Center pool. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Aspen High School swimmer Laila Khan-Farooqi trains last season at the Aspen Recreation Center pool. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/AHSswimming-atd-121219-3-1024x576.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Aspen High School swimmer Laila Khan-Farooqi trains last season at the Aspen Recreation Center pool. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/colberts-prep-playbook-ahs-swimming-heads-to-state-to-kickoff-championship-season\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/colberts-prep-playbook-ahs-swimming-heads-to-state-to-kickoff-championship-season\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Championship season is here. First up is swimming. Then in consecutive weeks we have wrestling and skiing, not to mention basketball and hockey playoffs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The grind of the regular season can be just that, but with the postseason comes this renewed vigor. I, for one, can\u2019t wait for the upcoming couple of weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Here\u2019s what to watch for the next few days in the local prep world:<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">SWIMMING<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The season has come down to two days for the Aspen High School girls swim team. The Skiers will compete in the Class 3A state championship Friday (prelims) and Saturday (finals) at the Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center in Thornton.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-high-girls-swimming-season-gets-going-with-new-coach-katherine-keel\/\">first-year coach Katherine Keel<\/a>, AHS has five individuals qualified for state in Emily Kinney, Ava Cherry, Laila Khan-Farooqi, Lilly Huggard and Kayla Tehrani. Each is qualified in two events. The team also has two relays qualified.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Despite a small roster, Aspen will be a contender in Thornton. In the final CHSAANow.com poll before state, AHS came in at No. 4 in Class 3A, behind only top-ranked Evergreen, No. 2 Salida and No. 3 Glenwood Springs. AHS won the inaugural 3A championship in 2017 before finishing eighth in 2018 and fourth in 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">WRESTLING<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The state wrestling tournament begins Feb. 20 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Before this, the Basalt High School wrestling team will have to battle its way through its Class 3A, Region 1 tournament Friday and Saturday in Montrose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The 14-team regional includes some heavy-hitters in Alamosa, ranked No. 3 in 3A as of Jan. 31, and No. 5 Pagosa Springs. The top four finishers per weight class will move on to compete at the Pepsi Center.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Basalt\u2019s lone state qualifier in 2019 was then-junior Ernesto Lopez. The heavyweight lost in the first round but did win once on the backside of the bracket. Lopez, who is 26-3 this season according to trackwrestling.com, is a pretty good bet to get back to state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Of course, junior Ruben Samuelson has been the star this winter. Wrestling at 170 pounds, Samuelson is 36-0 and can start dreaming of more than simply a podium at regionals. Junior Jose Castorena (182 pounds) also has a winning record this season and should contend for one of those four spots at regionals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">SKIING<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">We are two weeks away from state skiing. The Aspen High School alpine and nordic teams both swept their home meets this past week, which is pretty exciting with state so close.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">AHS alpine has a slalom in Loveland on Friday to close out the regular season, while the nordic team has one final classic race Saturday in Steamboat Springs. The state championship is Feb. 27 and 28, with alpine events taking place at Beaver Creek and nordic events at Maloit Park in Minturn. Battle Mountain High School in Edwards will host the dinner and awards banquet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Aspen boys have won two straight state championships, while the girls won it all as recently as 2018. They were runner-up in 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">BASKETBALL<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">We\u2019re down to the final two weeks of basketball\u2019s regular season. AHS and Basalt close it out against each other Feb. 21 in Aspen before jumping into the district play-in games that following Monday. Teams essentially need to make the district championship game for a spot in the 32-team state tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Before that regular-season finale in Aspen, the Skiers will make a trip to Cedaredge on Tuesday, a trip to Coal Ridge on Friday and a trip to Delta on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Basalt will host Roaring Fork on Wednesday night, a game that was rescheduled from last week because of the winter storm, and host Olathe on Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The BHS boys, BHS girls and AHS girls are all but assured of playing in the play-in game of the district tournament. The AHS boys are right on the bubble of finishing top six in the 10-team league to advance straight to the district quarterfinals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">HOCKEY<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">We also have about two weeks left in the hockey season. As it stands, Aspen has a home game Friday against Mountain Vista and a Feb. 22 trip to Glenwood Springs and that\u2019s that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">At 3-9-3 overall and sitting fourth in its six-team conference, Aspen\u2019s playoff hopes continue to sit on thin ice. AHS was <a href=\"https:\/\/chsaanow.com\/rpi\/hockey\/\">holding firm at No. 23 in RPI<\/a> as of Monday night, so snagging one of those 24 playoff spots remains very much possible. The state tournament bracket should be announced Feb. 23.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/colberts-prep-playbook-ahs-swimming-heads-to-state-to-kickoff-championship-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Aspen High School girls basketball team plays at Moffat County earlier this season.Andy Bockelman\/Craig Press Aspen Times sports editor Austin ColbertPhoto by Anna Stonehouse Aspen High School swimmer Laila Khan-Farooqi trains last season at the Aspen Recreation Center pool. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Show CaptionsHide Captions Championship season is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 16:26:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}