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Sports briefs: Women’s hockey squad runs through district tournament

Joel Reichenberger

— The Steamboat Storm women’s hockey team was at its best when it mattered the most, and that was enough last weekend at a tournament in Eagle.

The team won the Mountain Division tournament of the Women’s Association of Colorado Hockey for the second consecutive season. The Storm emerged on top in the division tournament despite entering the eight-team field as the fifth seed.

Diane Anderson and Alexa Pighini each scored once in the championship match and Susie Leeson scored three times as Steamboat skated past Vail Twin Peaks, 5-1.



That win came after a series of strong performances earlier in the tournament.

The Storm lost its opening game Friday night, falling to Breckenridge, 3-2, but rebounded Saturday. The team beat the top-seeded Eagle Divas, 4-2, thanks to goals from Anderson, Leeson, Julie Worden and Marie Winter. Later in the day, Steamboat pounded the No. 8 seed, Glenwood, 8-0. Worden scored once, Anderson and Deb Rose scored twice and Leeson scored three times in the victory.



Finally, Steamboat earned a ticket to the championship game with a 6-0 win against the Craig Puck Ewes. Leeson again scored three, while Lauren Crawford added two, and Pighini and Anderson each scored once.

Goalie Marie Menk came through with her second shutout of the weekend to propel the team into the championship game against Vail.

Steamboat track team earns high finishes

Snowed out two weeks in a row, the Steamboat Springs High School track team took advantage of a day in the sun Tuesday as it participated in a postponed track meet at Eagle Valley.

Jaime Winter led the Sailors with a first-place finish in the girls pole vault, but she had plenty of company. Steamboat athletes placed 28 times at the meet, and the boys and girls team each earned fifth-place finishes.

“Overall, it was really good for our team,” Steamboat coach Luke DeWolfe said. “We expected to see a little bit of progress, but we were surprised by how much we saw. That was great to see.”

Steamboat was strong in the track and field events.

Winter vaulted 7 feet, 6 inches to win her event. Teammate Lilly Hoff was third in the pole vault.

Jeff Sperry was third in the boys triple jump, and Carl Steele was fourth in the discus.

The team’s sprinters also performed very well. Kimberly Heald was third and Morgan Bessette fourth in the girls 100-meter dash, while Dylan Pivarnik was second, Kaelen Gunderson third, Lucas Stover fifth and Evan Hornstein eighth in the boys 100.

Heald and Gunderson also placed in the 200. Heald was fourth and Gunderson third.

Sperry was fourth and Peter Daley eighth in the boys 400. Daley also placed seventh in the 800. Brittany Long was fourth in the girls 800 and 1,600. Katherine Lynch was sixth in the 1,600. John Cutter and Gus Allen were fourth and eighth, respectively, in the boys 1,600.

Cutter, second, Allen, fifth, and Asher Rohde, eighth, all placed in the boys 3,200.

Emily Rabbitt finished third in the 300 hurdles.

Four Steamboat high school relay teams also fared well Tuesday.

Bessette, Heald, Claire Tegl and Kristina Juhlin combined to place third in the 400 relay and fifth in the 800 relay.

Sperry, Dylan Pivarnik, Lucas Stover and Jacob Brenner were fourth in the boys 1,600 relay. Cutter, Brenner, Allen and Scott Powers finished third in the 3,200 relay.

“It really was a great meet for us,” DeWolfe said. “A lot of kids had their best times and distances of the year. We saw really nice progress from the whole team.”


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