Fall collegiate sports will take a little longer to get started this year.
The Top 20 remain relatively unchanged the past couple of weeks. Our leader, Sandbag Sarah Keene, still leads, but she’s put on only six unique miles in July. Kate Morgan doesn’t catch her but tops her with seven new miles. Julia logs three. And Janae and Tom must be working too hard, logging no unique miles.
Yet another camp in the Gunnison Valley has been cancelled. On Sunday evening, wrestlers received the news that the Rocky Mountain Wrestling Camp — that was free, and only for locals — was canceled, due to contacts being exposed to COVID-19. Still, No one associated with Western Colorado University wrestling has tested positive. The Western Colorado wrestling club felt it was appro priate that they do not put anyone’s health and well-being in jeopardy. The camp was set to start on Monday, July 27, and come to an end on Wednesday, July 29.
The Gunnison High School (GHS) football team was back at it Monday morning, as the Cowboys reported for their first day of team camp — in preparation for their first season back as a varsity program. GHS will kick the season off on the road on Friday, Aug. 28, traveling to Calhan to take on the Ellicott Thunderhawks at 7 p.m.
Reclaiming the outdoors.
You could say that has been the theme so far for 2020. Getting outdoors has been one of the few allowable activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, with its social distancing restrictions and closures.
The work is done and the fun can begin. The newest singletrack bike trail was completed earlier this week by the Gunnison Trails crew, crossing another route off their to-do list of completing a larger trail network at Signal Peak.
Early in the 1900s, the Denver Press Club established a fishing camp five miles north of Gunnison on the Crooks Ranch, known at the time as “Cottonhurst on the Gunnison”. The June 8th, 1911 issue of the Denver Post describes the opening: “Through the courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Crooks of Gunnison the club will be accorded exclusive fishing privileges for a mile and a half along the stream, which Mr. and Mrs. Crooks control. Tents situated in a quiet grove, shady and inviting, and swings, hammocks and other similar devices will make the place as comfortable as possible. A central dining hall will be erected, and in this of evenings will be held dances and parties of various sorts. A piano will be part of the camp’s equipment. Quoits, croquet, archery, and target shooting will also be provided.”
Excitement is growing in the lacrosse community, as the Created Butte High School lacrosse team has started to prepare for their inaugural season in the spring of 2021. With the lacrosse season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team is looking to get a few practices in during the summer so they are not rusty come spring. The Titans practice at Meadows Park from 5 p.m to 6:30 p.m.
It took longer than many wanted it to, however baseball has finally returned to Gunnison High School (GHS). On Thursday, the Cowboys took on Delta High School in a scrimmage in front of fans, for what was an action packed game — after both teams knocked off the rust. GHS played their best baseball in the fourth inning, as Sam Buckhanan made quick work of the Panthers on the mound, which led to the Cowboy bats waking up in the bottom half of the inning. Matt Solanik, Skylor Wild, Nico Marchitelli, Jackson Smith and Buckhanan each reached based during the inning — with Solanik, Wild and Marchitelli coming around to score before the inning was over. GHS will be back on the diamond, Friday, July 17, as they travel to Delta to take on Buena Vista and Salida.
Even the wind couldn’t slow Emma Coburn down on Saturday, June 27, as she toed the line to compete in the 2020 Team Boss Colorado Mile at Colorado Mesa University. Coburn kept a good pace for the entire race, and turned on the burners in the final straight passing teammate Cory McGee, as she crossed the finish line in 4:32.72 — a new Colorado soil record by over four seconds. Pictured, Coburn (right) warms up with fellow Team Boss Ladies before the race. The former Colorado soil record holder Dani Jones, broke the soil record with a time of 4:36.