Introducing the Game Plan

It was another cold, November evening at the GHS gym, one eerily reminiscent of last season. Hopes soared high for a talented Cowboy volleyball team seeking regional championship glory. Last season, the girls fell short in a 5-set loss to Colorado Springs Christian. But on Nov. 9, the Cowboys finally found redemption.

The game has already become a highlight in my two years writing sports at the Times. I sat up in the bleachers on Saturday night, and watched the Cowboys grind down Vanguard in three sets to win the regional tournament. I watched the players dogpile each other after winning the final point. The Cowboy bullpen flooded onto the court, shooting confetti into the air. Fathers hugged their daughters, and Head Coach Lindsay Hart clutched the championship plaque with tears streaming down her face.

It’s these moments that have made me fall in love with Gunnison athletics.

As for me, diving headfirst into Gunnison sports came as an abrupt detour after I graduated from Western in 2023. I spent four years in Gunnison without stepping foot anywhere near the GHS campus. I, naively, didn’t even know where the high school was, or what mysterious events happened on the west side of Main Street.

My goal was to get a degree in business administration and recreation and outdoor education, and then pursue a career in the outdoor industry. During college, I worked as a scuba diving instructor for two years, teaching kids how to dive in Honduras and the British Virgin Islands in the summer months. But a summertime long-distance relationship pulled me back to Gunnison full time. I needed to find work after college graduation, and believe it or not, the scuba industry isn’t thriving in the Gunnison Valley.

Then came a routine day at Crested Butte Mountain Resort in late November. I lapped the trees underneath the Teocalli Lift, and decided to share the lift with two other skiers. One happened to be Jacob Spetzler, the former sports editor at the Times.

“Do you like to write?” he asked.

Soon after, I was writing freelance sports stories. My first was a JV basketball game that same winter. I sat in the GHS gym for the first time, and remember watching Kaylee Vincent sink back-to-back three pointers from the corner. Jacob was taking photos across the gym, but walked over at half time.

“These kids are classic underdogs,” he said. “They just grow on you … until you can’t help but root for them.”

Now it’s been almost two years, and I love Cowboy athletics. These kids are often physically smaller than their opponents, but hit harder. Their identity lies in generations of hardy folk. They are resilient and gritty — both virtues ingrained by the ranching community and cowboy traditions of the valley.

I have loved learning each team’s story, such as softball’s hunt for a playoff win, Miles Harris’ state wrestling championship in 2024 and now this volleyball team reaching postseason glory under Hart’s tenure.

But more than anything, working alongside a coaching staff that “bleeds red and black,” according to Athletic Director Kevin Mickelson, has been truly inspiring. They make the trek across steep mountain passes for almost every away game, dodging black ice, whiteouts and erratic deer. And believe me, that’s not an exaggeration. The golf team slammed into a deer and an elk on the way to back-to-back tournaments this fall.

For the past six weeks, I’ve spent Thursday evenings in our mini “Joe Rogan style” podcast studio at the Times’ office. I had never operated a condenser microphone, or a sound board until this fall, and truly, listening back to my own voice has been a painful learning curve. Still, it has been an absolute joy to chat with coaches and players, and give Cowboy (and soon Mountaineer) athletes a new way to interact with the community.

It has been a privilege to sit down with these coaches and senior athletes, expand our sports coverage and bridge the gap between Western and the greater Gunnison community through the podcast.

The Game Plan is now six episodes in, and streaming on Spotify, Apple Music and our website gunnisontimes.com/podcasts. I hope you’ll take a listen.

(Alex McCrindle can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or alex@gunnisontimes.com.)