Denver Post staff writer Jon E. Yunt takes a look ahead at the action in high school sports:
FOOTBALL
Western Slope dandy
Tonight’s Class 4A Western Slope League game between Steamboat Springs and Palisade at Stocker Stadium is one of the many quality tilts yet to come from this league in the final five weeks. Led by quarterback Austin Hinder, the visiting Sailors are tied with Palisade and defending league champion Glenwood Springs at 3-0 atop the league.
It’s tough to find good nonleague matchups in Week 5, but there is one set for Friday night. The defending champions from Pueblo West take its 3-1 record to Montrose to play the No. 8 Indians at 7 p.m.
CROSS COUNTRY
Anna’s run
The memory of Fruita Monument runner Anna Janowitz lives on. Janowitz, whose nickname was “Anna Banana,” died in a car accident on her way to cross country practice just three days before the start of class in 2002. The sixth annual event named in her honor takes place Saturday at Grand Junction’s Connected Lakes State Park with eight teams from across the Western Slope set to compete.
Friday, the eighth annual Dave Sanders Memorial takes place at Clement Park, home of the memorial dedicated to the victims of the April 20, 1999, tragedy at Columbine.
SOFTBALL
Choice City grudge match
The season is quickly coming to a close and jockeying for a good regional seeding is on the minds of many coaches. Saturday in Fort Collins, just one week after beating a Shelby Babcock-less Legacy squad (she was away on a college visit), Rocky Mountain will have another go at its crosstown rival. Danielle Summers beat the Lambkins 8-1 in their first meeting in August. Saturday, Aubree Maul will put her 10-0 record on the line against Fort Collins.
GYMNASTICS
Trailblazing tumblers
Saturday’s Overland Invitational is what the movie business calls a tease or trailer. The 17-team field — which includes Green Mountain, Bear Creek, Fort Collins, Loveland, Rocky Mountain and Mountain Range — will be a sampling of what to expect in the final month of the regular season and leading up to the state meets Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Thornton. Three-time defending Class 5A all-around champion Hannah Bower of Loveland is still a couple of weeks from returning after suffering a broken ankle just weeks before the start of the season.
