While the middle school girls basketball team fell short in their game against Ridgway, the high school teams have kept up their winning records. The varsity girls beat Mancos on Jan. 31, 52-18, and they also beat Dove Creek on Jan. 28, 39-31. According to MaxPreps, Lantry Galley is leading in points for the Mustangs, averaging 11.4, and Shay Snyder is leading in her field goal average of 42%. Darcy Bray is leading in rebounds with 6.7 per game, and Viviana Zunich is leading with assists, 2.1 per game.
The girls are set to play Telluride on Feb. 7 and Dove Creek on Feb. 8. The girls were 13-4 as of press time, and in the San Juan Basin League they were 6-0.
“We beat Dove Creek for the first time since 2017,” head coach for the girls, Stan Galley, told the Forum on Monday. “It was pretty exciting.”
He added the team “kind of fell apart in the last half of the fourth quarter, but still played well enough that (they) won.”
He feels the ladies are ready for Friday’s game against Telluride; they’ve already faced the Miners earlier this season. Saturday is another story, since the girls play Dove Creek yet again.
“It’s a big one this week, Saturday,” Galley said.
He said if the girls can beat the Bull Dogs again, they should be OK with the rest of their league games.
“I’m proud of the way the girls are playing, especially against Dove Creek, and the way they’ve continued to play throughout the season,” coach said.
The varsity boys basketball team also beat Mancos on Jan. 31, 63-35, though the guys fell to Dove Creek, 43-60, on Jan. 28. Brycen Rummel, according to MaxPreps, is a leader in points per game for the Mustangs, averaging 15.6, and Holten McCluer is leading the field goal average at 53%. Slade Gillen is leading in rebounds for Nucla with 10.7 per game, and Rummel is leading the assists with 6.9.
The guys are also set to play Telluride on Feb. 7 and Dove Creek on Feb. 8. They were holding a record of 12-4 as of press time, and in the San Juan Basin League they were 4-2.
Both the girls and the guys teams are combined of players from Norwood and Nucla, and the teams are classified as 1A.
High school wrestling
The Mustangs traveled for the Valley Classic Wrestling Tournament in Center, Colorado. There, the guys took ninth of 18 teams over the weekend. Paxtin Caruso was first place at 215 pounds. Jacob Davis was third at 285 pounds. David Quigley was sixth at 175 pounds, and Jace Bonacquista was seventh at 106 pounds.
Middle school wrestling
In other Mustang sports news, middle schoolers are on the mat again, and over the weekend, Lochlan Schultz, Branson McCabe, Kynnlie McCabe and Oscar Cooper all took first place in Ignacio at a tournament. Austin Shurtz and Jonah Richardson both took second place titles, and Wyatt Weimer and Owen Garvey had third-place finishes. Wyatt Rowe and Xaden Caruso took fourth, and DJ O’Connell took sixth. Dallas Wallace placed seventh. As a team, the middle school wrestlers took fifth out of 13 teams.
Club sports
Some West End students are playing club sports to make the most of their talents and high school opportunity. Shay Snyder, a Nucla Mustang and a sophomore, is playing club volleyball on the Western Slope. She’s a member of the United Volleyball Club of the Rockies, which is based in Grand Junction. The team travels from January through April for tournaments and games.
