Battle Mt High School womens volleyball team sends a message to the Front Range

Vail’s Battle Mountain High School womens volleyball team served notice to Front Range High Schools that the little towns on the Western Slope have athletes as well.

Front Range volleyball powerhouses have ruled since anyone can remember.  Last year however a West Slope team from an unheard of High School (Battle Mountain) served notice there is strong talent West of the Front Range when they handed the State Champions their only loss in a match and kept it very close in the rest of the match.  Battle Mt then went on to a tie for 3d place at the State Championships.

Front Range sports writers started asking "who are these guys?"  These same sports writers really took notice when they learned Battle Mt had no seniors on the team, had an impressive win loss record and a deep pool of talent.  The sports writers rightly ranked the Huskies #2 for the 2006 season.

During the 2006 season the front range press kept the hype alive as to just when #1 would meet #2 and who would be the better team. 

The showdown finally occured at the State Championships.  The #1 team had one loss coming into the playoffs, Battle Mountain Huskies had one loss coming into the playoffs.  Both teams had swept their District playoffs and both teams had swept their regional playoffs.  The scene was set for the top two teams to meet in the finals.  But wait a minute, the organization that seeds the teams seeded Battle Mt 4th because they came from the West Slope where the teams are considered inferior to the Front Range teams.  By being seeded 4th, that put Battle Mt in the same pool as the #1 team which meant the two teams would meet in the final match of pool play. The press had a feild day with the decision to seed Battle Mt 4th questioning the wisdom of those who were involved with the seeding. 

On the morning of the long anticipated show down most all of the fans at the arena had crowed into seats in the immediate area to watch.  There were 4 radio stations there to cover the event as well a 6 or more newspapers.

The rest is history, the match was arguably the best match played at the Championships and definitely lived up to a years worth of hype.  Battle Mountain was  clearly the better team taking the match in 3 close games then moving on the through the semi finals and finals winning both matches in 3 games. 

By sweeping the Championships there is no longer any doubt who is the best team in the State or from which side of the Continental Divide it comes from.  By winning the State Championships outright Battle Mountain High School sent a clear message to the High School Athletic Association that West Slope teams have arrived.  Oh, did I mention the Battle Mt High School volleyball team was also selected as the Athletic Academic All State 1st Team with a combined GPA of 3.75.  Athleticism, brains and beauty from the West Slope, go figure.

jnichols@gatewayland.com

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