Fall season sports wrapped up this past weekend for Ignacio High School, with 62 athletes in grades nine-12 participating in football, volleyball, or cross country. There were many accomplishments that took place in each sport.
Football season wrapped up at the end of October with an overall record of 4-5. They finished third in the 1A South Central league with a record of 3-2 in league play. All Conference Honors for the South-Central League will be announced once state football has concluded.
Cross Country wrapped up its season at the end of October as well. Cross Country had an outstanding season with a young team. The boys’ team finished fourth at 2A Region 4 Regional meet to qualify for state. During that Regional race, two of our male athletes qualified individually to compete at the state meet. Freshman Cayson Burcham and Sophomore James Martin placed fifth and 12th respectively at the regional meet. This earned Cayson and James 2023 San Juan Basin League (SJBL) All Conference Team members. Judah Ashley finished 28th place overall at the regional meet earning him 2023 SJBL All Conference Honorable Mention.
With Cayson Burcham finishing fifth overall at the regional meet, he also earned the honor of the SJBL Male Runner of the Year. With three of our athletes winning all conference honors and our boys team qualifying for state, Karri McCarter earned the boys team Coach of the Year. At the state meet, the boys team finished 17th overall.
Volleyball finished their season this past weekend at the state tournament and had some amazing accomplishments this season. A third-place finish in the SJBL with an overall record of 8-3. With an overall record for the season of 21-8, the girls went to Region 9 for the Regional Volleyball tournament at Vail Christian High School. The girls had to battle Vail Christian and Byers to take the upset and win Region 9.
This past weekend the Volleycats competed at the state tournament and accomplished a feat that hasn’t been done since 1987 in a girl’s sport, they won a game at the state tournament and actually won two total games this weekend. They beat the #9 seed Meeker in the opening round of the tournament and then were defeated by Wiggins, the team that won the state championship. On Friday morning they faced off against Swink and defeated them in four sets, but ultimately lost to Strasburg to be eliminated from the tournament. For this outstanding season, three young ladies received all conference honors in the SJBL. Senior Solymar Cosio earned 2023 SJBL First Team All-Conference honors. Freshman Kelly Sirios and Junior Ollyvia Howe earned 2023 SJBL Second Team All-Conference honors. All State honors will be released on Nov. 14.
Winter sports began with the first official practice on Nov. 13 and a winter sports parent meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Commons.