TIFFANY JEHOREK PHOTO
MEEKER | The 20th year of the Meeker Cowboy Shootout, hosted by White River Electric Association (WREA), wrapped up with Fruita Monument on top, Mancos second, Rifle third and Meeker fourth.
Selections for the all-tournament team are Cole Rogers from Meeker, Adani Hassan from Lotus School of Excellence, Evan Senhart and Caden Showalter from Mancos, and Jayce Jessup, the tournament MVP from Fruita Monument. In the three-point contest Petros Tareke from Lotus School of Excellence took home the trophy and Greyson Skeen from Fruita won the slam dunk contest, the trophies were presented by Dale Dunbar who has worked on behalf of WREA for 20 years to host this tournament.
The Cowboys ended the week playing four games and with a record of 1-3.
“We have players trying to learn new positions and roles on the team,” said head coach Klark Kindler. “To win games we have to do away with having long-scoring droughts.”
The Cowboys opened their season hosting the Coal Ridge Titans. In the 33-68 loss senior Cole Rogers led the team in rebounds and scoring with 12 points.
Meeker had three games during the shootout. In the opening game against Dolores the Cowboys came out on top 43-33. Once again Rogers was the top scorer with 19 points. Spud White had 14.
In game two the Cowboys battled Fruita, holding their own in the first half, they fell behind in the second half and couldn’t make up the difference. Still alive in the double elimination tournament they moved on to the third and final round to play for third place.
Saturday afternoon Rifle pulled ahead of Meeker early, at the beginning of the second half it was 27 to 12. Holding their own in the third quarter scoring 15-16, the game entered the game 27 to 43 Rifle, and the final score was 32-54 Rifle and Meeker finished in fourth place. Once again Rogers led in scoring with 19 points and White had 11.
“We will fine tune some things this week and get ready for a good Grand Valley team,” said Kindler. Meeker will travel to Parachute on Friday with JV beginning at 4:30 p.m., girls’ varsity at 6 and boys’ varsity at 7:30. They are then off until Jan. 4 when they will host Snake River at home.
By TIFFANY JEHOREK | Special to the Herald Times
