Panthers host tournament

By bobby gutierrez

RBC I Boys and girls, varsity and JV basketball teams from Meeker and Rangely and several other towns, gathered in Rangely for a round-robin tournament last weekend.
“Everybody played everybody once,” Eric Hejl, the Panthers boys’ head coach said of the tournament held at the elementary school.
Hejl said they played close against Meeker and Cedaredge but got “beat up,” by Hayden and Vernal.
“Our JV won a couple of games and it was a good opportunity for new freshmen to play games at the high school level,” Hejl said.
The Meeker boys’ team won two and lost two and Meeker’s JV team won all five games.
“I’m pleased with what they did,” head coach Klark Kindler said. “We’ve been playing for about a month and are getting a lot better.”
Both the Cowboys and Panthers have been playing games every Tuesday at Coal Ridge High School and both plan to attend another team tournament this week.
“We will play more than a season’s worth of games in a month,” Hejl said of his summer program.
The Meeker girls’ varsity team won all six of their games played at Rangely High School last week and the lady Panthers found the competition a bit tougher.
“There was some great competition,” Meeker head coach Deb Henderson said.