Steamboat Pilot & Today

The Hayden High School boys basketball team found out Sunday what exactly its regional championship victory had earned it.

The Tigers will play starting Thursday in the state basketball tournament in Colorado State University — Pueblo’s Massari Fieldhouse. The team will open the eight-team tournament as the No. 7 seed against Holyoke, 21-2 and the No. 2 seed.

The first-round game will be at 1:15 p.m. Thursday.

“They’re a good team. When the brackets came out, there weren’t really any surprises. They are a lot of good teams there,” Hayden coach Mike Luppes said. “Holyoke has a good big man and really smart guards. They’re a really good ball club.”

Hayden advanced to the state tournament with a 65-35 victory against John Mall on Saturday in the regional championship in Grand Junction.

The trip to state marks the second time in as many years a Hayden basketball squad has cracked that elite tournament. The Tigers girls squad qualified last year and went on to finish third.

The boys, meanwhile, will be making the program’s first trip since 1982, when it failed to place.

Despite being one of the field’s lowest seeds, the Tigers don’t plan on a short stay on the championship side of the bracket.

The Tigers haven’t played Holyoke, but they have seen the team the past two summers in team camps.

“They’re obviously a much higher seed than us but one I feel really comfortable with,” Luppes said. “The kids have seen them, and they know we can play with them. That’s real important for our team, to not be intimidated.

“Our guys have convinced themselves they can play with anyone that’s out there. We’re real optimistic about our chances. Now, we just have to go out, play hard and have fun.”

Oak Creek’s Tom Thurston on his way in Iditarod

Oak Creek musher Tom Thurston started his second run in the Iditarod late Sunday afternoon, charging away from the Willow, Alaska, starting line as the 67th starter, a randomly assigned slot.

He still was making his way toward the 1,150-mile race’s first checkpoint at Yentna Station late Sunday night, a 52-mile stretch. The first racers away from the Willow start already had passed through that checkpoint, paused for a short rest and pressed on toward the second checkpoint at Skwentna, 34 miles further down the trail.