Local high school sports teams, college sports teams and professional athletes have a lot to be proud of as the calendar flips from 2024 to 2025.
Durango High School saw its hockey team win its first state championship. The Demons had plenty of teams make the state playoffs and represented themselves well.
Teams from Bayfield High School and Ignacio High School also made the state playoffs and a few teams had some fantastic upset victories.
Fort Lewis College had some successful teams in 2024, like its men’s basketball, women’s cross country and men’s soccer squads.
Local mountain bikers and gravel racers had a fantastic 2024. Durango natives Riley Amos, Christopher Blevins and former FLC cyclist and Durango resident Savilia Blunk represented Durango and the United States in mountain biking at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. Multiple Durangoans raced on the 2024 Life Time Grand Prix gravel series and competed well.
Let’s take a look back at each month of 2024 to see what the top stories and moments of the year were.
January: Ryan Dugan wins the Doc Wright Invitational
Durango High School boys wrestler Ryan Dugan had many impressive victories last season at 120 pounds. One of those was at the Doc Wright Invitational on Jan. 13.
Dugan was one of two Demons to place at the Doc Wright Invitational in Winslow, Arizona, a tournament with a heightened competition level. He beat Zemira Wilhelm of Show Low, Arizona, with a spectacular throw with 10 seconds left in the match to score five points and win the match.
A junior at the time, Dugan didn’t achieve his goal of becoming state champion. He’s back for his senior season and is a contender again for a state title.
February: Durango basketball teams lose in first round of playoffs
In the 2022-2023 season, Durango boys basketball finished 7-16 overall and out of the state playoffs while the girls finished 23-3 overall and in the state final four. In the 2023-2024 season, the teams were more similar as each squad lost in the first round of the state playoffs.
The Durango girls team lost a generational player to graduation in Mason Rowland so the 2023-2024 season was a rebuild of sorts with a new coach Lauren Moran. The Demons also dealt with numerous injuries and never had a healthy roster the entire season.
Despite those obstacles, Durango scrapped together a 10-13 overall record with some good defense. But the Demons met their match on Feb. 20 at Vista Peak Prep and lost 53-35 in the first round.
The boys team bounced back after a poor 2022-2023 season with size and athleticism in 2023-2024. Freshman forward Donovan Whitehead and senior center Jacob Neubert were an imposing duo inside and guards Noah Miles and Zach Unruh provided some scoring from outside.
Durango finished the season 11-12 overall after a 74-39 loss at Dakota Ridge on Feb. 21 in the first round of the state playoffs.
March: Durango High School hockey wins first state championship
The Durango ice hockey team caught fire the last few months of its season and never looked back. After starting the season 2023-2024 season 2-5 overall, the Demons finished the season 12-1 overall and lost their last game on Feb. 1.
Durango was led by a talented group of seniors on the offensive end. The Demons scored at least four goals in their last six games, including a 4-2 win over Summit in the 4A state championship on March 5.
It was the first state championship for the Demons’ hockey squad and the first state championship for the school since 2020.
April: Christopher Blevins wins UCI Mountain Bike World Cup race in Brazil
Durango’s Christopher Blevins showed why he’s one of the top United States mountain bikers early on in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series with a win in Mairiporã, Brazil on April 14 in the men’s elite cross-country race.
Blevins won the seven-lap race around the 4.46-kilometer track with 231 meters (758 feet) of elevation ascent in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Blevins beat his Specialized Factory Racing teammate Victor Koretzky of France by two seconds. The Durangoan beat out 94 other riders who finished the race.
It was the highlight of Blevins’ World Cup season as it was his only win of the 2024 season.
May: Cobe Freeburn, Lauren Aggeler win Iron Horse Bicycle Classic
The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic is a staple in the Durango community and the races on May 25, 2024, were an example of why.
Durangoan Lauren Aggeler won a thrilling women’s race for her first Iron Horse victory of her young career. She came from behind late to beat Erin Osborne in the closing stages.
Fellow Durango native Cobe Freeburn won the men’s race for the first time after pulling away from the chasing pack for an easy victory.
June: Wil Collins dominates Navajo Trail Open
Former professional golfer Wil Collins put on a show at Hillcrest Golf Club on from June 14-16. He won the Navajo Trail Open for the second consecutive time with a record-breaking score of -18-under par.
Collins put on a shot-making and putting display for the fans following him on the course. The 45-year-old rarely put a foot wrong battling players half his age for the $8,000 prize.
July: Riley Amos, Christopher Blevins and Savilia Blunk compete at Summer Olympic Games in Paris
Amos, Blevins and Blunk lived out millions of kids’ dreams by being Olympians this summer in Paris. Amos and Blevins represented Durango and the United States in the men’s mountain biking race and Blunk represented Durango and the United States on the women’s side.
On July 28, Blunk raced against the best in the world in the women’s cross-country race and finished in 12th. She had a poor start from the front row and battled back to 12th.
Amos had the opposite start on July 29 compared to Blunk’s. He raced to the front of the field and led for a short distance early on. Amos faded but still came in seventh, which is the highest finish of any male American mountain biker in Olympic history.
Blevins had bad luck and had a flat tire in the middle of the race which ruined his chances. He battled back to finish 13th.
Amos, Blevins and Blunk have a great shot at representing Durango and the United States in the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
August: Sean Johnson wins World Long Drive World Championship
Golf is a game of inches, feet and yards, whether someone’s playing 18 holes with their buddies or for a championship. On Aug. 11, Durango’s Sean Johnson won the World Long Drive World Championship by a yard in Atlanta.
Johnson, 30, moved to Durango when he was six years old and lived there until he went to Colorado Springs for high school hockey. He played baseball in college at Ole Miss. His parents still live in Durango.
He won the championship with a 411-yard drive. Johnson quit his job selling wine in California about a year ago to coach baseball in North Carolina and to be closer to his long drive coach Bobby Peterson.
September: Fort Lewis football snaps 40-game losing streak with win over Arizona Christian
It seemed like it would never end. Fort Lewis College seniors hadn’t seen the Skyhawks football team win a game. Until Sept. 14 when FLC played Arizona Christian.
The Skyhawks beat Arizona Christian 17-12 at home to break their 40-game losing streak that went back to Oct. 5, 2019.
FLC looked like the best team all day long. They controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball the whole game. It was head coach Johnny Cox’s first win as the leader of the Skyhawks program.
But FLC wasn’t done there. The Skyhawks won three games in 2024 and should compete for more wins in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in 2025.
October: World title boxing comes to Durango with Ramos vs. Hernandez fight
World title boxing was back in Durango on Oct. 12 inside the La Plata County Fairgrounds in Durango for the LBF (Legends of Boxing Federation) Super Middleweight (168 pounds) Championship. Jeremy Ramos faced off against Andrew Hernandez under the lights for 12 rounds for the title.
There had been weeks of lead-up to the fight. The fighters posed for pictures inside Sky Ute Casino, on the train at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Museum and in other local spots. Fans were given a controversial split decision and Ramos was declared the victor to the surprise of some fans and Hernandez’s corner.
Regardless of that decision, the fight card was full of great action and entertainment for fans. Professional boxing in Durango isn’t going anywhere.
November: Both Skyhawks soccer teams make it to RMAC tournament championships
For the first time since 2009, the men’s and women’s soccer teams at FLC both made it to the RMAC tournament championships. But FLC fans were disappointed to see both teams lose in the championship game.
The women’s soccer team went on a magical run as the No.7 seed in the RMAC tournament. The Skyhawks won two games in penalty kicks before losing to Colorado School of Mines, the No. 1 team in Division II, 1-0 in the championship game on Nov. 16. The women finished their season 9-6-6 overall.
FLC men’s soccer was ranked in the top 25 of Division II for almost the entire season and nearly won the RMAC regular season title. So it was no surprise FLC, finally healthy in the postseason, advanced to the RMAC tournament championship game to face CSU Pueblo. The Skyhawks lost 2-1 on Nov. 16.
December: FLC men’s soccer makes it to NCAA tournament quarterfinals
The Skyhawks’ season didn’t end after losing to CSU Pueblo in the RMAC tournament finals. FLC made it to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year and made it further than in 2023.
FLC avenged their 2023 loss to Midwestern State with a 2-0 win in the third round. But in the quarterfinal, the Skyhawks faced CSU Pueblo and lost 1-0 on Dec. 7. to end their season 14-4-6 overall.
bkelly@durangoherald.com