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Former Rams standout finishes college volleyball career

Jon Mitchell
jmitchell@postindependent.com

Landon Garvik excelled when she was a member of the Roaring Fork High School volleyball team. And the way her former coach figures, it’s no wonder she was able to excel as a Division I volleyball player.

“She’s a player who made everyone around her better,” former Roaring Fork volleyball coach Carrie Shultz said.

Garvik definitely made an impact as a college volleyball player as well, recently completing her senior season at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Not only was she one of the key players for the Colonials this season, but she was one of many former Garfield County athletes who have excelled on the collegiate stage past high school.



Garvik, an international affairs major and a former first-team, all-state player under Shultz, set career highs in sets played (76), kills in a match (12 at Duquesne on Oct. 26, 2014) and hitting percentage (.529 vs. Dayton on Oct. 11). The play of the 6-foot-1 senior was instrumental in helping George Washington finish 22-8 overall (11-3 in the Atlantic 10 Conference). The Colonials’ season ended on Nov. 23 when they suffered a four-set loss at top-seeded Dayton in the conference-title match.

Overall, Garvik finished sixth on the team with 137 kills while playing in 22 of George Washington’s 30 matches, starting 21 of them. As a senior at Roaring Fork in 2010, she finished with a season hitting percentage of .386 and had a school-record 31 kills in a match.



Other Garfield County athletes who are playing sports in college now include:

• Former Rifle High football player Ryan Moeller (6-0, 205 pounds), who just completed his freshman season playing football at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Moeller, one of Colorado’s top running backs during his junior and senior seasons at Rifle, started the Buffaloes’ final two games at free safety after starting the season No. 2 on the team’s depth chart at that position. He finished the season with 21 tackles, including a game-high 13 tackles in CU’s 44-10 loss on Nov. 22 to Oregon. One of those 13 tackles came against UO quarterback Marcus Mariota, this season’s Heisman Trophy winner who’ll lead the Ducks into the national title game against Ohio State on Jan. 12.

• Glenwood Springs native Ariana Buxman, who recently recorded her first collegiate point as a sophomore playing women’s hockey at Providence College. Buxman, a sophomore defenseman for the Friars, had an assist on a goal from freshman Blair Parent in a 2-1 loss to Brown on Nov. 28. Buxman, who graduated high school from Shattuck St. Mary’s in Minnesota, had her 19th birthday on Jan. 1.

• Three athletes with Garfield County ties are on the women’s track and field roster at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. Among them are Glenwood Springs High graduates and Mesa sophomores Ally Tapp and Monica Reynolds, and sophomore and Grand Valley High graduate Rocio Roman. The Mavericks have their first indoor meet of 2015 on Jan. 16 at Western State in Gunnison.

The Post Independent would love to hear about former athletes who are excelling beyond high school but will write articles as time and space permits. Please feel free to make submissions by email to sports@postindependent.com.


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