Summer all-star exhibitions canceled
Mabrey: Decision wasn’t hard, but still was sad
For the first time since 1945, the state’s top athletes won’t have a shared arena.
Buster Mabrey, the executive director of the New Mexico High School Coaches Association, on Thursday announced the cancellation of this year’s prep AllStar games in football, boys and girls basketball, volleyball, and boys and girls soccer. Soccer was a new addition.
The games, originally scheduled for early June in Las Cruces before being rescheduled for July in Albuquerque, bring together top athletes from all areas of the state. But not this year. “It wasn’t a hard decision,” Mabrey said. “It was just a sad decision.”
In deference to the coronavirus, the games were pushed back about six weeks to Albuquerque, with organizers hoping the contests could be played.
“It just became obvious … it doesn’t look like they’re going to allow large congregations of people,” Mabrey said. “Honestly, I think in the back of our minds, we’ve always known we were kind of in trouble. We were hanging on to the hope that we could play those games.”
Starting in 2021, there won’t be the traditional North vs. South format, but Mabrey said he wasn’t yet sure what form the games would take a year from now. “We have some good ideas,” he said. Mabrey also will be taking a reduced salary due to COVID-19. “We need a shot in the arm.”
The other casualty related to the NMHSCA is the loss of the in-person coaches’ clinic, which brings together a huge number of the state’s coaches in every sport. WISCONSIN TO WESTERN: The first college Highland High guard Tommy Huynh chose to attend closed recently. The coronavirus was a contributing factor to the shuttering of Holy Family College in Wisconsin, not far from Green Bay. But the 5-foot-9 guard, who played four varsity seasons for the Hornets, has found a new home. And it is closer
to home.
Huynh announced on his Twitter account earlier this week that he has committed to Western New Mexico in Silver City, joining a couple of other top guards in the state, Atrisco Heritage’s Joziah Ramos and Las Cruces’ Rayshawn Brown.
PROBABLY NOT: It is unlikely that Clovis senior running back Jeston Webskowski will attend Football University’s Top Gun Camp in Florida next month, Wildcats coach Cal Fullerton said.
The 6-foot, 185-pound Webskowski rushed for 1,700 yards and 27 touchdowns last season.
THIS AND THAT: Former Clovis High standout Danni Williams will continue her basketball career in Spain, for AE Sedis Basquet. … Pecos last week announced that Arthur Gonzales will become its new boys basketball coach. … Rio Rancho High football player Cayden Romero has received his first Division I offer, from the University of New Mexico. Romero will be a junior this upcoming season. … Farmington High track and field athlete Kiara Quezada has signed with UNM.