Cibola’s Chavez shows his stuff at elite camp
Sophomore quarterback ranked nationally for Class of 2023
Aden Chavez had his own type of Vegas trip last weekend.
Cibola High School’s superb sophomore quarterback was in Las Vegas last weekend to participate in Under Armour’s Elite Underclassmen Showcase.
The camp helps to serve as a way for ESPN to rank recruits, and camp video of each participant is being sent to every Division I coach.
“I personally thought I did good,” said the 6-foot5, 191-pound Chavez, who enjoyed a stellar freshman season as the Cougars’ varsity quarterback, with 1,493 passing yards (completing 71% of his attempts) and 13 touchdowns in six games last season. He missed the second half of the season with a knee injury. “I think I had one of the best footwork (of any QB) there). My form was good, my throws were good.”
Chavez said he threw about 50 passes during the one-day camp. He estimated there were 50-75 quarterbacks at the camp from the classes of 2022, 2023, 2024 and even 2025.
Chavez earlier this year was rated as No. 37 among the top-200 pro-style QBs nationally in the Class of 2023 by QBHitList.com.
Chavez said he has added about 15-20 pounds to his frame since last season. One of his new targets in the Cibola offense will be Nathan Lopez, who has transferred from Highland, Chavez said. Lopez, a junior, was a standout for the Hornets last season.
OPENINGS: Albuquerque Public Schools has posted its volleyball, golf and cross country schedules for this fall.
Volleyball’s opening night is Tuesday, Oct. 13, with these matches: Albuquerque Academy at La Cueva, Cibola at Valley, Del Norte at Albuquerque High, Manzano at Highland, Rio Grande at Atrisco Heritage and Sandia at Volcano Vista. West Mesa and Eldorado open Oct. 15.
For cross country, the first mini meets of the season are either Oct. 16 or 17, with AHS, Atrisco Heritage and Cibola hosting.
Each of the host APS schools will have to choose a date (Friday or Saturday), and then a location. It is expected, one coach told the Journal, that Atrisco Heritage’s meet will be the first, on Friday, Oct. 16, using a course around Nusenda Community Stadium.
For APS, the first few meets on the schedule will include all levels. The last one is expected to be for varsity runners only.
The first fall golf tournaments for APS schools are Oct. 12 at Arroyo del Oso.
NEW NET MINDER: The dominant Albuquerque Academy boys tennis program has a new coach. Mike Cheves, a longtime Chargers assistant coach and an Academy graduate, replaces Ray Jaramillo, who stepped down this year. The Chargers have won 17 consecutive state championships and were named by MaxPreps. com as the nation’s top program from the previous decade.
VALLEY UPDATE: Principal Anthony Griego said Friday Valley has begun the process of advertising the boys basketball coaching opening created by the retirement of Joe Coleman.
Griego said he could not rule out the possibility that the Vikings might be forced to go with an interim coach for next season, given the lateness of the vacancy. Longtime Coleman assistant EZ Panas is likely a front-runner in that scenario, but he’d be among the top candidates in any search.
Also, Mike Huston will be the interim athletic director at Valley, Huston confirmed Friday. Huston is leaving his job as girls basketball coach at Bosque School, and he also is a former boys hoops head coach at Del Norte and head girls basketball coach at Eldorado.
CALLING ALL BURNT ORANGE: Eldorado once had a club that honored the best in athletics, but Eagles athletic director Roy Sanchez said it disappeared in the early 1990s. The school is bringing back its Athletic Hall of Honor, and the school is taking nominations for deserving athletes that competed at Eldorado from 1993-2006.
Those who’d like to nominate someone are asked — by Nov. 1 — to email Sanchez at sanchez_ roy@aps.edu. There is a nomination form on the Eldorado website (eldorado.aps.edu) on the athletics link.
NEW, BUT FAMILIAR: As Los Lunas prepares to move into the state’s largest classification in baseball (5A), the Tigers have a new coach in Paul Cieremans. He was Los Lunas’ softball coach for 17 years before sitting out last year.