Volcano Vista boys, Piedra Vista girls have first-round leads in 5A
K-C’s Woods, Silver’s Alcorta shoot 67s in Class 4A boys
SANTA ANA PUEBLO – The Volcano Vista Hawks lead the Class 5A boys state golf tournament after Monday’s opening round at Twin Warriors Golf Club.
Volcano Vista’s round of 311 puts the Hawks three strokes in front of La Cueva and eight ahead of Alamogordo headed into Tuesday’s second and final round. Los Lunas (320) was hanging in, in fourth place.
Volcano Vista’s Andrew Stepien and La Cueva’s Jake Yrene – Yrene is the defending state champion – both shot 1-under 71s on Monday. Freshman Jonah Utash of Los Lunas is a shot back; he also competed later in the day for the Tigers’ baseball team in the 5A state tournament.
Dyson Wright of Alamogordo and JJ Botello of Volcano Vista are tied for fourth after carding 3-over 75s.
On the girls side, Piedra Vista shot a team score of 338 on Monday, and the Panthers sit 14 shots in front of second-place La Cueva. Alamogordo (370) is in third place.
Volcano Vista also has the lead in 5A individual girls, with Maddison Long of the Hawks finishing at even-par 72. Alyssa Rodriguez of West Mesa shot 73 and is in second place. Annie Yost of Piedra Vista is a shot behind Rodriguez.
CLASS 4A: At neighboring Santa Ana Golf Club, Albuquerque Academy’s boys (312) have a five-stroke lead on Kirtland Central and Silver, with St. Pius sitting nine shots off the lead.
There were three sub-70 rounds on Monday. Skyler Woods of Kirtland Central and Jacob Alcorta of Silver both finished with 5-under 67s, while Clark Sonnenberg of Academy shot a 69. A previous state champ in 4A, Belen’s Grady Cox, is in fourth place following a 72.
The Academy girls also lead, by 15 shots going into Tuesday. The Chargers finished at 329, with Kirtland Central in second place. St. Pius is a distant third, 25 strokes behind Academy.
Anya Parasher of Academy holds a slim one-shot lead on Belen’s Rylee Salome. Parasher shot 75 on Monday; she finished 10 shots behind Salome, the 2023 champion, at state a year ago.
CLASS 1A-3A: At New Mexico Tech Golf Course in Socorro, Mesilla Valley’s boys and Socorro’s girls are showing the way.
Mesilla Valley leads hometown Socorro by 13 shots (329-342), while the Warriors shot 403 for a nineshot lead on Texico in the girls’ 1A-3A standings.
Riley Morris of Mesilla Valley’s 75 has him in first place through 18 holes. Isaiah Silva of Socorro is two shots back.
Jazmin Leardsakulphasuk of Santa Fe Prep and Liz Elam of Texico (both at 88) share the firstround lead, with Ariana Crespin of Socorro sitting in good position four shots behind.