Santa Fe High, Capital expect to be in same district next season

New Mexico Activities Association plans to release new plan today

The questions have been many. Thursday will bring the answers.

The New Mexico Activities Association will release its alignment and classification plan to its member schools at 10 a.m., and administrators, coaches and players are waiting anxiously to see it — especially those at Santa Fe High and Capital. Discussions with coaches, athletic directors and administrators over the past several months helped identify some likely scenarios for Northern New Mexico schools.

So, let’s start with the two biggest schools in Santa Fe. Capital and Santa Fe High anticipate that they will be district mates once again in Class 5A in all sports, including football. For Santa Fe High, the move to 5A on the gridiron is expected to be met with open arms for a program that has not won a game since October 2014. Capital is moving up in all sports except for football and will likely end up with the Demons in a district that includes mainly Albuquerque schools.

Football is the only sport that will have a 6A classification.

Now, as for which schools those might be in non-football sports, take your pick from Eldorado, Sandia, La Cueva, Del Norte, Manzano, Valley and Highland.

In football, the picture seems more clear. It appears that the Santa Fe schools will be teamed with Los Alamos, Del Norte and possibly Valley or Highland. Santa Fe High head coach Andrew Martinez said he didn’t mind that potential district, adding that it will be a welcome respite from playing as an independent team.

“I mean, you might not be competing within a district, but you’re in a district,” Martinez said.

Meanwhile, 4A appears to include Española Valley, Taos, Pojoaque Valley and Santa Fe Indian School in a district for all sports.

Class 3A should see St. Michael’s, Santa Fe Prep, Las Vegas Robertson, West Las Vegas and Raton in a district for all sports, with the exception of Prep in football since it doesn’t have a program. Santa Fe Prep athletic director Todd Kurth said his school should be competitive in some

sports (track and field, volleyball, tennis, cross-country), but has reservations about sustaining the football and girls basketball programs. He added that the only way to find out is to see how the teams do in this new alignment.

“You’re supposed to say that you’re not in it to win championships, it’s about the experience,” Kurth said. “With that being said, you want to be competitive and feel like you have a chance. That sparks the competitive spirit in you.”

In 2A, Desert Academy, McCurdy, Tierra Encantada, Monte del Sol and Pecos appear to be dropping down from 3A, which creates a glut of small schools in the North when Peñasco, Mesa Vista, Escalante, Questa and Mora are included. It’s very likely the schools will be split among two districts.

Santa Fe Waldorf, Coronado and New Mexico School for the Deaf will remain in 1A and should remain as district mates.

In football, 2A is expected to see a significant increase in size, from seven to 20. Meanwhile, swimming will remain a one classification system, tennis will have 1A/4A and 5A, while tennis, golf and wrestling will have three classes — 1A/3A, 4A and 5A.