Musings on upcoming prep season
After spending a week talking with coaches about the upcoming 2018-19 prep sports season, they made a few impressions on what to expect.
Now, these musings have little to do with which schools should find space in trophy case, but more about looking at how classification and alignment could reverberate throughout the North, and likely the state, for the next couple of years and maybe longer. Maybe, because you never know how the New Mexico Activities Association will change things in 2020.
But’s let’s not try to look too far into the future. This year is a good start.
Toughest district: This isn’t about basketball or football: it’s across the board. It’s a toss-up between 7-2A and 2-3A. The quartet of Pecos, Texico, Santa Rosa and Clayton will spend a lot of time on the road, but beat one another up. Boys and girls basketball will be especially grueling, and volleyball and baseball should be tough.
The question for 2-3A teams (St. Michael’s, Santa Fe Indian School, Santa Fe Prep, Las Vegas Robertson, West Las Vegas, Raton) is, “What sport won’t they compete in?” On paper, the football district might have three of the top five teams in 3A, possibly the top two in volleyball, and the Horsemen faithful are excited about their prospects in boys basketball. Santa Fe Prep, which historically has been one of the top small-school track and field programs, will add depth in that sport.
The most intriguing move: Coronado opting to compete in 2A versus staying in 1A. Gone is the burgeoning volleyball rivalry with Santa Fe Waldorf, but the Leopards see things in terms of basketball. Exchanging the less than enthusiastic (and sizable) road crowds of Waldorf, New Mexico School for the Deaf and Evangel Christian for the rowdy groups from Mesa Vista, Peñasco, Questa and Mora means more at the gate for Coronado.
It also has more established rivalries with those schools than it did in 1-1A. Now if Coronado could get back into the Northern Rio Grande Conference again.
The district with the most potential: That has to be 2-4A. Start with the longstanding Los Alamos-Española Valley rivalry, add a dash of district significance to the Pojoaque Valley-Española grudgefest, add Taos into the mix and you have the makings of some serious fun — especially in basketball.
It might take a couple of years, but this district could be one in which every game could be played before packed gyms and heightened security (Hey, it’s the 2010s). Someone, warn the folks from Moriarty about what it’s about to see. Tell Terry Darnell and the folks from Bernalillo what they’re missing.
The school not named Santa Fe High that benefits the most: Academy for Technology and the Classics. ATC tasted success in track and girls cross-country, but it could see improvement in basketball in the mostly Santa Fe District 2-2A.
With a gym coming in 2019, there’s a chance the athletic program could expand into volleyball.
And that’s just in time for the anticipated move to 3A.
Of course, that’s a storyline for 2020. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.