Cheer, dance teams ready for competition

More than 140,000 fans attended hoops tourney

Scores of cheer teams and dance squads are descending on Albuquerque this weekend for the annual State Spirit Championships at the Pit.

There are 14 schools competing in the Class 6A cheer competition. Trophies also go to the winners in Classes 5A, 4A, 3A and 1A-2A.

There are also coed divisions for Classes 1A-4A and 5A-6A, and there are three divisions for dance: 6A, 5A and 1A-4A. Class 6A has 17 dance squads entered this weekend.

All cheer and dance teams will perform once today and once Saturday before the winners are announced Saturday night.

Tickets are $12 for an all-day pass, with re-entry allowed, or they are $8 with no re-entry. Military, students and seniors (65+) are $5, but there is no re-entry.

ALBUQUERQUE INVITE: The second major track and field event of the season in the metro area, the Albuquerque Invitational, begins this afternoon at Nusenda Community Stadium.

The school that swept the Buddy Robertson Invite two weeks ago — Cleveland — will not be in the field to defend either of its titles in this meet from 2015.

But Rio Rancho is entered, plus Albuquerque Academy, Sandia Prep and all of the boys and girls teams from Albuquerque Public Schools, with the exception of Manzano, which is idle this weekend.

Eight of the 14 field event finals are scheduled today, starting at 4:15 p.m. The boys and girls 3,200-meter final will be run today, as well, with two heats for each gender. The first heats are at 5:15 p.m., followed a short time later by the second heats.

The remaining six field events are Saturday morning, starting at 8:45.

The rest of the running finals are slated to begin at 9 a.m., and four of them — the 800, 1,600, 4x200 relay and 4x400 relay — will have heats.

NUMBERS UP: The New Mexico Activities Association reported total attendance of more than 140,000 for this year’s state basketball tournaments.

That number includes all first-round, campus-site games, plus the second week at the Pit, the Santa Ana Star Center and the three high school gyms: Bernalillo, Rio Rancho and Cleveland.

The 140,000 is about 10,000 more than 2015, NMAA executive director Sally Marquez said, attributing the bump to the huge crowds at the Pit.

The other regular sites — Bernalillo and the Star Center — had comparable attendance figures from last year, she

added.

The Pit drew about 90,000 fans during the second week of the playoffs, driven by the success of the Gallup girls and the Española Valley boys.

DREAM TEAM: Wrestling coaches announced their annual “Dream Team,” which is that sport’s equivalent of an All-State squad.

This year’s team is: Joseph Otero of Cleveland (106 pounds), Tyler Deen of Rio Rancho (113), Matthew Hernandez of Deming (120), Jose Tapia of Capital (126), Dylan Udero of Las Cruces (132), Wes Rayburn of Piedra Vista (138), Ryan Rochford of Rio Rancho (145), Clay Arellano of Rio Grande (152), Richard Govea of Volcano Vista (160), Kyle Snelling of La Cueva (170), Nathaniel Martinez of Belen (182), Xavier Vigil of St. Michael’s (195), Mark Hussey of Rio Grande (220), and Valencia heavyweight Isacc Lewis.

Snelling was voted Senior Wrestler of the Year. Lee Chaves of Belen and Corey Anderson of Cleveland were Co-Coaches of the Year.

SIGNINGS: Sandia boys soccer player Connor Guerrini has signed with Trinidad State Junior College in Colorado. … Former Albuquerque High swimming and water polo athlete Conor Shuey has signed a letter of intent to compete in water polo for San Jose State.