Week in sports
James Yodice covers the exploits of teams and individuals in Rio West area
Cleveland’s boys and St. Pius’ girls were the champions Monday at the inaugural “Shootout in the Desert” golf tournament at The Canyon Club in Albuquerque.
The Storm boys shot a round of 304 and beat Piedra Vista by 19 strokes.
The Sartan girls’ 353 was 12 shots ahead of Cleveland.
Cleveland’s Jacque Galloway, with a 2-under 70, took medalist honors by four strokes over St. Pius’ Ashlee Garrett. Elexiss Gutierrez of Cleveland was fifth individually.
The Storm’s Alejandro Armijo shot 72, edging teammate Corey Haught by a shot to capture the boys’ tournament. Aidan Thomas of St. Pius tied for fifth, with a round of 77.
Cleveland’s boys the next day went to Roswell and won the Coyote Classic at Nancy Lopez Golf Course at Spring River, which is also the host course for next month’s state tournament.
The Storm shot 305, 20 shots better than Hobbs. Rio Rancho tied for third.
All of the Rio West schools (except Bernalillo and Bosque School) will be competing Monday at the Albuquerque Metro Championships at Desert Greens Golf Course in Paradise Hills.
Track & Field
Rio Rancho’s boys and La Cueva’s girls had team wins last Saturday at the Rams’ Invitational meet.
The boys scored 137½ points, with Volcano Vista (110) in second place. La Cueva had 115 points, nearly 20 ahead of the secondplace Rams (95½). Volcano Vista was third in the girls’ standings.
Boys individual event winners from Rio West schools were: David Cormier of Volcano Vista in the 100 and triple jump; Blaine Grant of the Hawks in the 200 and long jump; Irvin Onyia of Rio Rancho in the 400; Jacob Jenkins of the Rams in the 800; Devin Paredes of Rio Rancho in the 1,600; Chase Hawkins of the Rams in the 3,200; Josh Foley of Rio Rancho in the 110-meter hurdles; Sequoyah Cleveland of Volcano Vista in the 300-meter hurdles; Keshawn Banks of the Rams in the shot put and discus; Dominic Vaught of the Hawks in the javelin; and Korrin Williams of Rio Rancho in the pole vault.
Girls individual event winners from the area were: Taylor Butler from Rio Rancho in the 800; Alliana Atencio from the Rams in the 3,200; Kamirah Decker from Rio Rancho in the shot put and discus; Samantha Carr of the Rams in the javelin; and Jazarae Van-Zile in the pole vault.
The Storm Relays were held the previous day at Cleveland. The boys and girls both finished first in the team standings. The boys scored 122 points, with Academy (89) in second place. Cibola placed fifth, and won both the triple jump and high jump relays. Cleveland won seven events.
The Cleveland girls scored 140 points, nearly twice that of Academy’s 73. Cibola was third.
The Storm had event wins in the shot put, long jump, triple jump, all four relays, 1,600, 3,200, 300 hurdles and shuttle hurdles.
Cleveland’s girls were in Clovis on Thursday for the Wildcat Relays, and the Storm won the meet for the seventh straight year, this week totaling 141 points with 10 event victories.
Sarah Mackin, who earlier this week signed her national letter of intent to compete at the University of New Mexico, won both hurdles. Amanda Mayoral captured both the 800, which is not usually part of her repertoire, and the 1,600. Other winners were Caitlin Barnard in the long jump, Liz Davis in the high jump and Aphiniti Crupper in the 200. The Storm also won three relays.
Next week is a big week for local prep athletes. Many of the top performers from the area will be at the Marilyn Sepulveda Invitational on Monday afternoon at the University of New Mexico complex.
Later next week is the Richard Harper meet at Albuquerque Academy, which will bring together virtually all of the top metro-area teams.
Baseball
Possible Major League Baseball first-round pick Trevor Rogers of Carlsbad is scheduled to pitch at 1:30 this afternoon at Volcano Vista in a nondistrict game. It will be the only regular-season appearance for Rogers in the metro area until the state tournament in a month.
The Hawks are gaining momentum, with a 4-3, 9-inning District 1-6A road win last Saturday in Piedra Vista and a 13-7 district win over Cleveland on Tuesday of this week.
The Storm (17-4) and Hawks (118) were tied for first place at 3-1 on Friday afternoon; Cleveland visited Rio Rancho (17-6, 2-2 in district) late Friday night as Rams coach Ron Murphy was seeking his 400th career victory at Rio Rancho.
See today’s main Journal sports section for a game story on the Storm and Rams.
Rio Rancho routed Cibola last Saturday, but fell at home, 4-2, to Piedra Vista on Tuesday. The Panthers (16-6) also are 2-2 in 1-6A play. Cibola (8-11, 0-4) is in last place in 1-6A.
In 4-6A, Valley picked up its biggest win of the season Thursday, 6-2 against league leader Atrisco Heritage. The Vikings (13-7, 4-2) are now just a game behind the Jaguars (14-6, 5-1) with four games left in the regular season. Lefty Daniel Romero-Martinez pitched a complete-game four-hitter for Valley.
St. Pius (11-9) is tied for first place in District 5-5A with Valencia at 3-1. The Sartans visit Grants today and are at Valencia on Tuesday afternoon. St. Pius has had an eight-day break since beating Belen 12-7 last Friday.
Bernalillo (13-10, 3-1 in 5-4A) trails first-place Sandia Prep (3-0) by one-half game. The Spartans are just starting a 14-day break. They beat East Mountain on Tuesday, but don’t play again until April 25, at Sandia Prep.
Softball
The hot player of the moment is Rio Rancho’s Venessa Gallegos, who hit two home runs in a 17-2 rout against Cibola last Saturday, and then swatted two more in a 13-10 loss to Piedra Vista on Tuesday of this week.
The Rams (10-10), Cleveland (10-9) and Cibola (10-7) are tied for second place in District 1-6A, with Piedra Vista (3-0) leading the way. Volcano Vista (8-10) is 0-3 in league.
Today at 11 a.m., Rio Rancho visits Cleveland. Also today, Cibola visits Piedra Vista.
This district, probably more than any of the other three leagues in 6A, will have multiple teams
West Mesa is making a strong push in District 4-6A, as the Mustangs (11-8, 5-1) trail leader Atrisco Heritage (10-8, 6-0) by just one game. And those two teams square off Tuesday at Atrisco Heritage. The Jags already beat the Mustangs 22-6 on April 4.
Valley (6-13, 2-4) is in fourth place in the six-team district.
St. Pius (4-17-1, 0-4) is having a tough go in 5-5A, while Bernalillo (11-7, 2-0) leads 5-4A. But like the baseball team, the Spartans won’t return to district play until April 25. Next week, Bernalillo goes outside its league to face St. Michael’s and West Las Vegas.
Tennis
Bosque, Cibola, Cleveland, Rio Rancho, St. Pius, Valley, Volcano Vista and West Mesa all will be at the Albuquerque Metro Championships, which begin Monday at two sites and run for six days.
The boys split their time next week between the Jerry Cline complex and Albuquerque Academy. The girls will be at Academy the entire week.
Singles and doubles championship matches will be a week from today, at Academy, with matches starting at 8 a.m.