No fall sports for Los Lunas, Valencia

Barring a change in direction from the state’s Public Education Department, there will be no fall sports seasons this semester for Los Lunas High and Valencia High.

The Los Lunas Schools board on Tuesday night voted 4-1 in favor of remaining in a remote learning model, and apparently will not revisit the topic again until the latter stages of March, two sources told the Journal.

Since the PED has said that schools must be in a hybrid model in order to be eligible to have prep sports, that essentially ends any hope for Los Lunas or Valencia to participate in football, soccer, volleyball or cross country.

“It’s disheartening,” said Los Lunas football coach Jeremy Maupin, whose Tigers have played in the last two Class 5A state championship games. “It was definitely surprising.”