Revered Cimarron track coach enters state Hall of Fame
The New Mexico High School Coaches Association announced its 2020 induction class for its hall of honor. The three-person class includes former Cimarron track and field coach Joe Giglia, arguably one of the most liked and well-respected high school coaches in memory.
He turned Cimarron’s boys and girls track programs into veritable powerhouses for two-plus decades. His girls won seven state championships in Class 1A and 2A between 1992 and 2015. His boys won five blue trophies between 1995 and 2015.
Giglia’s friendly, athletes-first approach made him a popular leader for his entire career and his list of accomplished graduates extends over multiple generations.
The others in the class of 2020 are Las Cruces High volleyball coach Keith Leupold and Mayfield girls basketball coach George Maya.
Speaking of the coaches association, Gerard Garcia from the St. Michael’s boys basketball program has been named the sport’s assistant coach of the year for the 201920 season. The head coach of the year in swimming and diving was Carl Cady of Los Alamos.
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The Mountain West Conference is likely to make an announcement any time now about what it plans to do with its return-to-play protocols for the fall semester, namely its plans for the college football season. If that means a conference-only schedule, it’s anyone’s guess.
In the meantime, the MWC unveiled an upgraded website this week. It still looks the same but the changes are mostly in its multimedia presentation that includes live video content and more enhanced social media aspects. Some of the links are improved, something that’s evident whenever you click into frequently visited areas like team standings and stats. Both are easier to read and less clunky.
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Keeping the Mountain West theme, 10 players were named this week to the National Association of Basketball Coaches honors court. All recipients are required to have at least a 3.2 grade point average and at least one year at their current school.
Let’s just say that Utah State takes its academics seriously. Seven of the 10 honorees are Aggies. One of the others is New Mexico small forward Makuach Maluach, a heavy contributor in his first three years with the Lobos.
The others were Malachi Flynn of San Diego State and Brae Ivey from San Jose State.
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With most sports taking a break until who knows when, there’s still something to participate in. The Great American Relay is set to cut through New Mexico this fall, giving anyone with a pair of sneakers a chance to carry a baton that started its journey in Boston and will end up in Los Angeles.
There are 379 total stages, with stops in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Oklahoma City and even the Land of Enchantment before venturing into Phoenix and SoCal. It all starts Sept. 15 and runs continuously for 36 days. Each stage is between 5 and 22 miles with most around 10.
The relay will be in New Mexico from Oct. 10-14, starting in Clovis, extending through Fort Sumner, Vaughn and Socorro en route to the Very Large Array and, eventually, the west end of the state near Quemado. It does not pass through Albuquerque or Santa Fe because, let’s face it, running on the side of the interstate isn’t exactly the safest trail.
The proceeds go to the American Association for Cancer Research. They want you to help out, which you can do by signing up on the relay’s website, www.greatamericanrelay.com.