NorthStars

NORTHERN NEW MEXICO’S TOP PREP ATHLETES 2014-2015

NorthStars Male athlete M of the year

Ian AN NDERSSON SANT TA FE PREP

Female athletee of the year

Allex GROENEWOLLD ST. MICHAEL’S HIGH SC CHOOL

A SPECIAL SECTION OF THE SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2015

2 NORTHSTARS The Santa Fe New Mexican Sunday, May 31, 2015

The best of 2014-2015

Capital senior Guillermo Navarette, right, heads the ball against Albuquerque Academy on Nov. 8 in the Class AAAAA state soccer championship in Albuquerque. Capital won in the second overtime, capturing the school’s first soccer crown and its second in all sports. LUKE E. MONTAVON/NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO

Nov. 8, 2014 Being a fan of Johnny Football and actually trying to be Johnny Football are two things that should never mix.

Dominic Lucero found that out the hard way. By extension, so did the rest of the entire Las Vegas Robertson football team.

En route to a 41-0 blowout of crosstown rival West Las Vegas in what was, mathematically speaking, a meaningless game, the Robertson senior quarterback — arguably the top player in all of AAAA this past season — was flagged with a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that earned him an automatic ejection.

The second call was reportedly from his celebratory tribute to Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, the Heisman-winning star who famously rubbed his fingers together while facing the crowd, as if to say, “Show me the money.”

Lucero did that same thing in sight of a referee, drawing the flag. Per NMAA rules, any ejection is followed by a mandatory one-game suspension.

Ordinarily, that would be no big deal.

Except Robertson’s next game was the playoff opener against Hatch Valley.

Minus their franchise guy under center,

FALL

the Cardinals were listless on offense and lost 20-16.

It marked the second straight year the unbeaten top seed was taken down at home in the quarterfinals. Ironically, it was Robertson who turned the trick the year before at St. Michael’s.

Nov. 8, 2014 The adage that they don’t hand out awards for second best just isn’t true.

The runner-up gets the dreaded red trophy.

For Josh DeHerrera of Pecos, the final day of the State Cross-Country Championships was a mixed bag of treasures.

He did get the top spot for winning the Class AAA boys title, but his trip to the winner’s podium for the team awards meant a stop on the second step.

Pecos’ 30 points were just shy of Laguna-Acoma’s 29. The Panthers had their top four runners cross the line in the top seven. Laguna-Acoma had four of the top eight.

The Hawks’ Clemente Ortiz reached the finish line in 10th place overall, meaning Pecos’ final runner needed to finish 11th or 12th. Michael Montano was 13th overall, providing the one-point difference in the final tally.

As disappointing as it was, the drama

the final few seconds provided was enough to put cross-country in the limelight, albeit for the wrong reasons, in Pecos.

The AAAA race saw Taos’ Roy Madrid finish second, leading the Tigers to a second-place team finish behind Zuni.

As usual, the strength from Los Alamos came in sheer depth. The Hilltoppers won the AAAAA crown by placing all five of their top runners in the initial 14 to break the tape.

The girls’ races saw Desert Academy’s Taylor Bacon finish second in AAA on the same day Academy for Technology and the Classics took second in the team category — its best finish ever.

Taos cruised to the title in AAA as Cora Cannedy was first overall. In AAAAA, the Los Alamos girls made it a clean sweep for the Hilltoppers behind Maddy Foley and four others in the top 16.

Nov. 8, 2014 Not a bad day to be from Santa Fe. Within a matter of hours, the City Different had three teams take to the pitch in the state soccer finals in Albuquerque. Two of them, Capital and Santa Fe Prep, won it on the boys’ side.

For Capital, it was a title long overdue. A perennial contender since head coach Eugene Doyle arrived on Santa Fe’s south side, the Jaguars had made a habit of coming up just short on the state’s biggest stage. Not so this time, as his club got a golden goal from Alexis Romo in the second overtime to beat Albuquerque Academy. It was the first soccer crown for Capital, and it was just the second in any sport for the school that has been overlooked and under-appreciated since it opened a generation ago.

Doyle had hinted all week that he would retire after the season’s final match. Afterward, he said he was having second thoughts because he was sitting on top for the first time in his coaching career.

As for Prep, its win over Albuquerque Sandia Prep in the A-AAAA finals capped a year in which the Griffins simply got better with every minute of every match. Their championship wrestled away the Albuquerque stranglehold on the blue trophy. Duke City teams had combined to win 13 straight titles.

Nov. 14, 2014 It was just … weird.

For five straight years, under three different head coaches, the Pojoaque Valley volleyball team had carted off a state championship. This time, not so much.

The Elkettes were sent home early with a 3-1 loss to Silver in the AAAA quarterfinals. The premature exit happened almost quietly as they dropped the final two games after rallying to tie things up after two.

Locally owned and independent, serving New Mexico for 166 years On the cover Ian Andersson and Alex Groenewold are recognized for standout performances in soccer, basketball, and track and field. PHOTO BY CLYDE MUELLER/THE NEW MEXICAN

Head coach Miquella Lovato’s club finished under .500 as a young, inexperienced roster played with a target on its back all season. In her first season, Lovato was the fourth coach in as many years for one of the deepest, most talented programs in the state.

Nov. 15, 2014 The coach who grew up in the passhappy haven of Artesia has done quite well for himself running the ball down people’s throats in rural Northern New Mexico.

For the second time in three years, coach Dusty Giles led the Escalante football team to a small-school state title behind an offense geared at making the most of the guy under center. On this day, that player was Dominic Montano, a senior who spent his junior year learning the system and his final season making it look like a Van Gogh. All he did was produce roughly 3,000 yards of total offense, leading the Lobos to the championship at home in his final game.

Unbeaten through the regular season, the Lobos held off Hagerman 34-30 for the Class AA crown as Montano saved his best for last. A run-first, pass-second quarterback, he overcame the usual nicks and dings that come with being the man for the best team in the state. In the title game, he passed for two touchdowns, rushed for three and (for good measure) intercepted two passes.

For Giles, it was his sixth state championship experience, having collected the others as a player and assistant coach at his alma mater.

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Sunday, May 31, 2015 The Santa Fe New Mexican NORTHSTARS 3

The best of 2014-2015

The Santa Fe High cheerleading squad performs in March during the State Spirit Competition in The Pit in Albuquerque. The team repeated as state champions. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO

WINTER

Dec. 13, 2014 It was one for the books.

Oh, wait. It wasn’t. Not yet, anyway.

As his Pecos Lady Panthers put the finishing touches on a 73-15 rout of Mesa Vista at home in Louis G. Sanchez Memorial Gymnasium less than two weeks before Christmas, Pecos head coach Ron Drake became the (unofficial) winningest coach in New Mexico girls basketball history.

The catch? Drake hadn’t yet filed the appropriate paperwork with the NMAA, a move that would officially allow the state’s governing body to acknowledge his win total. On this night, he earned career win No. 527, passing former Clayton and Clovis coach Miles Watters.

More than that was the debate over whether Drake was truly the record-holder, as the first 141 of his wins came while he was coaching in Somerville, N.J., at Immaculata. The NMAA does recognize a coach’s wins from out of state. Boys coaches Ralph Tasker, Marv Sanders and Russ Gilmore, all in the top five for career wins, coached beyond our borders before coming here.

Drake, however, would be the only girls coach in the top five with wins outside the state. His Lady Panthers went on to win another 19 games, giving him 546. That means his 405 in New Mexico is five more than Don Flanagan during his amazing run at Albuquerque Eldorado.

In short, it’s a record — unofficial or not.

Feb. 21, 2015 The cream rose to the top at the last possible moment.

Trailing Silver by 11½ points entering the championship finals of the A-AAAA state wrestling tournament in Rio Rancho, Las Vegas Robertson rallied to its latest blue trophy by winning seven of the nine title matches. It was the Cardinals’ 10th championship and their first in six years.

The tone was set early when 106-pounder Jonathan Trujillo claimed a major decision win over Silver’s Zeke Marquez. That win was followed in short order by titles from Bradley Jordan, Richard Montoya, Joseph Paul Griego, Dominic Lucero, Amos Rivera and Kenneth Yara.

For Montoya, it capped a memorable prep career that included five state titles and a 48-0 record as a senior. He is only the fifth wrestler in state history to win it all five times.

were never in it, as they fell behind early and were unable to make up much ground in the second half. Even with thousands of fans just itching for an opportunity to explode, the crowd noise never reached a fevered pitch.

It wasn’t any better for the Sundevils boys, who lost by 27 points to eventual state champ Las Cruces Centennial. Outmatched at several positions, their effort was eerily similar to that of the girls: lots of hype, plenty of hope, not much reason for fans to get off their hands and make some noise.

Still, Española’s inclusion in the final four in both brackets underscored the beauty of the state tournament. Only a select few schools have the fan backing to turn The Pit into, well, The Pit. And Española Valley is certainly one of them.

March 14, 2015 Las Vegas Robertson’s Rico Montoya celebrates Feb. 21 with coach Richard Martinez after winning his fifth title at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. CLYDE MUELLER/NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO

March 12, 2015 Not long after “deflategate” became part of our everyday nomenclature, New Mexico suffered its own version of a letdown moment during the high school basketball state tournament.

On a day in which University Arena — er, excuse us, Wise Pies Arena — was filled to the brim with rabid fans wearing the red and yellow of Española Valley, the boys and girls teams from that school were both soundly beaten in the Class AAAAA semifinals by the top seed. Their exclusion from the state finals undoubtedly cost the NMAA a bigger payday at the turnstiles.

The girls were pounded by No. 1 Gallup and dropped a 26-point decision that ended what could have been the program’s first trip to the state championship game. The Lady Sundevils

Public school versus private privilege. Every year, it seems, the debate percolates to a fevered pitch during the state basketball tournament when some combination of Albuquerque Hope Christian or St. Michael’s makes a run to the championship game in boys hoops.

With St. Michael’s sent packing in the quarterfinals earlier in the week — the Horsemen’s earliest exit from the tournament in nearly a decade — the AAAA finals were a clash of big, bad Hope and rising power West Las Vegas.

Virtually all season the Dons had been cast as the only team — public or private — worthy of challenging the Huskies for the top spot. They had met three months before in the finals of the Hope tournament and, on this day, were paired together on the biggest stage of all.

West was a team that had literally reinvented itself along the way. When star guard D.J. Bustos went down with an ankle injury during district play, the team rallied around its more anonymous supporting cast and actually got better as the year went on. Still hobbled by that injury in the finals, Bustos missed nine of his 13 shots before fouling out.

THE MOMENT

The Huskies won going away, 69-57. It was their third straight title, sixth in seven years and 13th overall.

Afterward, Dons head coach David Bustos lamented the advantages private schools have over their public brethren. Still, he vowed to return.

Hope, he said, hasn’t seen the last of West Las Vegas.

March 28, 2015 You can always tell who’s in the running for a midcourt celebration at the state spirit competition by watching where teams sit while results are being announced.

For Santa Fe High, it was apparent that the Demonettes were expecting good news when they commandeered the first three rows on the south side of The Pit’s bleacher seats. Win or lose, they had easy access for a mad rush onto the floor.

Sure enough, they got the news they wanted when they were awarded first place in Class AAAAAA, thanks to a strong final routine on the last day of the two-day state championship event.

Their final score of 196 points was just 1.4 better than district rival Rio Rancho.

As things go at the spirit competition, the drama isn’t in the competition, per se. It’s in the way winners are announced. Aside from the judges, no one has any idea how things have turned out until the names are read over the public address system.

Knowing they were a shoo-in for a top-three spot, the Demonettes’ tension rose when their name was saved for the final two spots. When it was announced Rio Rancho was second, it set off a wild celebration in those first three rows as Santa Fe High carted off its second straight state cheer title.

Other winners included Taos in AAAA and West Las Vegas as a co-ed team in AAAA. Not to be forgotten was another in a long, long, long line of state championships for the Pony Express, the perennial powerhouse dance team from St. Michael’s.

When only a rival’s loss can ease the pain Nothing beats a good old-fashioned rivalry.

And nothing stirs the coals of an intense rivalry quite like good old-fashioned hatred.

In the moments after the St. Michael’s football team was eliminated from the Class AAAA state playoffs in November by eventual state champion Ruidoso, the players, parents and families gathered on the field at W.D. Horton Stadium in the heart of Smokey Bear country to hear Horsemen head coach Joey Fernandez’s final postgame speech of the 2014 season.

With emotion in his voice, he said all the things coaches do in such situations. He thanked the seniors for their years of commitment, he addressed the returning lettermen and reminded them that their time as leaders was upon them, and he talked to the underclassmen and implored them to hit the weight room and make the upcoming offseason a period of growth and determination.

Muffled sounds of cries and sniffles of emotional young men broke the pauses in Fernandez’s delivery.

The assistant coaches did their best to hold it together, some of them putting a caring hand on the shoulder pads of the players knelt before them. The parents gathered around the circle prepared for the long trip home, knowing the pain of losing in the state

quarterfinals meant a dream cut short for their kids.

And then it happened.

Echoing the announcement that drew cheers from both team’s fans during the fourth quarter, one in which the public address announcer informed the crowd that top-seeded Las Vegas Robertson had been upset that afternoon by No. 8 Hatch Valley, Fernandez lifted his head and said, “Hey, but at least Robertson got beat, too.”

And with that, a few claps. Some laughs. Plenty of comforting smiles.

If the Horsemen had to feel what it was like to have their season come to an end, then by God, it sure felt good to know the despised knuckleheads who’d ended their season in similar fashion the year before were feeling it, too.

While it sure didn’t make the hurt go away, anyone in Horsemen blue and white will probably admit that the Cardinals’ stunning loss did make the long drive home from Ruidoso just a little bit better.

Will Webber RIGHT: St. Michael’s quarterback Isaac Chavez tries to gain yards as Ruidoso’s Dillon Trapp goes for a tackle Nov. 22 during the Class AAAA state playoffs in Ruidoso. TODD FUQUA/FUQUASPORTS.COM

4 NORTHSTARS The Santa Fe New Mexican Sunday, May 31, 2015

Sunday, May 31, 2015 The Santa Fe New Mexican NORTHSTARS 5

Desiray Anderson Santa Fe Prep Small-school volleyball

Alejandro Croff McCurdy Small-school baseball

Ian Andersson Santa Fe Prep Small-school basketball

The Blue Griffins went where no other volleyball team in the program’s history did — to the Class AAA semifinals — and much of that was due to Anderson, the 5-foot-8 senior. She led Prep with a 12.6 kills-permatch average, while averaging 8.3 digs and 7.9 assists per contest.

Those totals led her to earn the District 2AAA player of the year award as well as a second-team Class AAA All-State selection. Anderson did this while dealing with a back injury throughout the season.

It’s rare that a high school coach puts the trust of pitch selection in the hands of his own battery. When this Bobcats senior was on the hill of thrills, it was an easy move for Roberto DeVargas to make. The coach knew Croff would make solid decisions based on location and in-game strategy.

The 6-foot-6 senior was the glue in the Blue Griffins’ run to their second Class AAA semifinals appearance in three years. Andersson led Prep with 20.1 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per contest, and those numbers secured a spot on the AAA All-State first team. He scored 32 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as the Blue Griffins rallied in the fourth quarter of the AAA semis against Mesilla Valley to force overtime before losing 70-67 to the eventual state champion.

In her four years with the varsity program, Anderson and the six other seniors on the roster combined to go 68-20, win five district titles (three tournament, two regular season) and reach the state tournament four straight years.

That trust was rewarded, as Croff went 7-2 with a pair of saves, leading McCurdy to its first appearance in the Class A championship game. He had 83 strikeouts, tossing a complete game in the state playoff opener. At the plate, he batted a robust .605 and was the team leader in runs batted in.

His career high was a 33-point performance in a 75-44 win over Dulce that effectively wrapped up the District 2AAA title. He also had 10 blocks in a 54-2 20 win over Tularosa on Jan. 3, and rejected nine shots against AAAAA’s Española a Valley in a 58-55 loss on Dec c. 6.

Alexis Romo Academy for Technology and the Classics Small-school track and field Having already ingrained his name in Capital High soccer lore for scoring the championship-clinching overtime goal in November, this ATC junior capped a memorable year by winning the Class AAA long jump and finishing second in the 100 and 200 at the state meet in May. He also ran the anchor leg for the third-place 400-meter relay team, the only quartet in the top four that will return all four runners next spring.

His exploits accounted for nearly all of ATC’s 23 team points, which was good enough for eighth place.

Brandee Fulgenzi Las Vegas Robertson Tennis

Warren Fulgenzi Jr. Las Vegas Robertson Tennis

Alexis Lovato Española Valley Big-school basketball

Jesus Garcia Capital Soccer

Roy Madrid Taos Big-school cross-country

Akeisha Ayanniyi Santa Fe High Big-school track and field

Jared Mang Los Alamos Big-school baseball

Rico Montoya Las Vegas Robertson Wrestling

Caitlin Diefendorf Las Vegas Robertson Soccer

There are a lot of words you can use to describe this Lady Cardinals freshman. She’s humble, happy, laid back and loyal. She’s also a twotime state champion representing two different schools. A year after winning a doubles title at Santa Fe High, she transferred to Robertson and rolled virtually unchallenged to the Class A-AAAA singles championship.

Can you say perfect?

This Cardinals junior can. Winning all 25 matches he played after transferring midway through the school year from Santa Fe High, he steamrolled his way through the Class A-AAAA state tournament to capture his first individual title just a year after making it to the singles finals while he was with the Demons.

“The Beast” was unleashed on Class AAAAA. The 5-foot-10 sophomore post led the Lady Sundevils with a 15-pointsper-game average, along with 9.9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.8 assists per contest, which helped her earn first-team AllState honors. She also seemed to perform when the spotlight was at its brightest. She scored 21 points in a 61-48 win against Lovington in a AAAAA quarterfinal and against Los Alamos to win the District 2AAAAA championship by a 66-53 count.

It was truly a golden year for Garcia, a senior forward, and the Class AAAAA champion Jaguars.

He led AAAAA with 27 goals and earned first-team All-State distinction as well as the class’s player of the year award. Garcia was never bigger than in the AAAAA quarterfinals, as he scored both of Capital’s goals and the final penalty kick in a shootout with Chaparral to produce a 3-2 win. He added a goal in a semifinal match against Las Cruces Centennial to secure a 5-0 win.

While the Class AAAA State Championships did not produce a second straight state title for the Tigers, Madrid was their rock. He took second in the meet, behind East Mountain’s Alex Heffelfinger, in a time of 16 minutes, 21.55 seconds, as Taos finished second to Zuni in the team standings.

The next big thing is here at Santa Fe High. First there was Carla Garrett. Then Tiffany Garcia. Now comes this Demonettes junior who, by way of a first-place in the long jump and seconds in three other events during the Class AAAAAA state meet, has earned her spot as Santa Fe High’s next track legend.

She won the long jump with a wind-aided leap of 19-8½, a mark that would’ve shattered the state record were it not for a 25-mph wind.

His flowing blond mullet was just part of the story. The rest could be found in cold, hard stats that hinted at how this Hilltoppers senior landed a scholarship to play next season at The University of New Mexico. Groomed as a potential middle infielder or corner outfielder, Mang was an all-everything player for Los Alamos. He started in center and spent plenty of time on the mound as the team’s ace.

Few wrestlers in the history of the state were as dominant as Montoya, a senior who will wrestle at Northern Colorado in the fall. He finished with a 200-4 record as a Cardinal, going 48-0 in his senior year to accomplish the feat. When he pinned Silver’s Tavian Arredondo in the Class A-AAAA 132-pound championship, he became the fifth wrestler to win five individual titles in New Mexico.

In Northern New Mexico, no player was more prolific than Diefendorf. The senior came off a torn ACL to lead Class A-AAAA with 47 goals and totalled 117 points as Robertson won the District 2A-AAAA title and reached the state semifinals for the second time in three years. That performance gave her a third firstteam All-State honor.

She lost only three games during the tournament and clinched it while hobbling around on a strained knee that barely slowed her down in a 6-0 set against Mesilla Valley’s Maddie Andersson. Her reaction to winning it all in singles? See you next year.

As well-rounded as any player the state has seen in years, Fulgenzi admitted he still has a way to go before he reaches his true potential. A basketball player on the side, he said there will come a day when he devotes all his time to tennis. You have been warned.

In her return from a weeklong absence during the district season, Lovato scored 15 points in a 60-44 win over Los Alamos on Feb. 14 that effectively y gave the Lady Sundevils the re egularseason title.

Garcia was among eight Capital seniors in the most-decorated class in Capital history. The group went 68-18-1 in four years, won or shared three district titles, reach hed d three sttraiigh ht sttatte semiis and, of course, ended its prep legacy with a state title.

On the year, Madrid won four individual meets, including the District 2AAAA meet in which he beat teammate Donevon Gravelle by one-tenth of a second. He went consecutive week ks topping the field at the e Santa Fe Indian School John Grimley Memorial Invitationall on Oct. 4 and the North hern New Mexico Challenge on Oct. 10. Wh hile he missed out on n a team title in cross-c country, he e helped the Tig gers win the boys track k title in th he spring — in part with his wins in the t 1,600 and 3,200 0.

She also finished second in the 100 and 200, 2 as well as the 400 relay y. She was also part of the fourth-place 800-meter re elay team, helping Santa Fe High H finish third in the team sttandings.

As a pitcher, Mang went 7-1 with a 0.83 ERA with 74 strikeouts and 13 walks in 59⅓ innings. At the dish, he batted .575 with six home runs, 29 RBIs, nine doubles, five triples and 24 stolen bases. He also was intentionally walked a dozen times. He led Los Alamos to a district title and, eventually, to the Class AAAAA semifinals.

Even more remarkable was that Montoya never lost after his sophomore year and did not lose to an in-state wrestler over his last four seasons.

He also won the 126 junior class of the 2014 National High School Coaches Association High School Wrestling Championships in Virginia Beach, Va., to pad an already exemplary résumé.

Diefendorf tallied six hat tricks (at least three goals) on the season, including three against Santa Fe Prep in a 5-0 win in the opening round of the A-AAAA tournament.

She had a hand in both of Robertson’s goals (a goal and an assist) in a 2-0 win over Socorro in the A-AAAA quarterfinals.

Taylor Bacon Desert Academy Small-school cross-country Not even a move up two classes slowed the Princeton-bound senior.

While she took second place in the Class AAA meet behind Estancia’s Aubri Wyre in a time of 20 minutes, 17.90 seconds, that was 24 seconds better than her winning time in 2014.

Bacon won the District 2AAA meet, held at Desert Academy a week earlier in 20:09, and the Desert Academy invite on Oct. 24 in the same time. She also won the Northern New Mexican Challenge in 18:41, while also winning a $10 bet from an eighth-grade teammate to go with it.

Bacon to ook second in the John Grimley Memorial Invita ational on Oct. 4 an nd third in the Nick Martin Memorial Invitatio onal on Sept. 27.

Taylor Bacon Desert Academy Small-sschool track and fielld Three starts, three first-pla ace finishes for a runner that will surely go dow wn in the books as one of the best distance specialists Santa Fe has ever prroduced. A senior, Bacon set a state record in the 800 meters at the Cla ass AAA meet, breakiing the 14-year-old standa ard by .03 seconds (2:19.9 93). She then captured the 1,600, winning by nearly 21 seconds.

She also was part of the medle ey relay team that finish hed first.

It wa as the second stra aight year Bacon se et a state record, ha aving done so in the Class A 1,600 as a junior. By comparison, this year’s winning time was more than 21 seconds slower than her mark.

Cody Van Damme St. Michael’s Golf

Dominic Monta año Escalante Small-school fo ootball

Motther Natture can be a reall pain in the neck sometimes.

On the last day of the Class A-AAAA state golf tournament in Albuquerque earlier this month, this Horsemen senior showed that when he’s on, not even the elements can do much to stop him. He was one of only four players in the field to post a better final-round score than Day 1 after pristine weather conditions gave way to hard winds and cold temperatures on Day 2.

Monttañ ño’’s perfformance e ha arke ene ed to a former teammate of his — Reynaldo Atencio, the 2013 small-school player of the year. Montaño made a seamless transition from receiver to quarterback as he ran for 2,194 yards — which is unofficially eighthbest in the state’s record book — and scored 34 touchdowns (also good for eighth) while throwing for another 865 yards and 15 TDs to lead the Lobos to their second state title in the last three years. Montaño capped the season with a first-team All-State honor in Class AA.

His efforts landed him a topsix finish for a team on which he was the only senior. He proved his leadership time and again, posting a low round of 74 at Santa Fe Country Club.

His body of work was enough to help the Horsemen finish third in the team standings.

He ran for at least 200 yards six times, including 205 in the AA championship game against Hagerman, a 34-30 win. He ran for 326 yards in a 34-13 win over Raton on Sept. 19.

Let’s not overlook his defensive stats: He recorded 44 tackles overall, 27 solo. And to think he’ll be back next year.

D.J. Bustos West Las Vegas Big-school basketball

Samantha Mon ntaño Las Vegas Robertson Softball

Josh DeHerrera Pecos Small-school cross-country

The West Las Vegas sophomore wa as a ke ey comp pone entt in the e Do onss’ run to the Class AAAA state championship game, averaging just over 20 points and eight rebounds per game. He did miss three weeks with a severely sprained ankle, but the Dons went undefeated as they clinched the District 2AAAA regular-season and district titles. When he returned, Bustos blended his skills with the rest of his teammates, never scoring more than 18 points during the state tournament.

On a team loaded with stars and gaudy offensive stats, Montaño was at the top of a crowded list.

She batted .488 with a team-high 42 runs batted in and an OPS of 1.418.

She also had 16 doubles, three triples and went deep three times, leading the Lady Cardinals to the District 2AAAA title and a deep run in the state tournament.

On a balanced team, DeHerrera always seemed to be near the front of the pack when the Panthers needed it. That was never more evident than in the Class AAA championships, as the freshman led a pack of Pecos and Laguna-Acoma runners to the finish line in a winning time of 16:43.50. It wasn’t quite enough, as the Hawks beat the Panthers by the narrowest of margins — a 29-30 mark — to take the team title.

Batting in the heart of the order, she scored 23 runs and had 39 hits while striking out only eight times in 92 plate appearances. As if that weren’t enough, she served as the team’s ace for most of the season, going 11-3 with a 3.50 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 17 appearances.

He finished second in the District 2AAA meet as Pecos took six of the first seven spots and won the meet handily (17-62 over Santa Fe Prep). DeHerrera also was second at the Panthers’ Ron Valdez Invitational, fourth at the Northern New Mexico Challenge and sixth at the John Grimley Memorial Invitational.

Still, he earned first-team All-State honors in AAAA and was a first-team All-District selection. He scored 23 points against Albuquerque Hope Christian in the Hope Husky Invitational championship on Jan. 15, a 73-68 Huskies win in the first of two matchups between the top two teams in AAAA. Bustos also had 26 in a 66-58 win over Santa Fe Prep on Dec. 9 and finished the Al Armendariz Tournament with 31- and 30-point performances against Española Valley and Capital on Dec. 5 and 6 to win the title.

Cora Can nnedy Taos Big-schoo ol cross-country Cannedy was always on the run in the fall. She bounced from the soccer pitch to the cross-country course with regularity, and she picked up speed as the season came to a close.

The freshman won the District 2AAAA meet on Nov. 1, but she saved her best for last — in the Class AAAA meet. She outkicked East Mountain’s Addison Rauch over the final 400 meters of the race to win the individual title in a time of 19 minutes, 15 seconds — 3.7 seconds faster than the junior.

Even better was that her performance paced the way for the Lady Tigers’ second straight state title, as four runners finished in the top 10 and the entire scoring ladder placed in the top 15.

HonorRoll Ho H ono norR orRo Ro oll l PHO OTO OS BY CLYDE MU UELLER AND LU UIS S SÁNC CHEZ SATU URNO O/THE NEW W MEXIC CAN

THE TOP BIGG AND SMALL SMALL-SCHOOL SCH ATHLETES FROM FALL, WINTER AND SPRING SPORTS PORTS

Dominic Lucero Las Vegas Robertson Big-school football The senior quarterback was the main cog in the Cardinals’ run-heavy offense. He led the team with 1,258 rushing yards while throwing for 721 in the regular season as Robertson went 10-0, won the District 2AAAA title and earned the top seed for the Class AAAA playoffs. Lucero scored 15 touchdowns (14 rushing, one interception return) and threw for 11 scores as Robertson averaged 36.4 points per game during the season.

As a defensive back, Lucero had 34 tackles and intercepted three passes, and he was a first-team AllState selection at that position. Yet his presence was never felt more than in the one game he missed — a 20-16 loss to Hatch Valley in the AAAA quarterfinals, as he served a one-game suspension after being ejected in the final game of the regular season.

Elana Salazar Española Valley Big-school volleyball In a sport where bigger is better, the 5-foot-7 senior outside hitter more than held her own in Class AAAAA. Salazar hammered away at defenses for a team-best 419 kills on the season, on her way to the District 2AAAAA player of the year honor as well as a spot on the AAAAA All-State first team. Salazar showed she is a well-rounded player, recording 316 digs and 55 aces on the season.

For her career, Salazar had a program-best 1,173 kills to go with 823 digs and 134 aces for varsity career that began as a freshman.

Michaell Moore Los Alamos Swimming Moore was the state’s best in its longest event on its biggest stage. The senior won the 500-yard freestyle — considered the most grueling and demanding event in swimming — in 4 minutes, 40.19 seconds to win the event at the State Swimming and Diving Championships on Feb. 22. He swam all 10 legs in under 29 seconds and beat Albuquerque Cibola’s Jacob Harlan by more than 3½ seconds. Moore took third in the 200 individual medley in 1:44.24 and was just 1.01 seconds behind Harlan for second.

Moore also helped the 200 freestyle relay team take fourth and the 400 relay place fifth.

Jessica Moore Los Alamos Swimming It was a family affair for the Moores, as Jessica Moore helped the Lady Hilltoppers to a third-place finish at the State Swimming and Diving Championships on Feb. 21.

Jessica, a sophomore and Michael’s sister, scored a third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1 minute, 7.19 seconds, and she anchored the 200 freestyle relay team’s fourth-place performance in 1:42.29. She also was sixth in the 200 individual medley (2:14.69) and helped the 400 freestyle relay to a sixth-place finish (3:42.19).

That helped Los Alamos accrue 174 points, edging out Albuquerque High for a green trophy at the allclasses meet.

Ida Valencia Pecos Small-school basketball

Joedy Quintana West Las Vegas Golf

There was no player in District 2AAA better than the 5-foot-7 senior wing, as she averaged 18 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and earned a spot on Class AAA’s All-State first team. Her performance helped the Lady Panthers make a 15-game turnaround and finish 23-5 with a district title. Oh, and she will attend New Mexico Highlands University on a basketball scholarship.

Splitting her time between the track and the links, this multisport Lady Dons star was remarkably consistent on the golf course considering it wasn’t exactly a priority. Still, she saved her best for last, reaching the minimum state qualifying score six times over a three-week span in April. That included a season-low 75 at a tournament in Roswell.

Valencia scored 27 points in the 2AAA title game against Dulce. In one of the fiercest district battles of the season, she scored 31 points to lead the Lady Panthers to a 63-56 win over Santa Fe Prep on Feb. 7. Valencia’s prep career isn’t over yet. She will represent the North in the Class A-AAAA North-South All-Star game on June 6 in Albuquerque. A week later, she will go to the North-South softball series in Bayard Cobre.

She wrapped it all up with a fourth-place finish at the Class A-AAAA state tournament in Albuquerque. She was just three strokes out of third place. She followed that by running in the state track meet for West Las Vegas less than two weeks later.

Danial Isiah Babb Taos Big-school track and field More to come. That’s pretty much the message delivered by this Tigers junior, who set the bar high for his senior year after garnering a first, two seconds and one third-place finish in individual events at the Class AAAA state meet in Albuquerque. He won the long jump with a final leap of 21 feet, then was second in both the high jump (6-4) and 300 hurdles (40.83 seconds), and third in the triple jump (43-6½).

For good measure, he also ran the opening leg of the Tigers’ fourth-place finish in the 1,600meter relay. When it was all said and done, Taos edged Albuquerque Hope Christian and Bloomfield to earn the team state title.

6 NORTHSTARS The Santa Fe New Mexican Sunday, May 31, 2015

The best of 2014-2015

Santa Fe High’s Akeisha Ayanniyi competes in the long jump May 15 at the Class AAAAAA Track and Field Championships in Albuquerque. CLYDE MUELLER/NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO

April 13, 2015 It wasn’t quite the splash that Tiffany Garcia made a year earlier.

Still, Santa Fe High teammate Akeisha Ayanniyi definitely put herself on the map as one of the top sprinters in the state at the Marilyn Sepulveda Meet of Champions at Great Friends of UNM Track Complex in Albuquerque.

Ayanniyi won the girls long jump with a distance of 19 feet, 2 inches, which broke the meet record set by another former Northern athlete — Pecos’ Yeshemabet Turner. It was the start of a busy day for the junior, who competed at the event the previous two years.

“I wasn’t expecting that at all,” Ayanniyi said. “That was probably 2 feet longer than what I was thinking about.”

She also won the 100 meters in 12.55 seconds, while taking fourth in the 200 in 26.30.

Hers was the highlight of the best-ofthe-best midseason meet. Los Alamos’ Chelsea Chalacombe was second in the 100 hurdles in 16.78, while Daniel Isaiah Babb of Taos took third in the long jump with a 21-3 leap. Those were precursors to what came a month later.

May 7, 2015 If your last name was Fulgenzi, it was

SPRING

a banner day.

The first family of tennis in New Mexico added to its legacy with a triple crown of championships in the Class A-AAAA State Individual Championships at the Jerry Cline Complex in Albuquerque.

First, there were the singles titles won by the brother-sister tandem of Warren Fulgenzi Jr. and Brandee Fulgenzi. The two had to appeal to the New Mexico Activities Association in March to earn their eligibility after transferring to Las Vegas Robertson in the spring to play for their dad, Cardinals co-head coach Warren Fulgenzi Sr., but that was the toughest challenge they faced.

Brandee rolled past New Mexico Military Institute’s Maddie Andersson 6-2, 6-0, as she played through a knee injury suffered days before the event.

Meanwhile, Warren Jr. completed a 25-0 record on the season with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Sandia Prep’s David Atkins in the finals.

The last of the trifecta came from sisters Jaci and Jenese, cousins to Warren Jr. and Brandee, who took the doubles crown for Robertson, beating an upsetminded duo of Samantha Whitegeese and Sophie Bennett from Santa Fe Prep 6-0, 6-1. For Whitegeese and Bennett, it completed a spirited run through the bottom half of the bracket, upsetting

three seeded teams and going three sets in the quarterfinals and semifinals to do it.

May 8-9, 2015 The group of seniors who made up the heart and soul of the 2015 Santa Fe Prep track and field team ended its career the way it began — with a blue trophy.

The Blue Griffins used their depth and their coach’s calling-card race — the 1,600 relay to end the meet — to help produce a 56-47 comeback over Lordsburg for their third state title in nine years and first since 2011, when the current seniors were in eighth grade.

Even though Prep had just two champions — the 1,600 relay team and Courtney Rose Timlen in the 300 — it scored in 13 of 19 events to put itself on top of the podium in the AAA state meet at Great Friends of UNM Track Complex.

While the Blue Griffins celebrated as a team, there were other individuals who did their part to achieve glory.

Santa Fe Waldorf had its first state champions in Beatrice Lowe (the long jump and 300 hurdles in Class A) and Ivan Davila (javelin). Pecos had its boys medley team and Cassie CdeBaca (in the 3,200) sit atop the podium, while Desert Academy’s Taylor Bacon set

an AAA record in the 800, running it in 2:19.93 to put her name in the A and AAA record books.

Bacon also helped the medley relay team take first, along with Isabel Pearson-Kramer, who also took second in the 100, plus fifths in the 200 and pole vault, to go with anchoring the sixthplace 400 relay squad. They were vital in the Lady Wildcats taking third in the AAA meet.

May 15, 2015 The moment was historic for the McCurdy baseball team, even if the trophy was red.

The Bobcats made their first appearance in a state championship game, but it was an ill-fated one, as Melrose rolled to a 12-0 win for the Class A title at Lobo Field in Albuquerque. Still, McCurdy head coach Robert DeVargas made it a moment to cherish, as he turned to the Bobcats faithful and hoisted the runner-up trophy to an appreciative round of cheers.

McCurdy had made its way to the title game on the backs of its pitchers, who allowed just one run in wins over Questa (2-0) and Gateway Christian (3-1). Ace Alejandro Croff did all he could, pitching in all three games and starting two of them.

The Bobcats just didn’t have enough pitching for the Buffaloes, who produced 33 runs in all during their championship run. The saving grace for the program is that a youth movement could pave the way for future success.

“We had two seniors, and one of them started. We’ll be back,” DeVargas said. “I’ll probably be starting about five ninth-graders [next year]. I had

three eighth-graders in the [championship] game.”

May 15-16, 2015 The Taos Tigers won two in a row the hard way.

Meanwhile, the Santa Fe High Demonettes showed they were plenty good to be among Class AAAAAA’s best.

The big schools took center stage for the State Track and Field Championships, and there was plenty of drama to go around. Taos scored 15 points in the final two events of the meet — a first in the 3,200 by Roy Madrid and a third by Donevon Gravelle, plus a fourth in the 1,600 relay — to overcome a 12-point deficit and beat Albuquerque Hope Christian 67-65.50 to repeat as the Class AAAA champion.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe High rode the success of Akeisha Ayanniyi (first in the long jump, second in the 100 and 200), Samantha Woodman (third in the 100 and 200) and Courtney Randle (second in the high jump) to take third place in the AAAAAA meet with 42 points.

Ayanniyi also accomplished one of her goals, sort of — to break the state record in the long jump. She had three jumps greater than the 19-2¼ mark set 31 years ago, but all of them were ruled to be wind-aided.

Her jump of 19-8½ will be in the record book with an asterisk. So, too, will the 1984 record.

Mother Nature was perhaps the star of the meet, however, as lightning and threatening skies stopped the meet, not once, twice or even three times. There were six weather delays over the twoday event, making it one of the more arduous state meets in history.

THE MOMENT

Wild weather wreaks havoc on big events If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes …

That oft-uttered phrase has made its way across the U.S., and usually it is just as apt in New Mexico. If you took that approach during the 2015 portion of the high school season, however, you might still be sitting in a parking lot outside Mesa Vista.

The weather often wreaks havoc on events in the winter and spring, but this year earned a special place in prep lore. Twice in late January, snow wiped out basketball games in parts of New Mexico, but that was just the warm-up to what the end of the basketball season brought.

A winter storm at the end of February hammered most of the state and brought almost all district tournaments to a grinding halt. It started on Feb. 27, as snow from the previous evening led to postponements across the state. When Albuquerque Public Schools opted not to play games that weekend, it pushed back the state’s seeding and selection for the 16-team boys and girls basketball tournaments to March 3.

There were only a pair of brave teams in the North — from the basketball-crazed communities of Española Valley and Bernalillo — that chanced the icy conditions and played for the

District 2AAAAA boys championship.

After that, spring was a welcome sight — until the final two days of the prep season, when teams traveled to Rio Rancho and Albuquerque for state track and field, softball and baseball. The track meet endured six weather delays and had athletes competing the final two hours of the May 15 preliminaries in rain before lightning brought it to an end for the day.

On the same day, the AAAAAA baseball semifinal between Eldorado and Rio Rancho ended just minutes before midnight, and the AAAA semifinal between Ruidoso and Cobre made it

through one inning before finishing the following day — with the AAAA title game right after that.

And how about the Valencia Lady Jaguars?

They waited 30 hours for Las Cruces Centennial to come through the loser’s bracket to play for the AAAAA title. It was worth the wait when they defeated the Lady Hawks 12-8.

As I write this, it’s 76 degrees and partly sunny. The National Weather Service forecast indicates a 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. I’ll wait and see.

James Barron

Sunday, May 31, 2015 The Santa Fe New Mexican NORTHSTARS 7

Ian Andersson

MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Always ready to jump on it

By Will Webber The New Mexican

W

hen in doubt, just attack.

That philosophy has worked well for Ian Andersson over the years. The more he questions a situation, the less likely he is to rely on his cerebral side to get the job done.

Aggression, he said, has its advantages.

“The more I think about things, the less likely I am to do the right thing,” he said. “I just go out there and get after someone.”

Funny, because it has always been that way for this year’s NorthStars male athlete of the year. The recent graduate of Santa Fe Prep — a three-sport star in soccer, basketball, and track and field — has always been the aggressor, particularly when it comes to sports.

Anyone who is a parent with young kids in sports, or has been a friend or family member who has been exposed to them is familiar with that one team with that one kid who always seems a head taller than everyone else, the one whose motor seems to be running at a slightly higher RPM than those around him.

Andersson was that kid.

“I think we knew he would really like sports when his preschool teachers commented on how well he could catch a ball,” said Maggie Andersson, Ian’s mother. “When he was younger, we really didn’t know what it was like to have a kid in sports. We thought everyone did it, but it wasn’t until we had our second child that we realized not every kid wants to do what Ian has done. In a lot of ways, he trained us as parents. We didn’t know any better. We thought all kids were the same.”

Andersson is hardly a carbon copy of anyone around him. Standing 6-foot-6, he has the quickness and athleticism not often seen in young players with his kind of size. He used it to become an All-State selection in soccer and basketball, and he let it carry him to a state championship in the high jump at the Class AAA state track meet.

But that’s not what defines him. All the medals, awards and accolades aren’t what he’s about.

“As Ian’s coach for the last four years, I can honestly say it was an honor to work with him because it’s never about him — it’s about the team,” said Dennis Casados, Prep’s former head boys basketball coach. “When I first saw him, he was a baby giraffe on the court. When I last saw him, he could do almost anything he wanted. His growth as a player and a person is really special special.” i l”

Ask him about his stats and Andersson would probably need a minute or two to guesstimate his totals.

Ask him about what feeds his fire, and he’s quick on the draw.

“Honestly, I get bored easily,” he said.

“I get to the end of a sports season and I’m just worn out, mentally. I always have a need to try something new, something fresh. If I stick to one thing, I get … I don’t know, bored.”

Which explains his meandering path through the sports world. Name it and he’s probably tried it. From the time his dad, Christian, coached him in soccer when he was 4 years old in Santa Fe’s AYSO program to the times he’s dabbled in tennis, hockey, baseball, hoops, track — you name it, he’s tried it.

“I think he tried so many things because he was good at them,” Christian said. “He was so much bigger, too.

I don’t think he ever fell below the 95th percentile for his age level.”

Ian gets his physical traits from both parents. His father is 6-3 and his mother is 5-9. Christian was an accomplished tennis player in his native Sweden, the same country in which Christian’s father was an accomplished hockey player.

The family moved to California before Christian eventually landed a job in Albuquerque. All three of their sons, Ian and his younger brothers Brogan (a sophomore at Prep) and Van (age 9), are all from Santa Fe. While all three kids are different, what sets Ian apart is his unyielding passion for sports. For years, the one constant was, of all things, hockey. He fell in love with the sport after the Mighty Ducks movies came out and now pledges his allegiance to the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche.

He played in various youth hockey leagues for parts of nine years, spending some of his spare time watching the game on TV or attending Santa Fe RoadRunners games at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center.

Just as it was in soccer, Andersson was quite a bit bigger than the players around him. A forward, he had a chance to inflict his size advantage while getting his fix for scoring the big goal.

But just like everything else he has tried, he eventually came to a crossroads. It happened the very first time he walked onto a basketball floor and decided he wanted to take it seriously.

The problem was that basketball and hockey seasons run at the same time.

The immediate plan was to do both for as long as possible. Within a week, he knew he had to make a choice.

“I was shocked, h k d shocked h k d when h n he picked basketball,” Maggie And dersson said. “He had put nine yearrs into hockey, and he was willin ng to walk away just like that. I meaan, more than half his life was giv ven to playing one sport.”

But, she said, the weeklon ng trial of playing hoops and hockey w was enough to force herr son’s hand.

“He was liteerally physically ill over trying to do both,” she said.

A force in the paint, Santa Fe Prep’s Ian Andersson did most of his damage within 10 fe eet of the basket against th he frequent double team.

LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO

Ian Andersson of Santa Fe Prep makes his first attempt in the Class AA (now AAA) triple jump at a distance of 40 feet, 9 inche es during the 2014 Class A/AA State Track and Field Championships. CLYDE MUELLER/NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO

The decision to go with basketball undersscores the crux of Andersson’s person nality. While he’s quick to get bored, he’s also up for new challenges.

Anythiing fresh is worth a shot, he said.

That m mentality extends to other walks of life, ttoo. Like the time he spent in Spain aas part of a student exchange program, ssomething he hopes to do again when h he’s a student at The University of New w Mexico, where he will begin classess in the fall.

If giv ven a chance to play sports at the next lev vel, Andersson said, he’s only mildly interested if it involves anything more th han recreational club teams.

“I caan’t see myself having a good time with it if I get to college and all I do is one spo ort,” he said. “It would almost be like hav ving a job. I think I’d rather try a bunch h of different things instead of sticking g to just one.”

As crrazy as it sounds, Andersson said he considered doing just that entering his sen nior year. Fixated on getting Prep to a bassketball state championship after two neear misses his sophomore and junior y years, he had no plans to continue p playing soccer until the summer break.

He said he was approached by a couple of tteammates about returning to the team to o play goalie. The previous year’s team had h graduated its top netminder, and thee returning candidate for the starting g job had an injury.

At th he last moment, he decided to attend a soccer camp at UNM and realized th hen and there that the challenge of play ying a new position was worth the sacrificce of keeping hoops on the back burnerr for a few months.

Whaat a decision it was.

He aallowed only 11 goals in 1,228 minutes — a solid 0.7 goals-against average

that helped the Blue Griffins win 19 games and post two shutouts in the A-AAAA state tournament, a run that eventually ended with a 3-2 win over top-seeded Sandia Prep in the finals.

“I think a lot of that aggression I had came in during soccer,” he said. “Going out and attacking a guy instead of waiting for something to happen, that’s something you had to do a lot in hockey.

I carried that into soccer.”

And he carried it into hoops, albeit just a little later than he’d planned. A force in the paint, he did most of his damage within 10 feet of the basket against the frequent double team.

He averaged 20.1 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.2 blocked shots, all team highs.

Just as impressive was his efficiency.

Like most big men who know how to create space in the lane, he was an accurate shooter on high-percentage scoring opportunities. He converted 57 percent of his field goal attempts — another team high.

“He was the consummate teammate, always someone wanting to make the team better and the players around him better,” Casados said. “I think one of the things I’ll remember most about him was his game in the [state] semifinals.”

That game, a 70-67 overtime loss to eventual state champion Mesilla Valley, saw Andersson nearly carry his team single-handedly into the finals.

“I had a funny feeling about that game,” Andersson said. “I woke up in the hotel that morning knowing — just knowing — we were going to win. I had no doubt. I saw it in my mind and pictured how the entire game was going to go.”

It made the loss all that tougher to deal with, but it was one that Andersson

handled in a way that only he could — by moving on to the next thing. Immediately after hoops was track, a sport that he didn’t even try til his junior year.

While running is an innate ability that nearly anyone can do, he naturally chose the most challenging event there is: The high jump. It’s technical, it’s exacting and it’s not easy to pick up.

“First time I saw it, I knew I wanted to try because not many people wanted to do it,” he said.

He worked closely with Prep’s jump coach to fine tune his form. From there, it was all about old habits. Whereas some jumpers take their time, studying the bar, visualizing each step of the approach and even mimicking the Fosbury flop, Andersson just got up and attacked. No thinking, just action.

“I guess I could have taken more time, but what would I think about?” he said. “I’m already ready. I might as well go.”

While his effort was sometimes disappointing, he did have one of his best days ever during the state track meet when he was the only jumper in AAA to clear 6-2. With practice, he said, he could probably go quite a bit higher.

“But it’s one of those things where, again, I get kind of bored,” he said. “I like doing it when the sport’s in season, but as soon as it’s over, I’m looking for the next thing.”

He said he hopes to always be that way, be it in athletics, academics or life.

Traveling could become his passion, he said.

“I’m not even sure what I want to study, but I know I want to go to college and learn everything I can,” he said.

No matter what path he chooses, you can be sure he won’t do something that drives him to sheer boredom.

8 NORTHSTARS The Santa Fe New Mexican Sunday, May 31, 2015

Alex Groenewold

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

It’s no secret this star stood apart

By James Barron The New Mexican

“When you find out news and want to share it with the world but then you want to keep it a secret at the same time so everyone’s surprised ”

I

Alex Groenewold’s tweet (@GroenewoldAlex), May 19

f only secrets were so easy to keep.

Rocket scientists need not apply to figure out what the St. Michael’s senior wrote in the moments after learning she had received an honor that is hard to achieve in Northern New Mexico — that she’d been selected as The New Mexican’s NorthStars female athlete of the year.

If you follow Twitter, then you know how quickly news traveled once reporter Will Webber tweeted a picture on the @SFNMSports page showing Groenewold posing with Ian Andersson, the male athlete of the year, for the picture that graces the cover of this section.

In a time when three-sport athletes are rare and good multisport athletes are even harder to find, when sports specialization runs rampant across the country, Groenewold did her part to stand apart — and above — the crowd. She was a firstteam All-State performer on the Lady Horsemen soccer team that reached the Class A-AAAA finals, and she followed that with a second-team honor in girls basketball as she helped lead St. Michael’s on a 17-game winning streak after an 0-2 start, then to the AAAA semifinals.

She completed a whirlwind season using her right arm to record a secondplace finish in the javelin and a third in the shot put that capped her athlete of the year honors.

Yet few honors are earned without adversity, and Groenewold experienced plenty of that in her sophomore year. uuu

Most sports fans know “anterior cruciate ligament” by its shortened term “ACL.” And when you hear “ACL,” it’s usually preceded by the word “torn.”

Few injuries are more horrifying than watching an athlete tear the ligament and crumple to the ground in extreme pain.

Ask anyone who has torn an ACL, and the story that accompanies it is fresh and vivid — even if it’s years old.

For Groenewold, her tale began on the basketball court in late December 2012, her sophomore year. In a hotly contested game against an undefeated Santa Fe High team, Groenewold came up with a steal in the final minute and drove to the basket before being called for a charge.

It was the landing on that play that Groenewold believes started the unfortunate sequence of events.

“I saw the trainer, and he said I had a strained … some very medical term in my [left] knee,” Groenewold said.

She spent the next week resting the injury in preparation for the Lady Horsemen Christmas Tournament against P Pecos, and d she h made d it i through h h the h opening-round opening round win over Pecos on Dec. 27 with a little soreness. Then came the semifinal against Moriarty and a life-changing moment.

“I remember clearly, they were bringing the ball up and I was going to

St. Michael’s Alex Groenewold, then a sophomore, jockeys for position during Class A-AAA state soccer semifinal in November 2012. The following month, Groenewold tore her ACL. When she returned to the sport, she showed her skills had not regressed. CLYDE MUELLER/NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO

close out the girl as she crossed halfcourt,” Groenewold said. “And just when I was breaking down my steps, my [left] knee goes in and out. I have the film on it, and you play it in slo-mo, and it goes in, then it just pops back out.”

Groenewold was carried off the court, but the trainer put some tape around her knee and she felt good enough to go back on the court. It was the last time she did that for the rest of the year. Late in the second quarter, she went for a defensive rebound and heard the dreaded “pop” as she landed.

“I fell straight on my face on the baseline,” Groenewold said. “Then I just hear all these people running toward me and … Yeah. I think the first time it happened, I had all this adrenaline so I didn’t feel it too much, but that second time, that was the breaker.”

Her torn ACL was the last of four knee injuries to key players the Lady Horsemen suffered that season, and it led to a fundamental shift in how the program trained i d its i players. l Head d coach h

Always a strong, physical presence, Alex Groenewold showed nimble, quick feet on the pitch, the basketball court, the softball field and the throwing circle.

NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO

Martin Romero incorporated plyometric drills to help build power and speed through a series of jump-training exercises. Since then, St. Michael’s has not lost a player to an ACL injury.

“It was something we had to look at because we had to figure out what was causing it and what was the common factor,” Romero said. “It just made sense to add the agility drills and some strength training. It became necessary. If anything, I will go out on a limb and say we turned a negative into a positive.” uuu

Groenewold benefited from that forward thinking. She returned to the soccer pitch late in the 2013 season, although she played spot duty for a team, now under the guidance of head coach Robyn Serge, that reached the state semifinals before losing to Albuquerque Sandia Prep. But she returned to her role as a starter for the basketball team that struggled through a turnover-plagued season to get to tthe quarterfinals before losing to Loving gton. She followed that with a seccond-place finish in the shot put with a 33--feet, 8¾ ¾-inch effort.

What sshe demonstrated through her W jun nior yeaar was that her skill level had nott regreessed since her injury. Always a stro ong, ph hysical presence, Groenewold sho owed n nimble, quick feet on the pitch, thee baskeetball court, the softball field (sh he play yed as a freshman) and the thrrowing g circle.

IIn fact,, she was such a good athlete thaat then-head girls soccer coach Ed Vellie mov ved Groenewold from her centerr-midfield position — the “stopper,” as V Velie p puts it — to goalkeeper when Aly yssa Ev vans broke her finger early in thee 2012 season. s Velie made the move afteer hold ding tryouts and “volunteering” Gro oenew wold for them. ““I am ssure she didn’t want to be go oalie,” V Velie said, “but she went in there aand did it. She just doesn’t know any otther way. She did the best she could d and got the job, but I am sure she w would have liked someone else to bee better at it than she was.”

If h he had any doubts about her reticeence for the position, Groenew wold p put those at ease very quickly wh hen thee subject came up. ““That w was the worst thing he could hav ve everr done,” Groenewold said with a laaugh.

She adm S mits she might have been the hap ppiest person on the team when Evaans retturned after a monthlong abssence tto mind the net again. Yet she gaiined a m measure of respect for a position n others might deride because the “keeeper” isn’t as heavily involved in the acttion on n the field. ““You never n realize how big of a role theey play, y,” Groenewold said. “We would jok ke arou und with Alyssa that, ‘Oh, you do nothin ng. We’re here running three milles, and d you’re doing goalie training g. You’rre so lucky.’ I was put in that possition, and I was like, ‘Wow, we do nott give h her the credit she deserves.’

Go oalies aare just special creatures. I don’t kno ow how w they do that for fun.”

However, she made it clear to Evans that her job was secure, as Groenewold’s goalie days were done.

“The next three years, I said, ‘If you get hurt, I’m quitting,’ ” Groenewold said. “I’m not going back in goal.”

Fortunately for Evans, Groenewold and the Lady Horsemen, that didn’t happen.

Instead, Groenewold found her role in the back row as a defensive midfielder and helped anchor a defense that allowed just 14 goals and produced 16 shutouts as St. Michael’s won its ninth consecutive district title and reached the A-AAAA finals before losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to Albuquerque Hope Christian. uuu

While Groenewold was a first-team All-State soccer player, her heart belongs on the hardwood. She made that clear as her junior year came to an end and she decided to throw herself into her post play. She enlisted the help of then-St. Michael’s assistant athletic director Sara Baca, who is now the interim athletic director for Santa Fe Public Schools, to improve in that area.

Groenewold couldn’t have found a better mentor, as Baca was a center for the Lady Horsemen from 1998 to 2002 and played for NCAA Division II school St. Edward’s University. The pair spent the summer adding post moves and counter moves to Groenewold’s game, and it was a seamless transition.

“She is a little undersized in the post, but you could see the strength and the footwork from soccer for sure,” Baca said. “So we would try to get around [the lack of height] with her post play and use some of the tricks I knew. I told her, ‘Whatever you do, shot-fake.’ Everyone wants to get the block, and she was just really good at taking everything in.”

Using her blend of quickness and newfound post moves, Groenewold led St. Michael’s with a 16.9 pointsper-game average, along with hauling in seven rebounds per contest. Her versatility was such that she averaged two assists and steals per game.

All the while, she seemingly toyed with bigger post players, using her vast skills to avoid the dreaded swat.

“I told myself, ‘Don’t get blocked,’ ” Groenewold said. “I think I had maybe at the most eight, maybe 10 [shots blocked all season].”

In fact, by the end of the season, some teams didn’t bother putting a post on Groenewold, often using a wing or a guard to defend her.

“It was a sign that teams didn’t have a choice,” Romero said. “If they were going to guard her one-on-one, she was going to get their post players in foul trouble and get her points at the free-throw line. They started throwing double- and triple-teams at her when we got to the district season for sure.”

Groenewold was never better than in a District 5AAAA game at Santa Fe Indian School, as she scored 30 points in a 56-53 overtime win. That performance was a source of pride for Baca, who found ways to challenge her protégé even though she no longer was a mem-

ber of the St. Michael’s family.

“I would jokingly say before a game, ‘You better get 30 tonight,’ ” Baca said. “I told her my high score was 29, and her goal was to break that.”

Yet for all the success she and the Lady Horsemen had, Gronewold would gladly trade that in for one win over Albuquerque Hope Christian, the AAAA champion. The Lady Huskies dominated the two regular-season district games, then rallied from a threepoint deficit late in the 5AAAA tournament championship to take a 48-45 win.

It is one of the few regrets Groenewold has from her senior year.

“Knowing we were so close,” Groenewold said. “Those two other games were complete blowouts, and then we go into their gym and almost had them.

We had the ball and just needed to run out the clock. Just make them make the play and foul us, and then we start knocking our free throws down. Instead, we turn the ball over and they get a [three-point play].”

The other regret Groenewold has stems from the spring, as her goal was to repeat as the AAAA runner-up in the shot put. She held that spot with a throw of 35-1½ until the final throw in the finals, when Silver’s Aysia Salas launched a 35-10 put to snatch that spot.

“That just deflated everything,” Groenewold said.

It should be noted, however, that Groenewold came through in the discus. Seeded third in cold and rainy conditions that led to four weather delays on May 15 and pushed the finals to the next day, she slowly worked her way up from a 75-foot throw on her first try to 91-4 in her final attempt in the preliminaries to get to the finals.

Her final throw of 99-8 was a testament to the work she put in to become a successful thrower over her final two years on the track team.

“There was a bigger commitment on her part,” St. Michael’s head coach Joey Fernandez said. “She really pushed herself hard, to the point where she was really competing with herself and making herself better every time she threw.

That just comes with hard work.”

That work ethic will transfer from her athletic endeavors to the academic side, as she will tackle the difficult field of biomedical engineering at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. It’s such a new degree program, Groenewold said, that neither The University of New Mexico nor New Mexico State offers it.

“A lot of schools are barely incorporating it into their engineering schools,” Groenewold said.

While Groenewold plans to play intramural sports at the school, Velie lamented that the school is missing out on a treasure.

“She needs to play in college, even if it’s just one sport, whatever it is,” Velie said. “She needs to play. She’s too talented not to.”

That might be a greater secret revealed than the one Groenewold tried hard to keep for the past two weeks.