Northstars

NorthStars

NoRthERN NEw mExIco’s s top hIgh school AthlEtEs

2017 2018 Arj Ar rjay j y Ort rtiz t

Brandelyn Fulgenzi

cardinals’ all-around standout, page 6

cardinals’ queen of the courts, page 7

RED zoNE Arjay Ortiz and Brandelyn Fulgenzi of Las Vegas Robertson are Athletes of the Year

F R I D A Y, J U N E 8 , 2 0 1 8

s A N tA F E N E w m E x I c A N . c o m

2 NORTHSTARS Santa Fe New Mexican Friday, June 8, 2018

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Fall OcT. 13: A Class 6A school whose football team was staring down the barrel of a third straight season winless season, Santa Fe High had what was supposed to be an outmanned opponent to snap its streak.

Of course, it was Friday the 13th and Santa Fe High’s homecoming.

The opponent was 2A school Escalante, with an enrollment less than one-tenth of its opponent’s.

It was a truly bizarre day, as a deadly multi-car pileup near Pojoaque Pueblo delayed Escalante’s team bus and forced the game to start at 10 p.m.

No one told the Lobos they were supposed to be cannon fodder, though. They returned the opening kick 31 yards to midfield, then quarterback Cody Russom rumbled 48 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the game. Escalante never trailed, scoring the game’s final 33 points in a 39-6 win.

It was just the second time in state history a team in the largest classification lost to an 11-man team from the smallest.

NOv. 3: It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

Unbeaten through 16 matches leading into the Class 1A-4A state soccer semifinals, the top-seeded Santa Fe Prep girls went home early with a 2-1 loss in sudden-death overtime against No. 4 Socorro at the Bernalillo Soccer Complex. The golden goal came in the 93rd minute when Prep’s aggressive defensive style left Lady Warriors midfielder Consuelo Alvarado alone in front of the goal after a picture-perfect centering pass from teammate Danielle Moore.

The ball easily found the back of the net, ending the Griffins’ season in shocking fashion.

It was a year dominated by offense, one in which freshman Anna Swanson led the state in scoring and the team averaged more than six goals a game. However, it couldn’t get Prep over the hump. Despite playing tentatively at times in the first half, the Blue Griffins kept the forward pressure on as regulation moved through one overtime session into another.

When it was over, it almost seemed unfair.

NOv. 4: It’s a 40-minute drive between Taos and Peñasco, but the towns are connected by the cross country powerhouses they built over the last couple of years.

Never was that more apparent than at a cloud-covered Rio Rancho High School, where the two schools made it back-to-back team state championships.

Taos’ dominant trio of freshman Ella Katz, senior Cora Cannedy and middle-schooler Alyx Mastor helped the Lady Tigers dominate the Class 4A field with a performance that was the best in school history. Katz, Cannedy and Mastor finished 1-2-3, as the Lady Tigers scored 31 points to win the title.

Meanwhile, Peñasco put its own finishing touches on a title run as Carly Gonzales led three Lady Panthers across the finish line in the top five spots. Teammate Marciela MacAuley was third and Adrianna Tafoya fifth, each of them crossing the line in less than than 22 minutes, 30 seconds.

NOv. 11: Being good wasn’t nearly enough.

Despite a solid run that took them through the first two rounds of the Class 4A State Volleyball Tournament without dropping a single game, the Las Vegas Robertson Lady Cardinals were little more than a speed bump in the finals for the buzz saw that was two-time defending state champ Albuquerque Sandia Prep.

The Lady Sundevils swept Robertson in the championship match in Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. Sandia Prep won, 25-20, 25-20, 25-16, handing the Lady Cardinals just their third loss of the season and their second in head-to-head matches between the two. It continued a remarkable streak: The Lady Sundevils haven’t lost to a 4A opponent in two years.

Regardless, the Cards at least went out knowing they had faced the best with everything on the line.

Dec. 2: How much can one program take?

In what was one of the best prep football championship games ever played, Las Vegas Robertson finished on the wrong end of the score for a third straight year when visiting Ruidoso made off with a wild, unbelievable 57-54 win in the Class 4A title game in the Meadow City.

The game featured a dozen lead changes, 16 touchdowns, nearly 1,200 yards in total offense, a 99 1/2-yard touchdown pass and 14 points in the final 1:12 of the game.

The final play was simply the latest of Robertson heartbreaks.

Its third straight loss in the state championship game ended with five seconds left, when Ruidoso quarterback Brennan Stewart rolled to his right at the Cardinals’ 5-yard line and floated the clinching TD pass to the back corner to an open receiver.

It followed championship losses to Hatch Valley and Portales the previous two years and was the school’s eighth championship appearance in 17 seasons.

THE MOMENTS OF 2017-2018

Escalante’s Anthony Martinez tackles Santa Fe’s Zach Russell during the their matchup at Ivan Head Stadium. Escalante never trailed, scorOcT. 13 ing the game’s final 33 points in a 39-6 win.

LUIS SáNCHEZ SATURNO/NEW MExICAN FILE PHOTO

SPRING

Santa Fe Prep coach Tove Shere cheers her athletes at the May 5-6 podium during the small-school track and field championships in Albuquerque. The Prep girls won the state team title in Shere’s final year as coach.

WINTER Feb. 17: Taos ended a 29-year trophy drought, Isaiah Martinez earned some vindication, while Javier Tapia continued to follow in his brother’s footsteps at the state wrestling championships in the Santa Ana Star Center.

Thanks to Jessie Ayala’s pin of Silver’s Isaiah Sanchez in the 220-pound championship, the Tigers beat Las Vegas Robertson 153-152 for third place in the Class 1A-4A team standings and took home a green trophy. It was the first time the program finished on the podium since winning back-to-back 1A-3A titles in 1988 and 1989.

Meanwhile, Martinez erased the memories of his overtime loss to Rio Rancho’s Ryan Rochford in the 152-pound 6A finals in 2017 by beating Las Cruces’ Brandon Baeza 9-3 at 170.

Then there was Tapia, the younger brother to five-time champion Jose Tapia. The Pojoaque Valley junior eked out a 2-1 win over Taos’ Estevan Valerio in the 170 1A-4A championship for his third state title.

Feb. 17: The Blue Griffins of Santa Fe Prep were definitely blue — but it was a good thing.

The boys swimming team won its second straight small-school title at the State Swimming and Diving Championships at Albuquerque Academy by a 71-40 count over Albuquerque Sandia Prep. Much of the credit for Prep’s second straight blue trophy can go to senior Riley Kinlaw, who helped the Blue Griffins set a number of school records.

While all swimming programs compete against each other at the state meet, the small-school title is determined by which team finishes highest in the combined competition.

Kinlaw had a strong day for the Blue Griffins, finishing sixth in both the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke. He also was part of the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relay teams, which were fifth and 10th, respectively, and set school records.

Los Alamos’ Sara Shiina ended her senior year on a strong note, finishing third in the girls 100-yard butterfly, eighth in the 100 backstroke and helping the 200 medley relay to a seventh-place finish.

MARcH 6: It is never easy to beat a team four times in a season, but that was the task No. 2 seed Las Vegas Robertson faced when it took on No. 7 Pojoaque Valley in the Class 4A quarterfinals in The Pit. The Lady Cardinals beat Pojoaque by double digits in two District 2-4A games and the district tournament championship, but thanks to foul trouble on Robertson junior forward Alianza Darley, Pojoaque rallied from an 11-point deficit to win 58-52 in overtime.

Pojoaque took advantage of Darley’s absence for much of the first half with three fouls and led 23-22. Robertson scored the first eight points of the third quarter and built a 38-27, but it came at a cost: Darley picked up her fourth foul.

When Darley was whistled for her final foul and went to the bench with 6:28 left in regulation, Pojoaque steadily chipped away at the deficit and took a 47-44 lead before Robertson’s Maria Barela drained a 3 with :13 left to tie the score. Pojoaque then outscored Robertson 11-5 in the extra period to steal the spotlight.

MARcH 9: Gilbert Mascareñas wouldn’t let “The Pit effect” take away from the Peñasco Lady Panthers’ memorable season.

Despite a 25 percent shooting performance from the field and a 1-for-16 effort from 3-point range in a 49-38 loss for the Class

2A girls basketball championship against Fort Sumner/House, Mascareñas took pride in the No. 2 Lady Panthers’ journey.

“If somebody could have come and said after our loss to Escalante [in a 2A first-round game] last year, ‘Hey you’re going to be in the state championship this year,’ ” Mascareñas said, “I would have been, ‘Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. It’s going to be hard.’ And we got here.”

Peñasco got there thanks to the post play of sophomore and AllState first-teamer Carly Gonzales, who scored four straight points in the fourth quarter to get her team within 39-35, and the guard play of Bianca Contreras, who managed nine points against the Vixens.

Perhaps it was merely an audition for a repeat performance — the Lady Panthers return all but one player for the 2018-19 season.

MARcH 10: Anyone seeking an example of what makes “Championship Saturday” so special in New Mexico needed to show up for the Class 3A and 5A boys basketball championship games.

The residents of Pecos and Española were in full force to support their teams as they played for a state title. Pecos fans were rewarded with a sterling fourth-quarter performance by the Panthers, who used a 21-3 scoring run to secure a 58-44 win over undefeated Texico for a second straight state title.

Two hours later, The Pit was awash in a sea of red and gold as Española Valley took on Belen for the 5A title. The Eagles were up to the challenge, though, as Garrett Gallegos drained six 3-pointers and the Sundevils were held without a field goal in the third quarter to lift Belen to its first state title, 73-65.

Pecos used the combination of a 1-3-1 zone defense, a frenetic pace and 10 3-pointers to wear out the top-seeded Wolverines.

Senior wing Mario Archuleta then exploded for 10 of his teamhigh 18 points in the fourth quarter.

Española overcame Gallegos’ three 3-pointers in the opening moments of the 5A game and an early 10-point deficit to take a 37-33 halftime lead. The Sundevils were undone, though, by a threepoint third quarter as the Eagles took a 50-40 lead into the fourth.

From left, Pecos Panthers Josh DeHerrera, Mario Archuleta MarcH 10 and Carlos Cordova celebrate winning Pecos’ second straight state title in The Pit. Pecos beat previously undefeated Texico 58-44.

Ella Katz, right, and the Taos High School cross country team ran away NOv. 4 with the state title in a performance that was the best in school history. Katz won the girls individual title.

NEW MExICAN FILE PHOTOS BY JUAN ANTONIO LABRECHE

MAy 4-6: It was a Fulgenzi and Las Vegas Robertson fan-fest at Jerry Cline Tennis Complex.

The “First Family” of Northern New Mexico tennis continued to add to its legacy at the Class 1A-4A State Individual Tennis Championships. Senior Brandelyn Fulgenzi capped her remarkable run with her fifth state title and her second singles championship when she needed just a half-hour to beat Portales’ Sarah Blaeser, 6-0, 6-0. Meanwhile, cousins Jenese and Lauren Fulgenzi easily handled Santa Fe Prep’s eighth-grade team of Isabel Voinescu and Grace Vivian, 6-0, 6-1.

On the boys side, Nico Fulgenzi teamed up with Gabe Gregory to roll through the 1A-4A doubles bracket to give the Cardinals a third individual championship. Fulgenzi and Gregory capped their run by beating Bosque’s Gus Voelker and Morgan Wong, 6-2, 6-3, for the title.

Two days later in the team tournament, Robertson celebrated a fifth straight 1A-4A girls title, while the boys took second.

MAy 5-6: Tove Shere went out in style.

The longtime track and field coach at Santa Fe Prep finished her career with the program’s fourth girls state title, as the Blue Griffins cruised to a 71-56 win over Capitan in the small-school track and field championships at Great Friends of UNM Track Complex. Shere’s tough but loving relationship with her athletes over the years earned her the nickname “track mom” by many of them.

In their final ode to Shere, both boys and girls did their part to send her off on a high note. Sam Sparks won the boys triple jump, while Sean Coles became the high jump champion. Hayden Colfax headlined the girls’ accomplishments with wins in the triple jump and the 100 hurdles, to go with a third in the 300 hurdles and a fourth in the long jump.

Prep and Shere shared the spotlight, though. Deven Thompson of New Mexico School for the Deaf won the discus and shot put titles in 1A, Frankie Ortiz won the 100 meters for Mesa Vista, while teammate Abrianna Griego took the 200 and 400 titles.

MAy 8: A year ago, Mother Nature helped St. Michael’s girls win a state golf title.

This time, the Lady Horsemen needed no assistance.

Paced by a second-place from Carisa Padilla and a fourth from Miquela Martinez, St. Michael’s rallied from a 10-shot deficit to Albuquerque Hope Christian in the second round of the Class 1A-4A tournament at Albuquerque’s Canyon Club to win with a 233-over 809 total that was seven strokes better than the Lady Huskies.

Last year, rain canceled the second round of the event, and St. Michael’s rode a 388 to beat Silver by seven strokes.

On the boys side, Taos Josh Fambro’s second-round score of 74 was enough to best Hope Christian’s Jacob Lucero by three shots after the two carded identical 78s in the opening round. In Hobbs, the Los Alamos boys were a model of consistency, carding rounds of 314 and 315 to beat Albuquerque Academy by 19 strokes.

MAy 11: A basketball-crazed community turned into baseball fans.

A town known more for its passion for roundball found itself loving hardball this spring as the Mora Rangers became the supreme team in Class 1A/2A after a 12-2 rout of Mesilla Valley in the championship game at Isotopes Park.

Mora senior starting pitcher Javier Branch allowed just four hits and no walks for a five-inning complete game as the Rangers invoked the 10-run mercy rule. The Rangers did all of their damage in the second and third innings, with eight runs coming in the third to expand a 4-2 lead. They were equal parts aggressive and patient, recording eight hits and nine walks while Son Blazer pitchers hit four batters.

MAy 10-11: What Jonah Vigil started in April, the Taos junior sprinter ended in May. Almost a month after he shocked the state with a 46.99-second time in the 400 meters in the Marilyn Sepulveda Meet of Champions at Great Friends of UNM Track Complex, Vigil returned to cap a sensational season.

Vigil set a state record (which only can be set at the state track and field championships) in the race with a time of 47.01 in the preliminaries, then took the 400 title the next day as he won all three sprints (100, 200, 400) and the long jump in the 4A meet.

Taos dominated the headlines for the state meet, as the boys won their fifth straight 4A team title and the girls won their first in four years. The Lady Tigers had Faith Powell win all three jumping events (high, triple and long), while Cora Cannedy topped the 1,600 and 3,200 and Abigail Gunther took the pole vault title.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe High’s Riannah Varela went from fourth place in the 6A triple jump to uncharted territory on her final attempt — a distance of 38 feet, 81/4 inches that would have been a state mark but was wind-aided.

Lauren Chafins ended her running career at St. Michael’s with her second 400 title, Las Vegas Robertson’s Arjay Ortiz earned individual titles in the high jump and 300 hurdles, West Las Vegas’ Miguel Coca swept the distance events (800, 1,600, 3200) and Los Alamos’ Rebecca Green won the discus and shot put in the 5A meet.

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4 NORTHSTARS Santa Fe New Mexican Friday, June 8, 2018

Friday, June 8, 2018 Santa Fe New Mexican NORTHSTARS 5

RiChaRd aRMiJo

CoRa Cannedy

bRandelyn FulGenzi

JaVieR ViGil

ChRiStian FeRnandez

aRJay oRtiz

Las Vegas Robertson Big-school baseball A big factor in the Cardinals’ run to a district championship was the man in the middle. The team’s starting shortstop and one of its top pitchers, this senior helped the ‘Birds win 23 games and reach the Class 4A quarterfinals. A slap hitter whose team-high 48 hits included five doubles, three triples and a home run, he was a difficult out. He struck out just eight times in 107 plate e earances while batting appe .511 with an on-base percenttage pushing .600.

Taos Big-school cross country The senior led a young group of Lady Tigers to the Class 4A title, giving her four blue championship trophies and one runner-up in her career. She finished second to freshman phenom Ella Katz in the state meet, but was consistently one of the Lady Tigers’ top runners. She won the Taos Invitational (Sept. ( p 16)) and the Capital City inv invite in consecutive weekss, took fo ourth in the champ pionship division of the Rio R Rancho Ja amboree on Oct. 14 and se econd at the Los A Alamos in nvite a week later.

Las Vegas Robertson Big-school volleyball A jill-of-all-trades, but the master of the spike. The Lady Cardinals’ senior almost never left the court, which demonstrated her versatility on a team that reached the Class 4A championship match. Fulgenzi’s forte was at the net, where she recorded 16 kills per match and her 387 kills were best in 4A.

Pojoaque Valley Wrestling Eight isn’t enough. Not even close. With one year left to add onto his prep résumé, this Elks junior has his sights set on a fourth state championship next February. He picked up his third — and the family’s eighth after brother Jose’s five in a row between 2013-17 — with an undefeated run to the 170pound title in 1A-4A. It was his second straight season without a loss and was the fourth time in as many years that he has reached the state finals, the first coming at 106 pounds as an n eighth eighthgrader at Capital.

Española Valley Big-school basketball He was the best player on 5A’s best team, leading the Sundevils to the brink of a state title with the kind of play that made him a standout player since middle school. Gifted with speed and lateral quickness, the 5-foot-9 senior point guard was more of a facilitator than a pure scorer, a perfect fit on a team that emphasized balanced scoring and tempo of play. A solid shooter, he was clutch at the free-throw line and embraced the pressure of the big stage stage, the kind of pressure everyone who plays p y basketball for the Sundevils comes to understand.

Las Vegas Robertson Big-school football The opposing team’s game plan was simple: Stop the Cardinals’ senior quarterback.

Actually doing it, though, was another matter. Ortiz threw for 1,767 yards and 19 touchdowns as he led Robertson to its third straight Class 4A championship game. He also was the team’s leading rusher with 1,864 yards and ran for 11 touchdowns, to boot. As if that wasn’t enough, the New Mexico Highlands Universitybound player had a team-best 100 tackles and nine interceptions on the defensive end.

anthony Paul MaRtinez Escalante Small-school football Martinez, a senior, wasn’t the biggest (5-foot-2) or the fastest player on the field, but he played bigger and faster than he appeared.

Martinez was a dual threat, running for 294 yards and collecting 455 yards in the air as Escalante reached the Class 2A championship game. In Escalante’s signature win of the season — a 39-6 win over Class 6A’s Santa Fe High on Oct. Oct 13 — he had a hd 69 69-yard d ttouchdown run and a 3 35-yard catch for a TD. TD

hayden ColFax

deVen thoMPSon

JoSh deheRReRa

JoSh FaMbRo

alianza daRley

Santa Fe Prep Small-school track and field Two firsts, a team state title and d five triips to the podium. Not a bad weekend at the state track meet for this Prep junior. Colfax manhandled the field in the 100-meter hurdles, winning by more than half a second to capture one of her two individual state titles. The other came in the triple jump, when she went three inches farther than anyone else.

New Mexico School for the Deaf Small-school track and field Standing 6-foot-10, Thompson, a juniior, won the sttatte title in the sh hott put and discus by using his enormous leverage to go farther than everyone else. His toss of more than 46 feet in the shot put was half a dozen feet beyond anyone else in the field.

Pecos Small-school cross country DeH Herrera was one of many ta alented runners who led d the Panthers to theirr third straight Class 3A team title, but he always seemed to be ne ear the front of the pac ck. He finished second at the 3A state meet on Nov. 4, as Pecos placed five runners in the top nine to run away with the blue tro ophy. DeHerrera was the e steady No. 1 runne er for the Panthers, le eading their charge in the District 2-3A ch hampionship and also winning the home Ron Valdez Memorrial Invitational meet Sept. 23.

Taos Golf It was pushing 90 degrees the day this Tigers junior clinched the individual 1A-4A state championship, yet he was decked out in his traditional golf attire: Slacks and a pressed polo. As nice as he looked, he played even better. Josh parlayed a first-round lead at the state tournament into a three-stroke victory in the final round to become the first Taos golfer to win an NMAA championship.

Las Vegas Robertson Big-school basketball This 5-foot-11 junior led 4A in scoring (18.1). Tall enough to start at center and quick enough to play the perimeter game, she plays like a guard but can post up against almost anyone. She played her best games down the stretch, averaging 22.8 points and 5 rebounds the final 13 games. That included a 36-point, 9-rebound night against Pojoaque Valley in the district tournament tournament.

HonorRoll onorRoll

KendRa duRan Las Vegas Robertson Softball It would be difficult to tell the history of Lady Cardinals softball without mentioning the contributions of this celebrated senior. She batted .429 with 10 home runs and 26 RBIs, scoring a team-high 42 runs in the process.

Her primary position was ace of the pitching staff. She won 16 games, striking out 162 of the 344 batters she faced.

In five years on varsity, Robertson won 109 games — 58 games as a pitcher — and collected a school-record 36 home runs, 138 RBIs and 132 hits.

Top o aThleTes so of 201 2017-18 SATURNO/THE NEW PHOTOS By LUIS SáNCHEz S THE NEW MExICAN; MExIC CAN AND JANE PHILLIPS/FOR T CAPSULES By WILL WEBBER AN C ND JAMES BARRON; DESIGN By BRIAN BARKER//THE NEW MExICAN

bRandelyn FulGenzi

Faith Powell

RoSe Moon

CaRiSa Padill Padilla

aRthuR SteinKaMP

CaRly GonzaleS

Las Vegas Robertson Tennis Unbeaten in 35 singles matches and 15 tries at doubles, this Lady Cardinals senior established herself as one of the most dominant players the state has seen in years. She won her first 13 singles matches without dropping a single game and finished her final year in Robertson red without losing a set.

Fulgenzi steamrolled her way through the singles draw at state for 1A-4A, winning her second singles title and fifth (two doubles) overall.

Taos Big-school track and field There might be a person or two who can run faster than this Lady Tigers junior, but no one can jump higher or farther. She dominated the jumping events at the 4A state meet, winning the long jump by nearly a foot and a half, the triple jump by 13 1/2 inches and then capped it with a win in the high jump at 5-4. Her leaping ability makes others stop and watch when her name is called. She routinely drew crowds during the state meet thanks to a style that makes it look almost easy.

Santa Fe Waldorf Small-school volleyball Moon’s hitting prowess is known throughout the state, but the junior showed off her versatility by taking over the setter position for a couple of District 1-1A matches. She had 23 assists in a four-game win over Walatowa on Oct. 13, then recorded 15 assists Oct. 18 in a sweep of New Mexico School for the Deaf.

Otherwise, she was a force on the outside, recording 398 kills, second-best in the state. She led the state with 86 aces, as Waldorf reached the Class 1A semifinals for the second time in the past four years.

St. Michael’s Golf Every team needs an anchor, a go-to person to serve as the cornerstone for something bigger and better. This sophomore was all those things and more the past two years with the Lady Horsemen.

She led the team, which barely had enough girls to field a roster for the postseason, to a second straight 1A-4A state title in May. Her short putt on the final hole on the tournament’s last day nailed down a seven-stroke team victory.

Los Alamos Soccer Steinkamp, a junior forward, was the answer man for the Hilltoppers.

His 26 goals scored was second most in Class 5A and fourth most in the state for the 2017 season.

Steinkamp tallied a hat trick in a 4-0 win over Taos on Sept. 5 and four goals in a 6-0 win over Roswell Goddard at the Albuquerque Academy Invitational on Sept. 8.

He shined in the Class 5A State Tournament, scoring three of Los Alamos’ four goals in helping the Hilltoppers reach the semifinals.

Peñasco Small-school cross country Gonzales helped the Lady Panthers to a secondstraight Class 1A/2A title Nov. 4 and captured her second individual state championship in three years at the state meet.

It was her fifth individual title of the year: Gonzales won the District 5-2A meet, the small-school division of the Rio Rancho Jamboree, the Northern New Mexico Challenge and the Bosque Invitational. She also was a part of a district tournament championship volleyball squad, which won that title on the same day Peñasco won its state cross country crown.

anna na SwanSon Santa Fe Prep Soccer Only a freshman, Swanson was a scoring machine that helped Prep to its first district title in 12 years. She scored a state-best 49 goals in 2017 and averaged a hat trick per match as Prep went 15-1-1 and reached the Class 1A/4A semifinals.

Twice she scored six goals (against East Mountain on Aug. 31 and Pojoaque Valley on Oct. 7) and she had a pair of five-goal performances. She will be a force for years to come for the Blue Griffins.

MaRio aRChuleta

alonzo aRaGon

MiGuel CoCa

Pecos Small-school basketball Decades from now, people in Pecos still will be talking about the back-to-back state champions led by this guy, an All-State 6-foot combo guard who could drive to the basket, shoot from the perimeter and defend like no one’s business. He led the Panthers in scoring (15.8), assists (2.7) and blocked shots (0.7), but his biggest contribution may have been his style of play both on the court and in the locker room. A confident, coachable player who never let his emotions get the best of him, he embodied the Pecos way with hustle and an unshakable work ethic, traits he learned while leading the team through its greatest two-year stretch ever.

Mora Small-school baseball It’s said that the best baseball players get a hit only three out of 10 times at the plate. For this Rangers senior, make that seven out of 10. His ridiculous .709 batting average was a huge factor in Mora’s run to a small-school state championship in May. Aragon finished with 56 hits, 27 of which went for extra bases, good for a crazy 1.944 OPS. He also drove in a team-high 44 with 38 runs scored and struck out just three times in 85 trips to the plate.

West Las Vegas Big-school cross country Coca headed the “Big Three” running trio that included J.J. Esquibel and Mikah Paiz for much of the regular season.

The group’s biggest contribution was sweeping the top three spots in the Class 4A state championship on Nov. 4 to lead the Dons to a thirdplace finish. Coca dominated the race, winning in a time of 16 minutes, 20.05 seconds, one of four races he won during the season. Coca showed his strength on the same Rio Rancho High School course three weeks earlier by winning the large-school division race at the Rio Rancho Jamboree on Oct. 14.

CaRly GonzaleS Peñasco Small-school basketball Just moments after her team was beaten in the 2A state championship game in The Pit, this Lady Panthers sophomore admitted she never liked running all that much. Strange, because it’s her ability to get from Point A to Point B in no time that makes her such a dangerous player for one of the best teams in the state. A guard who has the ability to beat opponents off the dribble, she did most of her work by getting a step on drives to the basket or creating space for an open look anywhere inside of 20 feet. With two years of eligibility remaining, she demonstrated time and again she’s a talent worth watching.

Gabe GReGoRy and niCo FulGenzi Las Vegas Robertson Tennis Behold, the latest chapter in the story that is the Fulgenzi tennis factory. An eighthgrader who has for years been the projected male heir to the family’s tennis dynasty, Fulgenzi paired with Gregory, a junior, to form an undefeated doubles team that won the 1A-4A state title in May. While such an accomplishment is simply the Fulgenzi way, it was a welcome change of pace for his counterpart. Gregory went 32-1 while paired with various teammates throughout the season but was 13-0 when playing alongside Fulgenzi.

Jonah ViGil

Riley Kinla aw

SaRa Shiina

Taos Big-school track and field Let’s see … high point athlete, check. Four-time individual winner, check.

Team champ, check. State record-holder, check.

About the only thing this Tigers junior didn’t do during the state meet was sell bootleg shirts out of his car. He shattered the 17-year-old state mark in the 400 meter preliminaries (47.01 seconds), then posted the second-fastest time ever the next day in the finals. He also won the 100, 200 and long jump and helped the 400 relay to a win as the Taos track dynasty picked up another team title.

Santa Fe Prep Swimming He reached the podium three times in four events during the state meet, but his most memorable trip came after his sixth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly finals. Sitting in last place at the midway point, he passed two rivals before touching the wall in 53.50 seconds. He had another sixthplace finish in the record-setting 100 breaststroke finals.

Los Alamos Swimming The senior will be best remembered for her remarkable finish in the final few strokes of the 100-yard butterfly finals at the state meet in February.

In last place at the halfway point, she miraculously worked her way through the pack to finish third in a time of 59.54 seconds. It was one of four events Shiina swam that weekend.

6 NORTHSTARS Santa Fe New Mexican Friday, June 8, 2018

Arjay Ortiz Las Vegas RobeRtson

By Will Webber

wwebber@sfnewmexican.com

T

hey rolled in, one after another.

Some were rude, others hateful and misinformed. Most were just downright mean.

One suggested he’d one day be the best player in prison. Another said he was stupid and hot-headed, unworthy of wearing his school’s uniform.

As if attracted to the sting the words delivered, Arjay Ortiz read nearly all of them. They came in waves for days over social media; at breakfast, in class, overnight as he slept.

“Yeah, it was bad,” Ortiz says. “Facebook, Twitter, all that stuff. Most of those people don’t know anything about me and there they were writing the worst things. That’s not me, that’s not what I’m about. But none of them cared, you know?”

A senior at Las Vegas Robertson, Ortiz had made headlines just days before when he ran into the bleachers to confront heckling fans at St. Michael’s following a district tournament loss in late February. The taunts were relentless.

He’d been hearing them in some form or fashion for years. The son of a pair of (in their words) competitive, type-A personalities — parents who’d made names for themselves as college athletes at New Mexico Highlands and later as teachers and coaches at various schools — Ortiz was used to seeing emotions boiling over.

“He was always in the gym or on the track, with us or doing something on his own,” says Arjay’s mother, April Ortiz. “He was one of those little kids who had that fear of missing out. He had to be down with us on the floor if we were coaching, but if you’re down there you start to see and hear all that stuff. Even as a little kid you hear it.”

As he moved from middle school up to Robertson, Arjay was already one of the most recognized athletes in Las Vegas. He excelled in everything he tried — soccer, baseball, basketball, football. By time he was a junior, he was one of the top athletes in Northern New Mexico.

As a senior in 2017-18, he was a well-established three-sport star, leading the Robertson football team to the state championship game three years in a row. He carried the Cardinals’ basketball team into the playoffs despite a roster that was more JV than varsity. He was a multi-event track star in the spring.

His accomplishments and all the gaudy stats made him an easy choice as The New Mexican’s North Stars Athlete of the Year for 2017-18.

On that cold night in Santa Fe, however, push literally came to shove. No punches were thrown and Arjay left the St. Mike’s gym almost as quickly as he’d marched up the first few rows to confront the fans, but the damage was clearly done.

“I could see it in his eyes,” said Arjay’s father, Benny Ortiz. “I knew he was about to break.”

The New Mexico Activities Association suspended Arjay from the Cardinals’ state tournament opener at powerhouse Albuquerque Hope Christian. The ruling came down just two days before the game.

The Ortiz family gathered outside the meeting room with a Robertson administrator and the school’s basketball coach. Everyone was prepared to file an injunction, to fight the ruling long enough to help Arjay play at state.

“We’re all heartbroken and crying and talking about what to do next,” April says. “It was Arjay’s decision not to fight it. He said he wanted to let it go, that he didn’t want his name out there anymore and that he would accept the consequences. That was the moment where my son had matured and become a man because he took it, accepted it and decided to move on.”

In some ways, she said, it was one of the best things that ever happened to Arjay. He’d matured practically overnight in the face of adversity — much the same way he became a leader in the wake of what he describes as the worst moments he’d ever had in football.

It was homecoming week of his sophomore year. Capital was in town and the Jaguars were pushing all the right buttons in the first half behind star quarterback Augie Larrañaga. Ortiz had missed a key tackle that led directly to one score, then threw an interception moments later.

A handful of older teammates began lashing out on the field, then the coaches chewed him out on the sidelines. At halftime it erupted as teammates tag-teamed their criticisms to the point where Ortiz stormed out of the locker room and was benched the rest of the game.

“Yeah,” he says. “They were on me and I probably didn’t handle it the best, but the next day in film some of those guys talked to me and we worked it out.”

The Cardinals won 10 straight games that season but lost in the state championship at Hatch Valley. While the team may have lost, it was actually the program’s gain. Ortiz had become a bona fide leader who, at the age of just 16, took no flak from anyone.

“I was always kind of joking and having fun

Cardinals quarterback Arjay Ortiz, right, led the Robertson football team to the state championship game three years in a row. New MexicaN File photoS

TesTed buT unbroken

All-around standout Ortiz excels on field, matures off of it

Ortiz won the Class 4A high jump and the 300 hurdles in the spring.

before that,” he says. “After that I was always serious on the field, in practices, in the locker room.

Leaders can’t be out there laughing when things go wrong.”

His junior year was even better, but it ended the same. The football team lost again in the title game, the basketball team beat rival West Las Vegas in the state tournament but was pounded

by Hope in the semifinals, and Arjay was still finding his way in track.

But everything fell into place this past season.

He was easily the top quarterback in Class 4A, leading the Cards back to the championship game — another loss — while leading the state in blocked shots in hoops. In track he dominated the 300-meter hurdles and finished the state meet with the second-most points of anyone in 4A.

Perhaps most notably, Ortiz also had a ferocious bout with mononucleosis. It started in late December and lingered into March. Already a lean 6-foot-2 and 163 pounds when he got sick, he dropped below 150 during basketball season. He felt completely drained and lethargic but still led the team in scoring (21.0), rebounds (7.9), assists (3.9), blocks (2.3) and steals (2.1). It wasn’t until this spring that he finally started to feel better.

Once he did, the energy came back like a tidal wave and he packed on nearly two dozen pounds of muscle to get to his current 171.

He signed to play football at Highlands in February, passing up chances to play at Eastern New Mexico and a couple of small schools out of state.

The Cowboys recruited him as a quarterback but have floated the idea of moving him to safety or

“We have one precious life: do something extraordinary today, even if it’s tiny. A pebble starts the avalanche.”

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wide receiver.

“Honestly, I’d like a redshirt year just so I can get into the weight room, learn their playbook and get a little older, but if they wanted me at kicker I’d go out there right now and do that,” Arjay says.

If anything defined Arjay as an athlete his senior year, it was the sheer lunacy of his improvisational skills as a quarterback. Although his team beat Ortiz in the championship game last December, Ruidoso head coach Kief Johnson said after a wild 57-54 victory that game-planning for Robertson’s offense was nearly impossible because Ortiz was completely unpredictable once things broke down.

“You got him running around all over the place, extending plays and making my guys miss,” Johnson said at the time. “You think you got him and there he is making some crazy play look easy.”

In what would have been the signature moment of Arjay’s football career, he pulled a final rabbit out his hat when he scrambled free on fourthand-18 from his own 30 in the final two minutes with his team trailing by a field goal. He bought enough time to send a wobbly bomb into triple coverage 48 yards away, a pass that was caught to keep the drive alive. The Cards scored two plays later but, memorably, gave up the game-winning touchdown to Ruidoso with just five seconds left.

“I’ll remember things like that, yeah, but not so much the loss as it’s the other things,” Arjay says. “Just being out there with my best friends, my brothers, playing for a championship at home.

Things like that are what I’ll take with me.”

The ability to squelch the noise will be Ortiz’s mission as a college athlete. With the hope of one day suiting up at quarterback at NMHU or possibly playing a little basketball in the Wilson Complex for the Cowboys, he knows he’s got the unwavering support of a family that understands his passion as much as they feel the pain when someone criticizes him for having it.

“People are going to say whatever they want about how he plays,” April says. “One thing they shouldn’t do is question his character, but they do it anyway. What they don’t see is someone who always has the desire to get better and put in the work to do it. He’s had lapses just like everyone else, but they don’t see the maturity he’s learned from being out there in those situations.”

On the brink of the next chapter in his life, Arjay Ortiz has the kind of perspective some young adults never quite achieve. When he takes stock of his life, he sees opportunities where sports provided a chance to learn the hard way.

They were lessons forged in good times and bad.

“I didn’t ever think I’d stay in Las Vegas because I always had that feeling of wanting to leave,” Arjay says. “Of all the offers I got, Highlands was the best and, yeah, the more I think about it the better I feel about it. I’ve gone through a lot to get here and this is where I want to be.”

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Friday, June 8, 2018 Santa Fe New Mexican NORTHSTARS 7

Las Vegas RobeRtson

Brandelyn Fulgenzi

Las Vegas Robertson’s Brandelyn Fulgenzi, left, spikes a ball during the Class 4A State Volleyball Championship. New MexicaN File photoS

Brandelyn Fulgenzi, shown in 2014, will next play tennis at Incarnate Word, a Division I school in San Antonio, Texas.

Queen of The neTs

For five-time state tennis champion, dominance on courts in her blood

By James Barron

jbarron@sfnewmexican.com

T

he ingredients for making a North Stars female athlete of the year: u One part Fulgenzi; u One part C’de Baca; u Stir in a healthy dose of work ethic; u Mix and repeat.

It’s hard to argue against the success that the marriage of Warren and Stacy (nee C’de Baca) Fulgenzi produced — four supremely talented kids who have made their mark in the Northern New Mexico sports scene.

Warren Fulgenzi Jr., the oldest of the quartet, won three state tennis titles playing at Santa Fe High and Las Vegas Robertson while also playing basketball at both schools. Lauren, the third child and a sophomore at Robertson, has three doubles titles and was the starting setter on consecutive Class 4A runner-up volleyball teams. The youngest is Nico, an eighth-grader who already added to his family’s considerable tennis legacy with a state doubles title this spring.

Then there is Brandelyn, the oldest daughter. She will continue the Fulgenzi tradition of playing collegiate tennis at University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, in the fall.

It helps that she’s a five-time state champion (thrice a doubles champion, twice as a singles player) for two programs — Santa Fe High and Robertson — but she did more than just make a name for herself on just one court.

Brandelyn was a two-time Class 4A All-State volleyball player while playing the last three seasons at Robertson. Her versatility on the court — Brandelyn never left the court, even when she went to the back row — helped the Lady Cardinals reach the semifinals three times and the state championship match as a junior and a senior.

Because of her unparalleled success in two sports, Brandelyn Fulgenzi was named The New Mexican’s North Stars athlete of the year for the 2017-18 school year.

Brandelyn acknowledged she thought she might be in the running for the honor, but was still pleasantly surprised to learn of her selection.

“I didn’t know if it would be me,” she said. “I was like, ‘Wow!’ It was good that it happened for my last year to be the athlete of the year.”

Brandelyn’s athletic achievements came as little surprise to her parents, who coached her in each of her sports (Stacy Fulgenzi in volleyball, Warren Sr. in tennis). They saw their daughter’s potential at an early age, though Warren Sr. withheld his judgment of Brandelyn until she graduated from Robertson two weeks ago.

“I haven’t said much through the years,” Warren Sr. said.

“Now that her high school career is over, I can say she is as talented an athlete as I have ever seen.”

Dad saw it when he started training Brandelyn when she was 3 years old, rolling a ball to her across the floor of their Santa Fe home as she used her tennis racquet to slap-shot it back to him for 10 minutes a day.

“She would track the ball and brush it across the floor,” Warren Sr. said. “With the exception of the ball not bouncing, it was just like tennis.”

Brandelyn’s indoctrination to volleyball also came at home, but as a 5-year-old when she and Stacy would bump the ball

back and forth in the living room.

“We just used a little dodgeball to start,” Stacy said. “Most of the time, kids start swinging wildly and don’t understand how to use their legs. But she was doing that and using her platform. I’m usually chasing the ball all over the place, but with her, it was nice and smooth and it was so much fun. If we wanted to, we could have bumped all day.”

That was a C’de Baca trait: Stacy and her older sister, Albuquerque Volcano Vista head coach Dawn C’de Baca, played for Robertson and New Mexico Highlands University from the late-1980s to the early-1990s.

So, it’s no surprise to C’de Baca that Brandelyn followed right in Mom’s footsteps.

“I haven’t seen an all-around player like that in a long time,” C’de Baca said. “She can play all six positions and play them so well. I think she is just one of those players who can be an asset anywhere on the court, and that is awesome to have.”

Her stats in 2017 bear that out. Brandelyn recorded a Class 4A-best 387 kills, and was second on the team in aces (29), serves received (302) and digs (441). She even averaged 1.5 blocks per match and had nine assists. Put those figures together, and Brandelyn’s selection for first-team All-State was a no-brainer.

“I know some people are just good at hitting and others are just good at passing,” Brandelyn said. “I wanted to be a good, overall player so I could contribute a lot.”

Brandelyn’s versatility was never in question. Tennis is her first love, and volleyball is not far behind, but she also tried basketball and soccer growing up. She played basketball at Santa Fe High and Robertson until she was a sophomore, but then decided to focus on her two favorite sports.

But with that last name, tennis may have

been her destiny. Growing up, Brandelyn routinely played in United States Tennis Association junior circuit tournaments, and she was often the youngest in her bracket.

Warren Sr. recalled a tournament in which a 7-year-old “Brandee” played Juliana Guerin, who won singles titles at Robertson in 2010 and 2012 and was twice her age. “… Brandee beat her, I think, [6-3, 6-3], and she was tiny,” recalled Fulgenzi.

Brandelyn grew to 5-foot-8, and in the process, became dominant, with a 119-2 career mark in singles and 72-0 in doubles. That included a year stint at Santa Fe High as an eighth grader during which she won her first championship — a doubles title with Greta Miller.

Tennis also led to a series of changes not just for Brandelyn, but the entire family. Warren Sr. was the head tennis coach at Santa Fe High for a few months in 2014, but resigned over issues regarding court space as the school’s facilities were deemed unplayable.

When Warren Jr. completed the boys basketball season with the Demons in February of 2015, the Fulgenzis promptly moved to Las Vegas, where Warren Sr. was hired as coach.

“That was tough,” Stacy said. “It was tougher for me and the younger ones [Lauren and Nico] because we had to make a decision within three days. [Warren Jr. and Brandelyn] lived with the grandparents because we couldn’t leave since it was in the middle of the school year.”

After settling into Las Vegas, Warren Sr. and Stacy separated in 2016, which made things more challenging. Brandelyn, though, put the situation in perspective.

“Everybody has a few bumps in the road, but it made me closer to my family and spend more time with them,” Brandelyn said.

That was especially true for the siblings; Brandelyn said they hung out together more and leaned on each other for support.

It was needed, because the Fulgenzi name carries heft in tennis circles in New Mexico, and particularly Las Vegas. Add that to her mom’s and aunt’s legacies in town, and the spotlight can get white-hot.

“The younger ones feel it more because the success continues,” Warren Sr. said. “Now, they feel like they have to do it or they are kind of a failure. That’s not how we want them to feel, but that is what comes with the territory.

“We all expect to win. Now, we don’t always win, but we train and prepare that that’s what we will do. I do tell my own kids, ‘You know what? If we prepare 100 percent and give 110 percent effort and still get beat, we’re still winners.’”

For her part, Stacy prefers to focus on the thrill of coaching her two daughters in her hometown.

“It was a tough transition, but doing it at my alma mater and just see my two daughters out there is a really cool experience,” Stacy said. “I am just so grateful for the opportunity.”

That opportunity extended to one more match for the family to enjoy. Brandelyn was part of the North squad that competed in the New Mexico High School Coaches Association’s North-South All-Star series for the top graduates in the state. Stacy Fulgenzi was the coach, with C’de Baca serving as the assistant.

“We always talked about how we wanted to coach together again,” C’de Baca said prior to the match. “So, now we get to coach Brandee for one last match. That is a nice way to go out.”

All the ingredients were there for a perfect moment.

And the mix made for a magnificent athlete.

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