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Eighth-grade Sundevil making name for himself in cross-country

will webber and james barron, the santa fe new mexican
·4 min read

Nov. 8—Kudos to Española Valley eighth grader Daniel Sanchez and his eighth-place finish in the state cross-country tournament. He became the first Sundevil to finish in the top 10 since Dennis Naranjo placed fifth in the 1998 4A race when there were four classes in the state.

The Sundevil was in a pack of four runners battling as they came to the line. At one point, Sanchez had fifth place but was passed by Albuquerque Academy's Joaquin Deprez, Los Alamos' Rowan Flores, and Dominic Castellanos of Lovington over the last 30 meters.

Chances are, this won't be the last time Sanchez finds himself in the top 10. In fact, place him on the short list of contenders for the 4A title in 2022.

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Española Valley senior basketball player Melaki Jones, Los Alamos swimmer Orion Henderson and Pojoaque Valley football player D'Sean Martinez were selected as their school's winners of the 2021 Heisman High School Scholarship, which honors student-athletes' work in their respective sport, academic profile and community service.

The trio was among 39 school winners in New Mexico recognized for their work. The state winners were Megan Oberg of Fort Sumner and Zachary Rich of Capitan, who will receive $1,000 scholarships. They are among 100 finalists who can receive $2,000 scholarships as a national finalists selected from six regions for the $10,000 national scholarship.

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Trivia time. No cheating, but the answers are below.

Question No. 1: A total of 41 cities have had a team in the Pecos League, the regional independent baseball league that includes the Santa Fe Fuego. New Mexico has had more entrants than anyone. How many?

Question No. 2: James Branch is the new boys basketball coach at Robertson, making it the latest in a long, long line of jobs he's had as a head coach and an assistant. Some of his previous stops are Española Valley, Questa, Taos, Cleveland, Mora, House, Mesa Vista and McCurdy. He needs 18 wins to reach 300 for his career. What's his longest stint at any of those places?

Question No. 3: The state soccer tournament started last week and wraps up with championship matches Thursday and Friday. How many times have we had a tournament where an Albuquerque school didn't win a state title for boys? For girls?

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Darian Ortiz continues to distinguish herself on the volleyball court. The 2018 St. Michael's graduate earned the Empire 8 Athletic Conference's Libero/Defensive Specialist of the Year on Nov. 3 for the second year in a row.

She earned the award by finishing second among conference players with 389 digs and earning All-Empire 8 second-team honors. She was the only defensive specialist named to the conference's first or second team.

"At this point in her career, Darian has proven herself to be arguably one of the most decorated athletes in our program, if not the most, which in my opinion is very well deserved," Saxons head coach Dakota Pruiss said. "She has grown not only in her skill but in her leadership. Her work ethic is one of the highest I have ever seen out of a college athlete."

Ortiz was a picture of consistency, as she had at least 20 digs in eight matches and 10 digs or more in 20 of 2-4 matches this season. Ortiz also recorded 55 points on 47 aces and eight kills, while also assisting on 59 kills.

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Answers.

Answer No. 1. New Mexico has had 12 cities host teams in the Pecos League (Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Roswell, Alamogordo, Las Cruces, Taos, Ruidoso, Raton, Silver City, Santa Rosa, Clovis and Deming). California is second with 11 locations, followed by Kansas (7), Texas and Arizona (4 each) and Colorado (3).

Answer No. 2. Five years. The nomadic James Branch takes over at Robertson in July, inheriting a program that didn't play a game during the pandemic season of 2020-21.

Answer No. 3. Both tournaments date to 1981, when the NMAA formally made soccer a sanctioned sport. For the boys, it has happened only once, in 1986, when Los Alamos won the big-school crown and Bernalillo beat Hope Christian in the small-school finals. It has happened three times on the girls' side but not since 2003 when Las Cruces, Los Alamos and Santa Fe Prep finished on top. Prep's win came against St. Michael's, the first of two championships the Blue Griffins would win under coach Rennae Ross (the other was in 2005).