Male athleteof the year

N O R T H E R N N E W M E X I C O ’ S T O P P R E P AT H L E T E S 2 0 1 5 - 2 0 1 6

NorthStars

Female athleteof the year

Kaitlyn Romero

S U N D AY, J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

ESPAÑOLA VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

ESPAÑOLA VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

Marcos FloresA S P E C I A L S E C T I O N O f

Thebestof 2015-16

Oct. 31, 2015ESPAÑOLA — It was truly a first in

prep football history.The Capital Jaguars and the Española

Valley Sundevils battled for the District2-5A crown on the football field. Thatit featured a program rising from theashes for the second time in the past10 years (Capital) and a program thatnever knew this level of success (Espa-ñola) made the game historic.

The game was a showcase of thedistrict’s top two players in AugieLarrañaga and Marcos Flores, and itcame down to those two players on acrucial fourth-and-5 at the Española26-yard line with 31 seconds left in thegame. When Flores picked off Larra-ñaga’s pass, it allowed the Sundevils towalk off Sundevil Field with a 26-24 win.The win also gave Española life in thedistrict race, a week after losing at LosAlamos. The Sundevils capped a 9-1regular season (the best ever for theprogram) with a 46-0 win overBernalillo on Nov. 6 to secure their firstdistrict football title.

Flores ran for 142 yards and hadtwo touchdowns, as well as a kickoffreturn for a score to go with his game-clinching pick. Larrañaga threw for 199yards and three TDs, while also scoringon an 80-yard kickoff return to end thefirst half.

Nov. 8, 2015ALBUQUERQUE — It was a red-

letter day for the North.It’s just that the four teams competing

for state titles wanted a touch of blue.The Taos and Los Alamos boys plus

the St. Michael’s and Los Alamos girlssoccer teams left the APS Soccer Com-plex with red state runner-up trophies

in their respective classes. In Class1A-4A, Taos made its first trip to thefinals in 31 years, but could not upsetKlaus Weber’s farewell tour in his finalmatch as the head coach of Albuquer-que Bosque School.

The Bobcats beat the Tigers 3-0 forthe title.

Meanwhile, St. Michael’s tried againto stop two-time defending championAlbuquerque Hope Christian on thegirls side, but a rematch of the 2014 titlematch resulted in another Lady Huskieschampionship. An own goal in the54th minute sunk the Lady Horsemenby a 1-0 score.

In 5A, the green and gold of LosAlamos littered both boys and girlschampionship matches, but both teamsfell short. The Albuquerque St. PiusLady Sartans won their third straighttitle with a 1-0 win, while AlbuquerqueAcademy fended off the boys teams bya 2-0 count.

Nov. 8, 2015RIO RANCHO — There were state

cross-country trophies making the tripup north all over the place.

For the seventh straight year, theLos Alamos girls brought home a bluetrophy, while the Academy for Technol-ogy and the Classics girls and the MesaVista boys did the same. But few com-munities were prouder of a first-placetrophy than Pecos.

After a 16-year drought, the Panthersfinally won a state title with a decisive

19-43 win over defending championLaguna-Acoma in the Class 3A meet. Toboot, Julian Garcia won the individualtitle as the Panthers took four of the firstfive spots in the race. It more than madeup for the heartbreaking 29-30 loss tothe Hawks the previous November.

“It’s incredible, I can’t believe that wefinally did it,” Pecos senior Ryan Sando-val said in between sobs.

ATC finally put an athletics cham-pionship in the school’s trophy case,which goes well with the six straightchess titles the school has. The Phoenixbeat Cottonwood Classical Prep 50-72 inthe 3A meet for the program’s first title,and senior Alizabeth Williams chaseddown Laguna Acoma’s Terri Dailey inthe final 5 meters to take the individualhonor.

Meanwhile, the Lady Hilltoppersdominated like they usually do, with fourrunners taking the top six spots to defeatAlbuquerque Academy 27-67 in 5A.

Meanwhile, Peñasco’s Isaiah Rod-arte warmed up for his spring heroicsby winning the 1A/2A individual title,while Mesa Vista took the team title,51-62, over Jemez Valley.

Nov. 14, 2015RIO RANCHO — It was a pleasant

way to end the volleyball season forLas Vegas Robertson.

Not so much for the Mora Ranger-ettes.

Robertson, seeded 10th for the Class4A State Tournament, played its way toa first-place finish in its pool and a first-round bye, then used the momentumto reach the semifinals, where it lost toAlbuquerque Hope Christian in a 25-22,25-18, 30-28 sweep.

“I’m proud of my girls. They wenton a run,” Robertson head coachDominique Montoya said. “Nobodyexpected us to be here. After comingout third in our district but then win-ning the district championship, we werestill seeded No. 10. Nobody expected usto come out first in our pool, much lessreach a semifinal.”

Meanwhile, Mora overcame a roughstart to pool play in which it finishedsecond behind Fort Sumner/Housedespite being the No. 3 seed in the tour-nament.

After beating Jal and Mountainair toget to the semifinals, the Rangerettesran into the top-seeded Lady Buffaloesof Melrose. It took just 90 minutes forMora’s season to end in a 25-15, 25-23,25-14 sweep at the hands of the eventualstate champions.

Dec. 5, 2015HATCH VALLEY — A date with

destiny was determined by four fourth-down plays, and they all went the wayof the Hatch Valley Bears.

Hatch faced four fourth-down situa-tions and made good on all of them. Thelast of which was Jared Garay’s 9-yardtouchdown pass to Shane Carson for a10-7 lead and an eventual 17-7 win overthe Las Vegas Robertson Cardinals in theClass 4A state football championship.

In a defensive battle on a warmDecember afternoon, the No. 2 Bearsconverted a fourth-and-2, a fourth-and-9and earned a reprieve when third-seeded Robertson was called for passinterference on a fourth-and-9 play atthe Cardinals’ 19-yard line.

Robertson had just taken a 7-3 lead onJoseph Paul Griego’s 51-yard touchdownrun in the third quarter, but the Bearsresponded with tons of heart on theensuing drive.

Still, it was a better ending for theCardinals than last year’s 20-16 loss tothe Bears as the No. 1 seed in the 4Aquarterfinals. They knocked off thetop seed of the playoffs, Portales, in thesemifinals before coming home with ared trophy. It is the program’s secondtrophy in the last three years, along witha state title in 2013.

FallCapital quarterback Augie Larrañaga escapes Española Valley’s Carlos Gonzales during the teams’ District 2-5A show-down in Española on Oct. 31. Española won 26-24. Luis sanchez saturno/new Mexican fiLe photo

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Feb. 17, 2016It was just the start of a wild and

woolly three weeks for the Capital Jag-uars and the Española Valley Sundevils.

On this night, the Jaguars were onegame away from clinching the District2-5A boys basketball title, but they hadto wait for a Monday playoff to secureit. That’s because the Sundevils forced aone-game playoff when Marcos Floreshit a winning layup with :06.5 left in thegame for a 51-50 win in Edward A. OrtizMemorial Gymnasium.

Capital held a 48-39 lead with twominutes left, but the Sundevils finishedthe game on a 12-2 run. Española useda full-court press to extract a pair ofsteals, which coupled with Capital’sinability to hit shots and key free throwsdown the stretch (2-for-4). When EricCoca missed a drive at the buzzer, it setup a one-game playoff between the twoteams, which Capital won by a 61-59count on Feb. 22.

The two games portended what wasto come two weeks later for the Class5A championship.

Feb. 20, 2016RIO RANCHO — In 12 years as

Capital’s head wrestling coach, MarcosGallegos slowly built the program to thecusp of being one of the elite programsin Class 5A.

That process was completed whenthe Jaguars produced a pair of individ-ual-champion brothers and 10 wrestlersmade the top-six podium for a third-place finish. It was the first time theprogram brought home a trophy.

Gallegos went into the finals unawarethat Capital’s 178 points were enough tograb third from Los Lunas, which hadjust one wrestler in the finals comparedto his team’s five.

“After the consolation round, coachescame up and said, ‘Congratulations,coach,’ ” Gallegos said. “Coach [Steve]Chavez of Los Lunas came up and said,‘Congrats, coach. You’re taking homesome hardware.’ And I didn’t believe it.Then I glanced up [at the scoreboard] …

and I peaked a little bit.”The Jaguars finished with 197 points,

thanks to championships from thebrothers Romero (Lucas and Ryan) andTapia (Jose and Javier). Jose Tapia’s winat 126 pounds was his fourth title.

In the 1A-4A bracket, St. Michael’s195-pounder Xavier Vigil repeated asstate champion with a pin of Shiprock’sLogan Charley. Robertson had a pairof state champions in Jonathan Trujillo(120) and Bradlee Jordan (126).

Feb. 20, 2016Sarah Lott wanted to go out with a

bang.Instead, she left with a “No way!”The Los Alamos senior set a state

record in the 200-yard freestyle race byswimming the course at AlbuquerqueAcademy in 1 minute, 49.29 seconds.Earlier in the meet, she took the100 free event in 50.20, but it was herperformance in the 200 that left herwith a mile-wide grin.

“I looked up and was like, ‘No waythat just happened,’ ” Lott said. “It’s socool.”

Lott helped the 400 and 200 relayteams take third place, and the LadyHilltoppers finished in fourth place with218 points — 14 shy of AlbuquerqueAcademy for a podium finish. Still, evenLott’s teammates couldn’t help but gushabout her performance.

“It was great because she’s going tocollege and she’s going to accomplishso many things, but she showed even ifyou’re in high school, you can accom-plish great things here,” junior JessicaMoore said.

March 10, 2016ALBUQUERQUE — Cindy Roybal

felt like she was playing with the house’smoney.

The head girls basketball coach ofEspañola Valley saw her Lady Sundev-ils endure a half-season without theteam’s top post player in Alexis Lovato,then survive four battles with District2-5A foe Los Alamos to reach the Class

5A semifinals. The return of Lovato, a5-foot-10 junior, was the flashpoint foran offensive explosion that lasted until

the Lady Sundevils reached a familarnemesis — the Gallup Lady Bengals.

For the third straight year, top-seededGallup ended Española’s season with a53-33 win in the 5A semifinals as it heldthe No. 4 Lady Sundevils to 26 pointsbelow its season average of 60 pergame. It was the second straight yearthe Lady Bengals beat Española in thesemifinals.

After the game, Roybal didn’t dwellon her team’s offensive struggles.

“If you had told me [at the beginningof the season], ‘Hey coach, you’re goingto be in the Final Four,’ I’d have givenyou $200 right there,” Roybal said.“ ‘Nice,’ I’d have said, ‘Thank you.’ ”

It came on the heels of a 79-52 blow-out of the Lady Hilltoppers, as the LadySundevils hit seven of their first eightshots and went 10-for-16 in the open-ing quarter to take a 24-8 lead that wasnever threatened.

March 12, 2016ALBUQUERQUE — The Capital Jag-

uars won the battle against the EspañolaValley Sundevils.

But the Sundevils won the state title.

Even though the Jaguars beat Espa-ñola three out of the five times the twoboys basketball programs met in the2015-16 season, the Sundevils won whenit mattered the most. Using a closing7-1 run, Española rallied to beat the Jag-uars by a 36-34 score in a sold-out Pitfor the Class 5A state title.

Third-seeded Capital missed oneof its last four free throws, whileNo. 5 Española was 5 of 8 over the finalminute and Azaziah Salazar hit two freethrows with :10.6 left to give the Sun-devils a 35-34 lead. But the game will beremembered for “The Charge.”

When James Archuleta stood hisground and absorbed the contact fromCapital’s Augie Larrañaga for the offen-sive foul with :04.7 left, the Sundevilsfans erupted in a joyous roar. But manya Capital fan will still complain thatArchuleta moved just before Larrañagacollided with him and that the refereewho made the call was 40 feet awayfrom the basket.

All that matters is that Española tookhome the state title, and the rest of thestate will talk about the game for yearsto come.

WINTER

Membersof EspañolaValley’s boysbasketballteam holdtheir cham-pionship tro-phy as theycelebratewinning theClass 5Astate title inThe Pit lastMarch.

cLyde MueLLerthe new MexicanfiLe photos

Española Valley’s Annalynn Marti-nez, right, battles Los Alamos’ KatyaSkurikhin for the ball during theirClass 5A state quarterfinal in The Pit.

2 NORTHSTARS the new Mexican sunday, June 12, 2016

Thebestof 2015-16

100% GRADUATION RATE • 100% COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE • 100% PREPARED

Congratulations Class of

April 1, 2016ALBUQUERQUE — Since the state’s most

famous building opened its doors 50 yearsago, many a magical moment has taken placeunder The Pit’s corrugated roof.

Jimmy V’s memorable quest for a hug. The“Cup” game. The upset of Steve Kerr’s No. 1Arizona.

On this day, the shining moment had noth-ing to do with basketball.

Striding onto the floor for the opening per-formance of the State Spirit Competition wasKeanna Capener, a St. Michael’s drill teamerwho had spent the previous three monthsfighting for her life against Stage 2 Hodgkin’slymphoma. She hadn’t had a chance to com-pete with the team since her diagnosis butwas cleared to return — sans a full head ofhair and most of her natural strength — theweek before state.

Head coach Lydia Sanchez needed a vol-unteer to vacate her spot to make room forCapener. Classmate Monique Olivas steppedforward, giving up her place in the routine soCapener could compete.

The Pony Express performed flawlessly, ofcourse, winning their latest state title a daylater.

April 18, 2016ALBUQUERQUE — Ever had gallstones?Yeah, neither have we.Most people will never experience the

incredible pain and helpless feeling associ-ated with calcified stones developing in thegallbladder.

Akeisha Ayanniyi knows all about it. TheSanta Fe High senior had a nagging abdomi-nal issue turn south in a hurry just three daysbefore the annual Marilyn Sepulveda Meet, aninvitation-only event that features the state’stop track athletes facing off in an all-star meetdesigned to showcase the best of the best.

It turned out the vomiting and crampswere the result of gallstones. She was rushedto the emergency room and spent the nightin the hospital. A doctor at her side sug-gested she undergo surgery. She said no. Athousand times, no.

She ran in the Sepulveda and came back amonth later for the Class 6A championships,setting a state record in the long jump.

Gallstones? Pshhh. They’re no match forAyanniyi.

May 5, 2016ALBUQUERQUE — Awkwaaaaard.What looked like a celebration of the ties

that bind was really a civil war in the making.The Las Vegas Robertson girls tennis teamentered the individual portion of the Class1A-4A state tournament with the top twoteams in the doubles draw.

The defending champs were sisters Jaciand Jenise Fulgenzi, the No. 2 seed. Thetandem seeded immediately in front of themconsisted of their cousins, Brandee andLauren Fulgenzi.

It seemed like the ideal fairy tale scenario:Two pairs of teammates from the same fam-ily tree going head to head in a spirited fightin the state finals.

Eh, no.Tension brewed between the cousins all

season, culminating in an uncomfortableplan to have Brandee pass up a chance todefend her 1A-4A state singles title to playdoubles with Lauren, an eighth-grader com-peting in her first varsity state-level event.

Even the dozens of fans who watchedappeared to take sides. Some favored Bran-dee and Lauren while others clearly rootedfor Jaci and Jenise. The match ended quicklyenough as Brandee and Lauren won instraight sets in less than an hour. The cous-ins then had to shake hands at center courtand later pose together during the awardsceremony.

If there is a happy ending, it’s this: Robert-son rolled to the team title two days later.

May 6, 2016ALBUQUERQUE — He began his post-

military life driving a bread truck around thefreeways of Los Angeles.

He ended his latest chapter under theawning of the Sierra Vista Tennis Complex,wrapping up a 30-year career as the tenniscoach at Española Valley. Wendall Barnett,a spry 90-year-old who has lived for the lastdecade fighting bladder cancer, officially

retired as the patriarch of the Sundevils’program.

“Am I going to miss it?” he was asked.“Hell yes I’m going to miss it. I’ll miss thekids most of all. They’re the reason all thiswas possible.”

While he didn’t carry with him a legacyof success along the lines of, say, famed NewMexico prep basketball coach Ralph Taskeror football coach Jim Bradley, Barnett —minus a single state title at the individual orteam level — had the satisfaction of knowinghe’d sustained a country club program in aplace no one expected it to survive.

Adios, Wendall. You may be gone, butyour work will never be forgotten.

May 13, 2016ALBUQUERQUE — Years from now they’ll

all remember what it was like to run onto themanicured green grass at Isotopes Park andplay in the biggest game of their lives.

At the time, however, it seemed fitting thatit was on Friday the 13th that two of North-ern New Mexico’s top baseball teams wentdown in their respective state tournaments.

In the small-school Class 1A-2A final,McCurdy was held without a hit in a 4-0 lossto Melrose in the state championship game.It was the Bobcats’ second straight trip to thefinal, but this one came with the hope andexpectation that things would be different.

It was more of the same in the 3A cham-pionship as Pecos, the No. 6 seed who hadnever advanced this deep in the playoffs, wasdropped 6-2 by Texico. The Panthers kept itclose but were never really in it.

“Just getting here, that’s what the people ofPecos will remember,” said Panthers catcherTomas Duran, wiping away tears as he leftthe dugout with the state runner-up trophy.“Most teams never get a chance to be here atall, so to be the first team from Pecos to getto this place is something everyone can beproud of.”

Will Webber and James Barron

SPRING

From left, sistersBrandee andLauren Fulgenzishake handswith their cous-ins, Jaci and Jen-ise Fulgenzi, allfrom Robertson,after Brandeeand Lauren wonthe girls’ Class1A-4A doublestitle in May.Clyde MuellerNew MexiCaNfile photo

Senior AlejandroCroff and McCurdywere held withouta hit in a 4-0 lossto Melrose in theClass 1A-2A statechampionshipgame. It was theBobcats’ secondstraight trip tothe final.Clyde MuellerNew MexiCaNfile photo

You know you’re a child of the ’80swhen teenagers of the 21st centurycreate a memory for you.

I wanna walk!(Insert cheesy guitar riff mimic)I want a walk!Walk! Walk!Thank you, Pecos Panthers. The play

on words of Twisted Sister’s “I WannaRock!!!” (Ah, 1984 was a very good yearfor this 8-year-old) was a driving forceto the Panthers’ run to the Class 3A

state championship game. And it wasuttered many times throughout theseason as the Panthers’ batters mixedtimely hits with patience — and walks!— as well as aggressiveness on thebasepaths that paved the way.

That combination helped Pecosaverage 8.8 runs per game and over-come an 0-5 start to the season thatwas the result of most of the teamcoming off a state semifinal appear-ance in basketball.

In the 3A semifinals againstTularosa, Pecos used three straightwalks in the third inning to set up

senior catcher Tomas Duran for atwo-run single that tied the game at 2.An inning later, another walk helpedthe Panthers score twice more to fin-ish off the scoring and a 4-2 win. LuisSanchez had a walk that led to a runin the Panthers’ 5-3 win over No. 3Lordsburg in the 3A quarterfinals.

While Pecos couldn’t beat Texicoin the 3A championship game, it wasthe second time the program broughthome a red trophy. It also completeda banner year for Pecos boys teams.The cross-country and track pro-grams won state titles, while the

basketball team reached the 3A semi-finals for the first time in 11 years.

Several athletes had their hands inall of that success: Mario Archuleta,Cameron Quintana and Carlos Cor-dova were a part of all four teams.

Oh, and they brought a smile to anaging reporter’s face — as well as acatchy tune that he still can’t get outof his head.

Are you serious, Barron? You had first pick of themost memorable moment from the year gone by andyou bypassed the low-hanging fruit in favor of a songfrom 32 years ago?

Tsk, tsk.Fine. This one’s mine.It happened at exactly 3:21 p.m. on Saturday, March

12. I know that because I recorded it on my NewMexican-issued smartphone and posted it on Twitteras soon as it happened: Class 5A boys basketball statechampionship game in The Pit, Española Valley vs.Capital, 14-grand and change looking on.

Jaguars lead 34-33 with 10.6 seconds left, the Sun-devils’ Azaziah Salazar at the line. He hits both, givingEspañola a one-point lead. The scoreboard shows Capi-tal with a timeout remaining but they choose to play on.

Like breaking down the Zapruder film, I dissectedthis 6.5 seconds of action frame-by-frame at least acouple dozen times. Salazar’s makes give the Sun-devils a chance to set up the press. The inboundspass from Augie Larrañaga goes to Jerome Arroyos,not Eric Coca (double teamed) or Jeremy Anaya(blocked from Larrañaga’s view).

Arroyos dribbles once, reverses course behind hisback and overhand passes through Marcos Flores’hands to Larrañaga, who has sprinted unguardedalong the sideline to midcourt. At this point there areonly four players beyond the center stripe, only oneof whom is in position to stop Larrañaga. It’s 6-foot-4Española sophomore James Archuleta.

Larrañaga easily beats Salazar off the dribble, takestwo huge strides as he crosses the 3-point line andelevates off his left foot under a full head of steamjust inside the free-throw line. Archuleta lowers hishands to his waist and plants both feet inches outsidethe restricted zone.

Larranaga’s left knee spears Archuleta in the leftshoulder as he releases a right-handed floater withSalazar a half-step behind to his right.

The whistle blows as the ball bounces off thebackboard and rattles off the front of the rim. It car-oms off the back of the rim and then to the front onemore time before falling through the net.

The clock stops with 4.1 seconds left.Unsure of the call, Capital’s bench leaps into the air

thinking they’ve just gone in front with the and-one.Nope. Charging. Basket waived off. Española wins

its second state title in five years.Larrañaga is on his back along the baseline against

the stanchion. Archuleta rises, clutching his oppositeshoulder. Capital coach Ben Gomez stands up, show-ing almost no emotion. His only move is to pointtoward Coca in the far corner, who is prone on allfours and slapping the court with both hands.

Charge or block? Basket or not?History dictates one thing. Depending on where

you live, emotions say another.

the momeNtt

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A title inthe balance

Pecoswalksandrolls

By Will WebberThe New Mexican

By James BarronThe New Mexican

Sunday, June 12, 2016 the New Mexican NORTHSTARS 3

ABOVE: EricCoca, left,and AugieLarrañagaafter theheartbreak-ing loss inThe Pit.RIGHT: ArturoArchuletapitches forPecos.

Clyde Muellerthe New MexiCaN

Aiden CsArhAttaossoccerIt’s said you don’t alwayshave to look to actuallysee a good soccer player.Sometimes all you haveto do is listen. The soundthe player makes whenstriking the ball does allthe work the eyes can’t.In the case of this Tigerssenior midfielder, hispowerful boot produceda 50-goal, 127-point sea-son that propelled Taosto the Class 1A-4A statechampionship match inNovember. Combiningspeed with strength, heenjoyed one of the bestindividual seasons anyNorthern New Mexicoboys soccer player hasever produced.

dAniel isiAh BABBtaosBig schoolstrack and fieldBabb was an essential partof the Tigers’ three-peat asClass 4A boys champions.Babb won the high jump,triple jump and 300-meterhurdles while earning thehigh-point honor with 30points. He took the triplejump and the 300 hurdleson May 14 despite nursingan injured hamstring suf-fered during his second-place finish in the longjump the previous day. Hisfinal triple jump of 46 feet,23/4 inches set a schoolrecord and beat Bloom-field’s Brendan Ramsey bythree inches.

CArisA PAdillAst. Michael’sGolfThe Lady Horsemenhave struggled forthe past couple ofyears, but Padillaprovided a glimpseof the future. Theeighth-grader shota season-best 84 inthe final round of theClass 1A-4A StateGolf Championshipsat Roswell’s Nancy

ee

las Vegas robertsonsoftballShe led the Lady Cardinalsto the top overall seed in the4A playoffs, batting .510 withseven home runs, 52 RBI andan OPS of 1.230. As if thatweren’t enough, she made15 appearances as a pitcher,primarily as the team’s closer.She had five starts but savedseven games, a team high.She was 4-2 with a 0.95ERA and 54 strikeouts in 44innings. She surrendered just12 hits in that span, makingher one of the most fearedhitters and toughest pitchersin the state.

4 northstArs The New Mexican Sunday, June 12, 2016 Sunday, June 12, 2016 The New Mexican northstArs 5

AlizABeth WilliAMsAcademy for technol-ogy and the Classicssmall schoolcross countryEven before this ATCsenior crossed the fin-ish line, it was apparenther team was going towin the state title in 3A.The Phoenix were wellon their way to placingthree runners in the top10 and all seven in the top25. What wasn’t so clearwas if Williams could rallylate for the individual titleafter falling 11 secondsoff the pace of Laguna-Acoma’s Terri Daileytwo-thirds of the way intothe race. She did, passingDailey and winning by asecond.

AeGerslos AlamosswimmingThe Hilltoppers juniorhad a busy finals sched-ule. It started by swim-ming the opening legof the 200-yard medleyrelay in which Los Ala-mos took eighth with atime of 1 minute, 43.25seconds. Then, Jaegersfinished seventh in the50-yard freestyle in atime of 22.38 seconds,and followed that witha sixth in the 100 free-style in 49.27. After a13th in the 500 free-style, Jaegers swam theanchor leg of the 400free relay team thatfinished eighth.

nique enloest. Michael’ssoccerJust call her The Natural.Gifted with quickness andpower, this Lady Horse-men junior was downrightdominant all season. Shefinished with 51 goalsand 120 points, bothhigh-water marks in Class1A-4A. She did it all with-out having many opportu-nities to play from start tofinish, often playing out ofposition or sitting on thebench in blowouts. Shestill managed a remark-able six-game stretchwhere she scored at leastthree goals per game andended her season havingrecorded a hat trick 11times.

sArAh lottlos AlamosswimmingA year off from thehigh school circuit didlittle to slow downone of the more deco-rated swimmers inthe North. After get-ting the Lady Hilltop-pers to a strong startwith a third-placefinish in the 200-yardmedley relay, Lott setthe state record in the200 freestyle witha time of 1 minute,49.29 seconds. Shewon the 100 freestylein 50.20 before takingpart in a third-place400 free relay in3:35.42.

JuliAn GArCiA(not pictured)Pecossmall schoolcross countryThe pack mental-ity that was thePanthers’ entireroster paid divi-dends for Garcia,the state cham-pion in 3A. He andteammates JoshuaDeHerrera andRyan Sandoval ranshoulder to shoul-der for the firstmile at the state

BrAndee AndlAuren FulGenzilas Vegas robertsontennisThe younger sisters of Warrenand the daughter of Lady Cardi-nals head coach Warren FulgenziSr., the pair teamed up just daysbefore the start of the Class 1A-4Astate tournament and completeda two-day run to the title in whichthey didn’t drop a single set. Asophomore, Brandee passed upa chance to defend her previousyear’s singles title in order to helpLauren, an eighth-grader, have amemorable postseason debut.

Connor MAnGlos AlamosBig school baseballA chip off the ol’ block.This Hilltoppers senior fol-lowed in his older brother’sfootsteps, leading LosAlamos to a district titleand into the state tourna-ment as the North’s loneparticipant in the secondweek of the playoffs. AnAll-State performer in theinfield, Mang was also oneof the top pitchers in 5A.His final game was a gem,going seven strong inningsin a state playoff gameagainst Las Cruces Centen-nial. He gave up only threehits with 10 strikeouts,wrapping up a stellar prepcareer that landed him ascholarship to play at UNMwith older brother Jared.

d.J. BustosWest las VegasBig schools basketballBustos’ success was nosecret: He repeated as theNorthStars’ boys basketballplayer of the year. Despiteopposing teams focusingtheir game plans on him,Bustos averaged 23 points,eight rebounds and sixassists to lead the Dons to areturn to the Class 4A cham-pionship game. The 6-foot-3junior had a career night ina 69-66 win over crosstownrival Las Vegas Robertsonon Feb. 17, scoring 50 pointsin the process. In a rematchin the Class 4A semifinals inThe Pit, Bustos had 23 points,including a crucial layup with3:26 left in the game to givethe Dons a 46-45 lead.

KAitlyn roMeroespañola ValleyBig school basketballThe senior wing beganthe season as Española’sstarting post, but shethrived regardless of herposition. She averaged16.9 points per game,and upped that totalto 18.4 during theDistrict 2-5A season.She was well-roundedenough to grab 4.5rebounds and dish 3.1assists per game. Thosetotals were enough forher to earn Class 5AAll-State second teamhonors, and she helpedthe Lady Sundevils tothe 5A semifinals for thesecond straight year.

las Vegas robertsontennisUnbeaten and barely chal-lenged. That just aboutsums up this Cardinalssenior’s final season. Hedidn’t lose a set all yearin doubles or singles play,capping his second straightstate title in 1A-4A singleswith a straight-sets win overfellow unbeaten Will McDer-mott of St. Michael’s. Thelatest in a long line of Ful-genzis, Warren simply hadno equal his final two yearsin high school. Gifted withan all-around game that fea-tured accurate hitting andan unparalleled return game,he was clearly the best inhis class.

BriAnnA PACheCoMorasmall school basketballThe Rangerettes’ seniorhas been a reliable optionin the post for the pastfour years. Pacheco didn’tdisappoint, as she had justone game in which shefailed to record double-digit points. Overall, sheaveraged 15.8 points and8.7 rebounds per game, asthe Rangerettes won theirfifth straight district title.She was an All-District5-2A first-team selection,as well as the district’splayer of the year. In hercareer at Mora, the Ran-gerettes lost just one dis-trict game.

AKeishA AyAnniyisanta Fe highBig schools trackand fieldAyanniyi endured gall-stones and the stomachflu during the season,but it made her final prepmeet worthwhile. On herlast long jump, Ayanniyiset the Class 6A record inthe meet with a distanceof 19-91/4. It was the firsttime she jumped morethan 19 feet all season,and made up for earn-ing the “unofficial” statemark in 2015. She wenton to take second in the100 (12.30 seconds) andthird in the 200 (25.27)at the state meet atGreat Friends of UNMTrack Complex, whichwill be her home nextyear when Ayanniyi willcompete for The Univer-

doMiniC MontAñoescalantesmall school footballYou’ve heard of franchisequarterbacks? This guy wasjust that in Tierra Amarilla,leading the Lobos (and theirbrand new red turf field thispast season) to consecu-tive state titles. He finishedthis season with 2,255yards rushing, rankingeighth all-time. He added 38touchdowns while passingfor another 15. If that’s notenough, he capped his prepcareer as No. 5 all time inrushing yards. The highlightwas a 419-yard effort inOctober against Fort Sum-ner, the third-highest single-game total in state history.

MArCos Floresespañola ValleyBig school footballHe started his high schoolcareer barely capable of grip-ping a football long enoughto throw it downfield. Heended it with an historicrun that resulted in the firsthome playoff game in thelong and often hystericallybad Sundevils program. Atrue run-threat quarterback,he led the team in virtuallyevery offensive category. Ondefense, he developed a repu-tation as a ferocious hitter,often rising from the depthsof the secondary to deliverpad-popping blows that madehim one of the best defensivebacks in 5A.

KAitlyn roMeroespañola ValleyBig school volleyballThere may have beenoutside hitters whopossessed more size orrange, but there werevery few who utilized asmuch of their own tal-ent as this 5-foot-9 LadySundevils senior. She hada .350 hitting percent-age with 393 kills for ateam that reached thequarterfinals of the Class

rose Moonsanta Fe Waldorfsmall school volleyballYou might want to getused to seeing this out-side hitter’s profile in thisspace each of the nextthree years. Just a fresh-man for the Lady Wolves,the 5-foot-8 Moon helpedher team reach the Class1A quarterfinals after a19-win season in whichshe seemed to be playingin multiple spots at once.Her 351 kills and .288ting percentage with 2blocks were impressivenough (her kills weresecond in 1A), but herwork on the back linejust as solid. She had 8aces and 222 digs.

AleJAndro CroFFMcCurdysmall school baseballA budding powerhouseprogram is emergingat McCurdy, where thisBobcats senior utterlydominated in his finaltwo seasons. He ledthe team to consecu-tive appearances in the1A-2A state champion-ship game and was onthe mound with one ofhis best outings againstMelrose in the finals. Hepitched five innings ofone-hit relief after serv-

CAsiMiro FresquezMorasmall schoolbasketballThe senior provided theelectricity on offense,averaging more than 20points per game for ateam that reached theClass 2A championshipgame. Fresquez also wasthe District 5-2A playerof the year and a first-team Class 2A All-Statemember. He scored aseason-high 32 points inthe Rangers’ 68-62 lossto Melrose on Jan. 30,a battle of the top twoteams in Class 2A. In therematch with the Buf-faloes in the champion-ship game, Fresquez wasMora’s lone double-digitscorer with 20 points.

Jose tAPiACapitalWrestlingThe junior contin-ued to tormentopponents on thewrestling mat. Hewent 33-0 andcapped the seasonwith pins in all fourof his matches inthe Class 5A StateWrestling Champi-onships to win hisfourth state individ-ual title. Tapia wonthe 126-pound titlewith a pin of LasCruces Centennial’sBen Boren 1:38 intothe first period andwas among fourstate champions forthe Jaguars. Thatimproved his overallrecord at Capitalto 138-2, and he

MiChAel tenoriosanta Feindian schoolBig schoolcross countryHe emerged as one ofthe top runners in Class4A his junior season,turning challengingcourses into his per-sonal playground byvirtue of his consistencyfrom start to finish. Asstrong at the end ashe was at the start formost races, the 5-foot-6Tenorio parlayed thatinto a second-place fin-ish at the state meet inRio Rancho. It was hisonly runner-up finish ofthe spring. He won fiveraces, excelling at boththe undulating shortcourses and flatter ter-rain of others.

sity of New Mexico trackand field team.

helped the Jaguarsbring home a third-place trophy for thefirst podium finishfor the program.

yLopez Golf Courseto take fourth placewith a 35-over 177total on May 10.Padilla also won theDistrict 5 1A-4A titlewith an 88 at LosAltos Golf Coursein Albuquerque onMay 2.

q5A state tournament. Sheadded 29 blocks to gowith 87 digs. She savedher best for last, averag-ing 25.3 kills — morethan six higher than herseason total — over thefinal two weeks of the

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meet in Novemberbefore Garcia sep-arated from thegroup and strolledto a command-ing 24-secondwin. He unseatedDeHerrera as theoverall champ,but together thepair helped thePanthers win theirfirst blue trophysince 1999.

ing as the team’s aceand primary catcher allseason. At the plate heled the team in almostevery category.

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MArshAll sPinGlerst. Michael’sGolfThe St. Michael’s juniorwas steady as a rockthis season. He andfellow junior Allen San-chez were consistentlythe top two golfersthe Horsemen had,but Spingler was bestwhen it mattered themost. Spingler was tiedfor fifth after the firstround of the Class 1A-4AState Golf Champion-ships at Roswell’s NancyLopez Golf Course witha 3-over 75 on May 9,then shot a 78 to settlein at sixth place — oneshot ahead of Sanchez— on the following day.It helped St. Michael’sfinish in fourth place,just three strokes out ofsecond.

isAiAh rodArtePeñascosmall school track and fieldThe Panthers senior mightwell have created a new termfor future distance runners tochase: the triple-triple. Rod-arte didn’t just win the 800(1:58.33), 1,600 (4:30.59) and3,200 (9:49.52) — he set Class2A records in each race. Rodartestarted the trek on May 6 whenhe set the 1,600 mark with atime of 4 minutes, 30.59 sec-onds, breaking the old mark bymore than three seconds. Thenext day, Rodarte easily out-paced the pack in the 800, andjust clipped the old mark by .20when he crossed the finish linein 1:58.33. Later that day, he setthe 3,200 mark with a 9:49.52,which was almost nine secondsbetter than the previous mark.

tAliA dreiCerlos AlamosBig school trackand fieldJust another cog inthe giant green-and-gold machine that isthe Lady Hilltoppers’dominant distanceprogram. A senior,she was the first offour Los Alamos run-ners in the top sixto cross the finishline at the 5A statemeet in November,doing so in a timeof 18 minutes, 37.20seconds. The otherthree were within45 seconds of her,leading to the team’sseventh straightstate championshipand 19th overall.

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HoTHE TTTOOOPPP BIG- AND SMALL-SCHOOL ATHLETES FROM FFFAAALL, WINTER AND SPRING SPORTS

PHOTOS BY LUIS SáNCHEz SATURNO ANDCLYDE MUELLER/THE NEW MExICAN

COURTESY PHOTOS OF CONNER MANG,TALIA DREICER

Kelly BArroWsAcademy fortechnologyand the Classicssmall school trackand fieldThe Phoenix seniorbegan an historic Class3A state meet for herteam by winning thelong jump, becomingthe first of two statechampions the teamhad during the May6-7 event. Barrowswas the fourth seedentering the event, butset a personal recordwith a jump of 16 feet,11 inches on her firsttry during the finalsto beat Santa Rosa’sMikayla Garnand. Bar-rows helped the 400relay team qualifyfor the finals, but thePhoenix missed out ona podium finish in sev-enth. In all, the Phoenixscored 25 points tofinish in eighth place— the track and fieldprogram’s best finishat state. Capsules by Will Webber and James Barron

Nobody ever really says theyplay for Española.

One of the greatestopportunities some athletesin this Northern New Mex-

ico town have is to wear the red and goldof Española Valley High School, but it’sthe “Valley” part that speaks to the heartof this community. Because the school ismore than just the city.

And that makes playing the commu-nity’s No. 1 sport — basketball — moresignificant. It represents a number ofsmaller villages that surround the cen-tral hub of Española.

“I think what makes Española dif-ferent from those other communitiesis that there are all those little com-munities,” says Ray Romero, who callsVelarde home and is an assistant coachfor Española’s boys basketball program.“There are the Dixons, the Truchas, theChimayós, Abiquiús … I could name12 of them. … It’s for all the little com-munities combined that make so muchpride [to be a Sundevil].”

Each community has its own heart-beat to basketball, and it normally cen-ters on their elementary schools. Theseeds of passion are sewn in those gymsand the recreational centers almostyear-round, as they play from early inthe morning until late at night.

And if those facilities are closed,many driveways and backyards have abasketball hoop to help satiate the hun-ger of these developing players.

Some kids, though, benefit from theirdad owning the keys to the gym, whichgives them almost unlimited access to arim and a ball. Romero’s daughter, Kai-tlyn Romero, was one of them, thanksto her dad coaching elementary schooland AAU teams as she grew up inVelarde. That also was the case for herbrothers, Ray and Jeremy Romero.

From those early seeds sprout the fruitof the community’s labor. When thosedozens of children are pared down to the12 to 15 players who make up the varsityroster every year, a sprinkle of flavorfrom every community makes a deliciousdish. The thing is, these players whoplayed for Dixon or Velarde or Alcaldeor El Rito growing up blend communitypride for the sake of the Valley.

While few ever say they play forEspañola, they all take pride in sayingthey played for Española Valley.

“I don’t think anybody thought aboutthat too much,” Kaitlyn said. “When youget to middle school, high school, it’spretty much Española Valley.”

Fewer still can say they played for theSundevils — or in this case, the LadySundevils — as well as Kaitlyn Romero.And that’s not just in basketball. Therecent Española Valley graduate was anall-state volleyball and basketball player,leading both sports to unparalleledheights. Kaitlyn’s excellence in thosetwo sports led her to being named TheNew Mexican’s NorthStars female ath-lete of the year.

Kaitlyn led the state in kills with440 even though she missed threematches this season. Her ability to hitthe ball from anywhere on the courtgave the Lady Sundevils a go-to hitterthat few teams possessed, and it helpedthem reach the Class 5A quarterfinalsdespite entering the tournament as the12th and final seed in the bracket.

Damon Salazar, the Lady Sundevils’head volleyball coach, said he knewfrom the outset that Kaitlyn’s role wasgoing to be similar to his top hitter from2014, Elana Salazar.

“There were a lot of times we wouldsay, ‘We’re going to run her out of themiddle,’ ” coach Salazar said. “We justtook the game plan with Elana and said,‘You’re going to be Elana and you aregoing to play that game.’ We were ableto move her around every single rota-tion, and it was tough for teams to findout where she was coming from. Shewas really like two hitters, because theycouldn’t count on her being on the out-side all the time.”

Versatility was a common theme forthe senior. On the basketball court, Kait-lyn began the season as the team’s start-ing post, moved to wing when juniorAlexis Lovato returned from a kneeinjury, but showed the versatility to playanywhere that Española head coachCindy Roybal needed her.

“We didn’t have a choice but to puther in the four spot, and we did createa lot more movement for her than wenormally did in the post,” Roybal said.“But it didn’t matter where I threw her.I could throw her at the two or the one.She played all the positions and sheplayed them well. Wherever we neededher, she did it, and not once did she tellme, ‘I can’t do it.’ She was willing to do

whatever it took.”Kaitlyn averaged 16.9 points per game

on the season, but upped her averageto 18.4 in District 2-5A contests. Shechipped in with 4.5 rebounds and3.1 assists per contest, and that perfor-mance earned her the district’s playerof the year honor and a spot on the 5AAll-State second team. Kaitlyn helpedEspañola reach the Class 5A semifinalsfor the second straight year, a first forthe program.

A meniscus injury suffered duringthe state tournament prevented Kaitlynfrom playing for the tennis team, whichshe did her freshman and sophomoreyears, or else she could have added thatto her résumé.

All the while, Kaitlyn did it with acombination of selflessness and aggres-siveness that reached its apex duringher senior year. She has always beena selfless player, but she realized shesometimes had to demand the ball,especially in key situations. That wasnever more evident than in the first twogames against long-standing districtrival Los Alamos.

Kaitlyn was the one with the ballto kill the final few seconds in a 76-75thriller in Griffith Gymnasium in Janu-ary. When the teams reconvened inEdward Medina Gymnasium the nextmonth, Kaitlyn again had the ball in atied ballgame. Her drive to the basketsealed a 56-54 win and gave Españolathe inside track to the 2-5A title.

“I matured a lot this past year,” Kait-lyn said. “With Lexi being out the firsthalf of the year, I knew I needed to takeover and be more of a leader and havethat killer instinct. I do enjoy having theball in my hands at the end of the game,for some reason. I do like having controlof what’s going to happen. Whether it’sgood or bad, I like being the person toblame or the one to make it happen.”

Kaitlyn also was everything a coachwanted out of a team leader, which bothRoybal and Salazar felt was integral ineach team’s success this season.

“You know most of [the players] haveit in them, but not all of them pull it outof themselves,” Salazar said. “It’s notcool or comfortable because it’s not toocomfortable to lead. It’s the kid whocan accept that or embrace that, whois comfortable with that, who becomesthat leader for you.

“Sometimes, you say things thatthey don’t want to hear, and that’s hardbecause kids nowadays don’t want tocall attention to themselves like that,good or bad. But when they take thatrisk and put themselves out there, it canmake your team run more smoothly.”

Basketball might be Kaitlyn’s callingcard, but she displayed a willingness totry any sport through her childhood.She was on the softball or baseball field,

the tennis court and even the cross-country course for a spell as a sopho-more. Kaitlyn said her parents neverdiscouraged her from participating inwhatever sport she wanted.

“Anything she wanted to do, we toldher to go do it,” Kaitlyn’s dad said. “Ididn’t just say, ‘Go play basketball andnothing else.’ That was the furthestthing from my mind.”

Kaitlyn’s career in her second sport— volleyball — didn’t begin until shewas in the fourth grade.

But basketball was always at theforefront. In fact, the Romeros are abasketball family. Ray, the eldest brother,played for the Sundevils from 2006to 2009, while Jeremy was on theSundevils’ 2011 championship teamand played at Northern New MexicoCollege for a couple of years.

Meanwhile, their dad was constantly

coaching.“There were times when she was

playing on a team, then Jeremy wasplaying on a team and Ray was playingon a team, and I was coaching all threeof them,” Ray Romero, the father, said.“It was fun.”

The fun part was the key to theVelarde Elementary School gym, whichthe Romeros had up until last year.

“I think it was because we lost thekey,” Ray, the brother, mused. “We gotthe key to the high school, so we didn’tneed it like before.”

Until that happened, all three foundways to get all the time they neededto work on their game or just play oneanother.

“Any time we wanted, it was just ahalf-mile away,” the younger Ray said.“We’d go put up some shots and getsome drills in. It was like home to us.”

While Ray and Jeremy created thepath to basketball excellence, theyacknowledge Kaitlyn has walked thatpath perhaps the best out of the group.

“She’s just very precise with anythingshe does,” Jeremy said. “She’s alwaysright on the point. Nine times out often, she will throw a bullet pass to theperson in stride. I still have trouble withthat. Her focus is incredible.”

It was the kind of focus Kaitlynneeded when her dad took over ashead coach for the 2013-14 season, andhelped a young Lady Sundevils teamreach the 4A quarterfinals when Kaitlynwas a sophomore. The family learnedquickly about the downside to coachingsiblings. The Romeros won’t talk abouthow that season went, but Kaitlyn’s dadwas very cognizant of not showing Kait-lyn too much favor. Kaitlyn did her bestto keep the distractions to a minimum.

“I just started focusing on the gameand started blocking out the other side,all the criticism and stuff that was goingon,” Kaitlyn said.

Then, there was the ever-presentsentiment in the community that theteam, while mostly sophomores andfreshmen, should compete for a statetitle. Romero resigned in June 2014,saying that a promotion at Los AlamosNational Laboratory put a crunch on thetime available to coach and work.

“It was a really positive experience,up until the end of the season,” coachRomero said. “I know we were mostlyfreshmen and sophomores, so I knewthese girls would be back. But theexpectations were to win now, not winnext year or the next year. I knew thesegirls needed a little more seasoning.”

The seasoning came when Roybaltook over, as Española lost to Gallup inthe state semis both years. However,Kaitlyn struggled with a wrist injury formost of the 2014-15 season that she suf-fered during the volleyball season. Shenever looked sharp until the end of theseason.

Even with the injury, Roybal saidKaitlyn never complained about it, andworked as hard as anybody in the gym.In fact, it was hard to get her out of thegym.

“She’s a gym rat,” Roybal said.“They’d probably have to throw awaythe key, lock the doors and bolt them

shut. And make sure to turn the lightsoff, or she’ll probably still be there.”

It appeared that Kaitlyn would bea one-sport senior when the 2015-16school year began, as she opted to sitout the volleyball season. That lasteduntil just before the regular seasonbegan. Encouraged by her teammates tocome out for the season, Kaitlyn heededtheir calls and played after sitting outthe first match because she didn’t haveenough practice days under her belt.

When she returned, though, it waswith a vengeance. Kaitlyn used the skillsshe learned from playing all over thefront row during her first four seasonson the varsity to her advantage. Shestarted out as a middle blocker whenshe was in eighth grade. She playedthat position until her sophomore year,when she moved to the right side oppo-site top hitter Elana Salazar.

“She always found a way to do her bestto help the team,” Salazar said. “She’splayed every position for us except for[defensive specialist]. She was just a kidwho did whatever I asked.”

Kaitlyn and Elana made a potent teamthat helped the Lady Sundevils win con-secutive district titles and reach the 5Aquarterfinals in 2014. This year, Salazarmoved the senior all over the court toprotect his best hitter from defensesthat keyed on her from the outside.Kaitlyn averaged just under 19 kills permatch as she led a young, inexperiencedteam to the state playoffs.

Not to be overlooked is the academicside. Kaitlyn was the Class of 2016 salu-tatorian, and she earned scholarshipsfrom the New Mexico Activities Associa-tion (the “Compete With Class” honor)and the New Mexico Athletic DirectorsAssociation (for being the female scholarathlete of the year). Roybal said that kindof success bodes well for Kaitlyn.

“She is just like her coach,” Roybalsaid with a laugh. “I told her, ‘You knowI was the salutatorian [at Pecos HighSchool], so I expect nothing less fromyou.’ She said, ‘You got it, coach.’ ”

Romero signed a letter of intent to playat New Mexico Highlands University,although she will encounter a women’sbasketball program in turmoil. The uni-versity fired head coach Briana Finch inMarch and has gone through two interimcoaches. That’s nothing for Kaitlyn, whoplayed for four coaches over her varsitycareer. Despite the constant turnover, theLady Sundevils reached the state tourna-ment every year.

And Kaitlyn persevered to reachheights that might not have seemedpossible just a couple of years ago.Then again, she admits she didn’t thinkabout what she might be able to doindividually — The New Mexican honorincluded. She’s always thought moreabout what she could do for her team-mates than what she wanted for herself.

“I never really thought about [earningthe athlete of the year award],” Kaitlynsaid. “When I was told, I thought it wasa huge honor, to represent the Northand be a role model to others. It was areally good feeling.”

Just as it was representing EspañolaValley, which is all a girl from Velardecould ask for anyway.

6 NORTHSTARS The New Mexican Sunday, June 12, 2016

Kaitlyn Romero Female athleteof the year

UltimateValley girl

Española’sKaitlyn Romerosplits the dou-ble team of LosAlamos’ KatyaSkurikhin, left,and SophiaRoybal in theLady Sundevils’73-63 win inFebruary.LuiS SáNchezSaTurNoNew MexicaNfiLe phoToS

Los Alamos’ Samantha Melton triesto block a spike from Española’sKaitlyn Romero. Romero averagedjust under 19 kills per match as sheled a young, inexperienced team tothe state playoffs.

By James BarronThe New Mexican

Sunday, June 12, 2016 The New Mexican NORTHSTARS 7

Male athleteof the year Marcos Flores

In Española, a legend is bornESPAÑOLA

In life there are a few signsthat suggest you’ve madeit big, that maybe you’reonto something trulymeaningful.

For Marcos Flores, that timecame when he stood behind thecounter at a local pizza joint thisspring, slinging $5 pies and ask-ing customers if they wantedto add breadsticks and a 2-litersoda for a couple of bucks more.Wearing his khaki pants andblack visor, he was merely doingwhat every teenage kid does toearn a paycheck when schoollets out.

For him, life was good. It wassimple.

And then it happened, thereminder that this ordinaryteenager wasn’t so ordinary, thathis recent accomplishments inEspañola Valley’s red and goldput him on a higher plane thanso many around him.

Such is life in an area thatreveres its sports heroes as bas-tions of community pride. Win-ning in the Valley means immor-tality in ways bigger-city folk cannever relate to. Winning therecomes with a quick fade into themist. Winning here reserves apermanent spot in the memorybanks.

Pack up the moving van, relo-cate a time zone or two awayand then head back to Española20 years from now, and peoplewill still talk about the eventsthat unfolded during the 2015-16school year, a year that will godown as one of the most amaz-ing runs in Española Valley his-tory.

Football — football! — becamea thing, and the basketball teamand its legion of die-hard fanswon another blue trophy. In themiddle of it all was Flores, a kidwith a goofy grin, an uncoiffedmop of hair and a never-quitattitude who seemed to comeout of nowhere his senior year tobecome the grand marshal of allthings Sundevils.

On this one particular day, itseemed the dust had finally set-tled. The championship trophieshad been stored behind glass, theuniforms returned to safekeep-ing in the equipment room. Lifehad seemed to transition intosomething almost normal.

“Then these two little kidswalked into the place I workand bought a pizza,” Flores says.“One of them asked me to auto-graph the box. This little boyactually asked me to sign myname on a cardboard pizza box.Me. An autograph from me.”

It’s a novelty act we’ve seenbefore in Española. The 2011state championship boys basket-ball team’s star player, Rodney“Rocket” Coles, became a localfolk hero while leading the Sun-devils to the school’s first title.

When Flores & Co. duplicatedthe feat back in March with awin over Capital before 14,000fans in The Pit, it reserved theirspot alongside the Rocket.

For Flores, it is a big reason hehas been selected as The NewMexican’s NorthStars male ath-lete of the year. He was the start-ing quarterback and free safetyfor the district championshipfootball team and a jack-of-all-trades player in basketball. Hetopped off his year as an accom-plished javelin thrower in trackand field, taking third at the statemeet.

More than the stats and post-season accolades was this simplefact: When the pressure was atits most intense, when the lightswere their brightest, MarcosFlores was at his best.

He rose to the occasion whenit mattered most, beating Capitalin a must-win football game tosecure the team’s first districttitle and its second-ever playoffspot after setting the single-season record of nine wins.

He did it again in the Class 5Abasketball championship game,holding Capital’s best player tojust two shot attempts while fin-ishing as the game’s high scorerand scoring a key bucket in thefinal 20 seconds to help erasea four-point deficit in the finalminute.

“Let me tell you somethingabout Marcos: He’s one of akind,” says former Sundevilsboys basketball coach RichardMartinez. “There are buildingblocks you build a house with.

There are pillars you use to sup-port that house. That’s Marcos.You can build something greatwith him. I’ll tell you this: I’venever been one to look at howmuch talent a player has. I lookat how much heart a player has.Marcos has more heart thananyone I’ve seen in a long, longtime. He’s a thoroughbred.”

The seeds of Flores’ successwere sewn in the most nontra-ditional way imaginable. Whilesome kids grow up in the cruci-ble of competitive youth sports,

spending years honing theirskills through private camps andcommunity rec leagues, Marcoswas nothing more than the kidnext door looking for somethingto do.

Instead of uniforms and prac-tices, he spent years horsingaround with his brothers andcousins. Sports weren’t even onthe family’s radar.

“We have never been a bigsports family,” says CorrineFlores, Marcos’ mother. “Wedidn’t really watch it and the

kids didn’t play sports when theywere younger. I guess it is sur-prising to see what Marcos hasdone because he didn’t have thatbackground.”

Corrine and her husbandAlfredo have four boys, Marcosbeing the second oldest in agroup that also includes a girlfrom Corrine’s sister. What youthsports leagues didn’t provide, theextended family certainly did.

“Oh, man, my brothers andcousins always used to beat onme,” Marcos jokes. “At least hav-ing that many boys around gaveus something to do.”

It wasn’t until he was well intoelementary school that Marcosbegan playing organized basket-ball. More curious than commit-ted, he admits it took years forthe passion that seems to con-sume most people in this town toseep in.

“But he always did have thatpersonality where he wanted tobe first,” Corrine says. “He’s prettyhigh energy. Even though he didn’tget into sports when he was little,he always just ran around and hada good time playing.”

Marcos was just good enoughto earn a roster spot in gradeschool basketball. In junior high,

he was so worried about gettingcut that he nearly quit. In sev-enth grade he took up football,but it wasn’t until the spring of2011 that Española’s passion forhoops legends finally started tomanifest itself.

The family was driving backfrom Colorado Springs, Colo.,the day the Sundevils were play-ing Roswell Goddard in the statefinals. Flores sat in the car listen-ing to it on the radio, hearing theemotion in the KDCE announc-ers as Coles led the team to theschool’s first and long-overduetitle.

“I told my mom that I wasgoing to win one of those beforeI got out of school,” Marcosrecalls. “I started to see howimportant basketball is to thepeople around here. I wanted tobe a part of that.”

He carried that same approachto football despite the over-whelming difference in commu-nity interest between the sports.Whereas basketball rivals familyand religion in the Valley, foot-ball has long been a launchingpad for embarrassing momentsand historic losing streaks.

Corrine remembers howthe regulars at football gamesconsisted of maybe half a dozenfamilies and a handful of friends.Week in and week out theywatched blowout after blowout.

It wasn’t easy on Marcos,either. His development wasslow as his physical tools tooktime to grow.

“They put me at quarterbackin seventh grade, but I couldn’treally throw the ball,” Marcossays. “I could only run it. It tooka long time for me to get bigenough to throw a football. Likefreshman year, I think. Maybesophomore year.”

It was in those formative yearsthat he and his parents made adeal. As long as he maintainedhonor roll status while playingsports, he wouldn’t have to workyear-round to help support thefamily.

As is the case with so manypeople in the Valley, the Floreseshave held firm to the idea thatearning a paycheck for an honestday’s work is a source of pride.Alfredo instilled that ethos intohis boys at a young age, oftentaking them with him to do oddjobs around town.

Whether it was picking uptrash or pulling weeds, theylearned from their father thatthere is no substitute for devel-oping a relentless work ethic.

“I always liked doing thosethings with my dad,” Marcossays. “He would have us doingside jobs like cleaning yards toget a little cash, then he’d let ususe the money to maybe buy aCoke and a candy. Then overhere, my mom would always beworking two jobs to take careof four boys who never stoppedeating. I saw how hard theyworked for us, and it meant a lot.I saw what they did.”

Martinez says it’s thosehumble, loving and hardworkingroots that made Flores the ath-lete he is.

“Coaches often make the mis-take of seeing only talent andnot what’s inside,” Martinez says.“Me, I’ll take a kid with heartover someone with talent. I sawthat in Marcos right away.”

So did other coaches. FormerEspañola football coach MiguelMedina noticed it from the timehe met Flores in middle school.Marcos would often get up in theearly morning to work out withthe Española varsity at 6 a.m.,then practice with the sub-varsityin the afternoon and spend therest of his time lifting weights andconditioning for football.

It was exhausting and stress-ful, but Medina knew he wasonto something when he gotFlores and a handful of othersto join a program that had beena laughingstock for more than ageneration.

“You can see it in a player’seyes right from the start,”Medina said last fall. “You bringin a kid and show him whatwe’re doing. He might have allthe talent and the physical tools,but if he doesn’t have that lookon his face, then you’re in trou-ble. Marcos has always had thatlook I want in a player.”

But it wasn’t always fun. Ashis love for hoops blossomed, itwas football that he stubbornlyheld onto.

“We had so many games wherewe’d get smacked 50-0, and

every time coach would tell us tobelieve, that what we were build-ing was going to be amazing,”Flores says. “It was hard sitting inthe locker room after losing bad,bad, bad every week, losing afterall those practices in 100-degreeheat and lifting weights all thetime. But we believed. Thereweren’t a lot of us, some guysdropped off and new guys camein — but coach was always there.”

It wasn’t until his freshmanyear that the dynamic rela-tionship between Flores andMartinez really took off. Animpassioned coach who has nowbeen fired four times in 13 yearswith the school, Martinez hasnurtured a reputation that is aspolarizing as anything anyonehas ever seen in Española.

From his first exposure to it,Flores knew he’d found what hewas looking for. When Martinezinvited him to join the varsityfull time after he kicked a playeroff the team, the pair began ayearslong relationship that ishard to describe.

“First time I walked into thegym, he was on me about whatI was wearing, about not havingmy jersey tucked in, about every-thing,” Flores says. “A lot of guysdidn’t like it, but I knew what hewas doing. He was showing usdiscipline. Me and Rich, we gotinto a lot of bickering and behindclosed doors in the locker roomthere was some arguing, butwhen we were out there duringgames, we worked together.”

Over the years, Martineztaught Flores to drop his grind-ing football mentality on thecourt and adopt a style that com-bined finesse and brute force.The fouls that often mountedand limited playing time whenhe was younger faded as Marcoslearned the game and embracedthe school’s love for basketball.

It reached a proverbial cre-scendo the night before the5A title game in March. Holedup in the team hotel, just a dayaway from facing a Capital teamthat had given them fits in fourprevious meetings that season,Martinez approached his seniorcaptain and assigned him thetask of shadowing Jaguars starguard Eric Coca.

Earlier in the tournament,Coca had posted back-to-back22-point games. All season he’dhad his way with almost everyopponent, Española included.

“When you look at the toolsyou have, sometimes the bestone is what you save for last,”Martinez said. “I knew if wewere going to play Capitalagain, Marcos had to be the guy.Whether he was guarding Cocaor [Augie] Larrañaga or [Jeremy]Anaya, he was the one player Iknew could do it.”

And Flores did. With The Pitroiling with fans anticipating themoment, Marcos was at his all-time best — just as he was timeand again during football seasonwhen he lived up to his nick-name “Kamikaze” by flying headfirst into opponents with fearlessabandon.

“I think one of the things thatalways bothered me was howpeople put Española down,”Flores says. “That’s why bringinga championship home is suchan important thing. People areproud of that, and a champion-ship flag is something you cannever take down. Winning is forall of Española.”

Moving forward, Flores plansto study forestry or in a medicalfield in college. Wherever hewinds up with his profession,this much is certain: He wants toreturn to his hometown one dayto continue the coaching legacythat meant so much to him thesepast few years.

“I want to give something backto everything these people gaveto me,” he says. “I learned thatyou can be something that startsout small and no one believes in,then transition into somethingbigger and more successful. Iguess that’s what I want to giveback. Yeah, I can see myselfcoaching at my high school oneof these days.”

Hearing those words, Mar-tinez says it’s easy to see whyEspañola is like no other place.

“To take pride in the peoplearound you when everyoneelse doubts what you believe in,that’s special,” he says. “To havea young man dedicate himselfto his school and never give up,that’s why places like Españolawill always love their sports.”

Flores is tackled by Farmington players during the state playoffsin Española. Although the Sundevils lost, the team set the single-season record of nine wins. LuiS SáNchez SaTurNo/New MexicaN fiLe phoTo

Flores, center, drives pastCapital’s Jerome Arroyos andBryan GarciafiLe phoTo by Luke e. MoNTavoNfor The New MexicaN

Espanola’s Marcos Floresthrows during the Class 5Ajavelin event at the StateTrack and Field Champion-ships at Great Friends ofUNM Track Complex in May.

fiLe phoTo by Luke e. MoNTavoNfor The New MexicaN

By Will WebberThe New Mexican

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8 NORTHSTARS The New Mexican Sunday, June 12, 2016