NM state championships are a go!
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Navajo Pine Lady Warrior Jordan Louis (3) reaches to block the shot made by Rehoboth Lady Lync Eden Sun (9) on Thursday during a match in Navajo, N.M.
WINDOW ROCK
Earlier this week, cross-country, volleyball and soccer high school athletes in New Mexico weren’t sure if they would have state championships.
That fate hinged on a decision from New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the New Mexico Public Education Department.
On Wednesday, the PED gave the go-ahead for the New Mexico Activities Association to end the seasons with state championships.
“The return of high school athletics has positively impacted communities across New Mexico, and we have now taken another step towards some sort of normalcy for our students with the announcement that our fall sports’ seasons can conclude with a culminating event,” said Sally Marquez, the NMAA executive director, in a statement.
“We truly appreciate the support from the PED, the Department of Health, and the governor’s office for their help in making this happen,” she said.
The state cross-country championship will be held March 26 and 27 at Albuquerque Academy. For volleyball and soccer, the state championship will feature an eight-team bracket with the higher seeds hosting the quarterfinal and semifinal matches.
The volleyball playoffs are scheduled to start on March 29 with the championship game at the University of New Mexico’s The Pit on April 1.
Soccer, meanwhile, will start the state tournament on April 6 and it will end with the finals at the University of New Mexico Soccer Complex on April 8.
The NMAA said football will not have a playoff but they will conclude with a “Bowl Game” at the end of the season.
Longtime Tohatchi coach Fern Spencer said Wednesday’s announcement gives prep athletes “something to look forward to.”
“I’m really glad that it’s gonna happen,” said Spencer, who heads the cross-country program at Tohatchi High. “We weren’t sure what was gonna happen because our kids have worked so hard these past four, five weeks.
“This is great news and the kids are really happy about it too,” she added. “They have something to look forward to.”
Rehoboth volleyball coach Char Chapman shared Spencer’s sentiment, as her team is one step closer at earning an automatic bid for state after beating Navajo Pine in four sets on Thursday night.
“Once we got word (on the approval) for the state tournament our girls got more excited,” she said. “That’s something we’ve been talking about for a while, but coming into the season we didn’t know if we were going to even have a season. And when we started playing we didn’t know what teams were going to be playing.”
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With Dulce and Laguna-Acoma opting out this year due to the pandemic, District 1-2A was whittled down to Rehoboth and Navajo Pine.
Chapman said the district was primed to be super-competitive with all four teams capable of winning the league crown. But with Dulce and Laguna-Acoma idle, the district title will be decided when the Lynx host Navajo Pine next Friday, as the district winner will punch its ticket to state.
“We can’t take for granted that we’re going to win district because Navajo Pine is a really good team,” Chapman said. “They can still win it.”
As for cross-country, the top two teams in the district meet will qualify for state, along with the top three finishers from non-qualifying teams.
Due to the NMAA instituting new guidelines to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the teams will be scored differently this year – with fewer athletes at the starting line, each team will have up to five runners with the top four scoring.
The district meets will take place with Rehoboth hosting the District 1-1A/2A meet today while Tohatchi will hold the District 1-3A meet on Saturday morning. In District 1-4A, Aztec will host.
“I’m hoping to qualify both teams,” Spencer said. “We just have to get ourselves psyched up and just go with it.”
Due to restrictions set by the Navajo Nation, Spencer said the race on Saturday will take place on school property with the girls’ race starting at 9 a.m. and the boys’ at 9:40 a.m.
“This isn’t something we wanted but we have no choice,” she said. “We were hoping to have it at Hamburger Hill but we’re going to make do with what we have.”
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow