Winter All-Stars released

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

CROWNPOINT – The release of the Navajo Times All-Stars for winters sports is long overdue as the final bout in wrestling happened in February, and the final made basket in prep hoops was made in mid-March.

There were a handful of girls basketball teams that were crowned state champions this past year. On the wrestling mat, our coverage area a surplus of individual state champs in boys and girls wrestling.

Teamwise, the Aztec Tigers regained the New Mexico Class 4A state wrestling crown with nine state placers under the direction of head coach Levi Stout.

With that, Stout was named the Times’ Coach of the Year in wrestling, and he shares that honor with Chinle coach Nate Wagner.

Under Stout, Aztec claimed the program’s 22nd state title in late February as the Tigers finished the two-day state tournament with a team score of 184 points while last season’s state champ Bloomfield finished second at 169.5 markers.

Meanwhile, Wagner took six wrestlers to the Arizona Interscholastic Association state wrestling tournament, which included a pair of state placers.

Under his tutelage, Chinle earned its first state champion in girls wrestling with sophomore Carli Jones winning the AIA Division 126-pound title.

Jones, who was tabbed the wrestler of the year, posted a 3-0 overtime win over Mica Mountain senior Harper Frost in the finals as she improved her overall record to 39-10.

“I’m just very thankful that all my hard work paid off,” Jones told the Navajo Times. “I’m glad that I was able to win state.”

In addition to Jones, Aztec’s Harper Mcclain and Bloomfield’s Caylee Miller were also named wrestlers of the year.

Harper captured the 185-pound state crown at the New Mexico all-girls state tournament by defeating West Mesa senior Briyah Shipley in a 15-14 decision.

“She was tough, and it was hard,” the Aztec eighth grader said of her back-and-forth match. “Mentally, I had to prepare for it, and I just told myself that I got this.”

With her first state championship under her belt, McClain is hoping to win four more state crowns before she graduates high school.

Harper finished the season at 25-5 overall.

At 235 pounds, Miller pinned Carlsbad Aaliyah Martin in the finals as the Bloomfield freshman capped her season with a 39-1 record.

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Boys wrestling

In boys wrestling, the Times named Arizona state champs Conner Peterson of Page, Michael Romero of Winslow, and Devin Kinlicheenie of Snowflake as wrestlers of the year. They share that honor with New Mexico Class 4A state champs Austin Lopez of Miyamura and Bloomfield duos Hunter Samora and Logan Gosnell.

Samora (30-3) captured his third consecutive state crown by outlasting Miyamura’s Adam Abdeljawad in the 133-pound finale. The Bloomfield wrestler won by a 4-1 decision.

“This means a lot,” Samora said of his win. “I’m Bloomfield’s second three-time state champion. I’m going to continue to do better things at college and hopefully build on that.”

In the 215-pound finale, Gosnell (26-4) had to hang on to beat Academy’s Isaiah Rivera for the state crown as he posted a 9-6 decision.

“Going into the match I was like, ‘Hey, this is my senior year and I better win it.’ I place third last year and there was no reason why I shouldn’t win it,” Gosnell said.

Austin earned the 114-pound state title by earning a 15-10 decision over West Las Vegas wrestler Andres Rambo Lopez. The two finalists had one previous meeting with Lopez tech-falling the Miyamura wrestler 16-0 at the regional meet.

“This feels great,” Austin said. “As a junior I never thought that I would get a state championship. It’s crazy to think about it. I mean, I beat every 114-pounder in the state.”

In the AIA Division IV boys tournament, Romero captured the 144-pound bracket by winning all of his matches with pins.

The Winslow senior faced top-seeded Luke Grainger of Miami and won that match easily as he earned a fall 59 seconds into the championship bout.

“I was expecting a tougher match,” Romero said. “I thought he was gonna put more into the match but as soon as I overpowered him, I put my shoulders into his shoulders, and I turned him.

“I stuck him on his back, and I pinned him,” he added.

At 132, Petersen entered the state tournament as the wrestler to beat in his weight class as he earned the top seed.

The Page junior passed that with flying colors as he defeated Northwest Christian’s Deebo Vitale in the finals.

“He’s been locked in all season long,” Page coach Leland Billie said of Peterson. “He started the year off pretty strong, and then he had an early injury that he had a battle through to where he had to rehab his knee.”

At the AIA Division III tournament, Kinlicheenie captured his third consecutive state crown by winning the 215-pound weight class as he became Snowflake High’s first three-time state champion.

Kinlicheenie earned a fall over Cactus Shadows wrestler Jax Finch late in the second period. The Snowflake senior finished his season at 54-1 overall.

“It’s awesome,” Kinlicheenie said of his feat. “I’ve worked so hard to get it, and it takes all of us, you know, my brothers, my dad, the whole wrestling team with my coaches and my teammates. It’s not just me, it’s everybody.”

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Girls basketball

Headed by the two-time New Mexico Gatorade Player of the Year Sydney Benally heads this year’s class of talented players. Benally was selected as POY and she shares that honor with Gallup senior post Rylie Whitehair and Chinle’s Dizhoon White.

Benally, a four-star guard, averaged 20.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.2 steals during her senior season as she helped the Sandia Lady Matadors to back-to-back state crowns. Sandia defeated state powerhouse Hobbs, 47-38, in the 5A state title game.

The Diné guard, who has roots in the Shiprock area, is set to take her talents to Brigham Young University next season.

Whitehair also led her team to a state title as Gallup beat district rival Kirtland Central in the 4A state championship game.

Whitehorse was a force inside the paint as she used her size and produced a 17-point, 12-rebound effort in Gallup’s 51-41 win.

“It was a very great one and an exciting one, knowing that this is my second time winning state,” Whitehair said of her final experience playing at the Pit. “I knew that this is my last year and I had to put everything into it.”

Whitehorse, who was named the District 1-4A POY, is also set to play at the collegiate level. The Gallup senior signed with the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley last fall.

White helped the Chinle Lady Wildcats to a Final Four finish at this year’s Arizona 3A Conference playoffs.

The Chinle senior post led the Wildcats in four team categories: points per game, rebound per game, field goal percentage and free throw percentage.

White averaged 14.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. She shot 71% from the free throw line and made 50% of her shots.

The coach of the year was shared by Flagstaff’s Tyrone Johnson, Navajo Prep’s Rainy Crisp, Page’s Celeste Claw and Gallup’s Todd McBroom.

Under McBroom, Gallup won the program’s eighth state crown in March when Gallup upended KC in the championship game.

“Credit to the kids, they played fantastic defense,” McBroom said. “It was our best defensive effort of the year. (We) contested shots and when they got by us, we had people by the rim, protecting, changing shots.”

Since taking over the program, McBroom has coached Gallup to three state crowns with his first one coming in 2021 with the second title coming in 2023.

In the 3A championship tilt, Navajo Prep used an 18-2 run in the last seven minutes to secure a 52-43 win over second seed West Las Vegas under Crisp.

In those final minutes, the Eagles went into beast mode to win the program’s ninth state crown, including five under Crisp.

“That is what we’ve been working on the whole state tournament, which is being mentally strong,” Crisp said. “We saw a little bit of that early in the tournament where we got frustrated with ourselves, but it really comes down to encouraging each other, getting defensive stops, (playing) one possession at a time, getting offensive and defensive rebounds helps out a lot.”

In Arizona, Page reached the title game in the AIA inaugural Copper Bracket under Claw. The new state backet assembled the top programs in 1A, 2A and 3A in a 16-team bracket as Page came up short to Phoenix Country Day by a 62-35 count in the championship tilt.

“You know, it’s been a pleasure just to get here,” Claw said. “We were able to fight adversity multiple times this season. We played Tuba City for the fourth time, and we had to beat them in the semifinals to get here.

“That was one of our biggest challenges, and I’m happy the girls were able to surpass them,” she added.

Johnson coached the Flagstaff girls to the school’s third state when the Lady Eagles pulled away from the Eastmark Firebirds in early March.

“It means a lot, especially with this group,” said Johnson, whose team capped the season on a four-game winning streak after losing its postseason opener to Raymond S. Kellis in the AIA Open Bracket on Feb. 18.

“You know, we had the one group when we won the first one a couple years ago that was really strong and for their senior year we lost in the Final Four,” Johnson said. “And we graduated about 10, and so we had a bunch of new faces, a bunch of inexperience and a lot of people didn’t give these girls a chance.”

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Boys basketball

The Tohatchi and Page boys hoops programs capped the 2025 season with outstanding records.

The Sand Devils finished with a 21-8 record while Tohatchi went 25-4 as both teams reached the quarterfinals in their respective brackets.

With that, the Times has picked Page senior forward Tyree Stingley and Tohatchi senior guard Josh Dawes as the POY. In addition, Page coach Justin Smith and Tohatchi coach Kendall Livingston were named the POY.

Under Smith, Page won the 3A North regular season title and earned a bid in the inaugural Copper Bracket. After coming up short to Yuma Catholic, Page was seeded No. 3 in the 3A Conference bracket.

Stingley played an instrumental part in Page’s success as he led the team in scoring and rebounds. The versatile forward averaged 19.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

His postseason accolades include being recognized as the 3A Conference Offensive Player of the Year and earning the 3A North Player of the Year for the second consecutive year. He set the school record for the most points scored with 1,803 points.

In New Mexico, Dawes put up a team-leading 17.7 points per game for the Cougars that won the District 1-3A regular season title. The crafty guard also led the team with 3.4 assists.

Dawes was named the district’s MVP in District 1-3A. He also earned all-state honors as well making the New Mexico Green/Red All-Star game.

The regular season league title was Tohatchi’s first since the 2013 season under Livingston as the Cougars went undefeated during the district campaign.

Tohatchi advanced into the state quarterfinals before coming up short to Santa Fe Indian School.

“I would give it an A-plus,” Livingston said when asked to sum up the season. “These guys came in and worked hard. They believed in each other, and they knew each other was. They kept each other accountable. That was the big thing. That was the great thing about this group, they kept each other accountable.”

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