Rams Girls Take Second at State Tourney

LAS CRUCES — The girls golfers from Rio Rancho High School huddled around the practice green at the New Mexico State University Golf Course on Tuesday afternoon and shared a team cry.

“At first, they were tears of disappointment,” said Ram junior Sierra Campbell.

“But they’re tears of joy now. Because this is history for us.”

The trophy shelves at Rio Rancho are chock full of hardware from other sports — in fact, virtually every sport.

Girls golf was always an exception. There had never before been a Rio Rancho team that trophied at the state tournament.

Until Tuesday.

The Rams finished second to Sandia at this year’s Class 5A event at NMSU, a watershed moment for a program that has produced some good teams, but never a great finish at state.

“It’s awesome,” coach Jason Black said. “It’s a great achievement for the girls.”

The Rams’ two-day total of 708 was 10 higher than champion Sandia.

Rio Rancho started the second day of the tournament in third place, behind La Cueva and Sandia. But the Rams carded a solid team round Tuesday in the breezy conditions at NMSU and vaulted ahead of La Cueva.

“Sandia played good. We just didn’t get anything going,” Black said. “But second place is something to be very proud of.”

Campbell finished sixth individually, which is a special number, because in prep golf, the top six are considered All-State.

“It’s taken a while,” Campbell said. “Since eighth grade, I’ve always wanted to be (All-State).”

Also for the Rams, Kyra Plotner and Shyan Hingtgen both finished tied for 13th, Oriana Guimond was tied for 16th, and Morgan Gooden tied for 43rd place.

♦ Cleveland eighth-grader Dominique Galloway placed second to champion Kacey Dalpes of Alamogordo.

“I actually really wanted to win,” said Galloway, who shot rounds of 74 and 78 to finish the 36-hole tournament at 152, 8-over par. “But since Kacey is a senior and I’m an eighth-grader, I guess she deserves it.”

Also for the Storm, Lauren Wade tied for 26th, Tarah Glenn was 38th, Brianna Winsor was 42nd, and Viviana Najera was 54th.

Cleveland finished sixth as a team.

♦ Bernalillo junior Shannelle Tafoya was All-State at the Class 4A tournament at New Mexico Tech Golf Course in Socorro.

She finished third individually, with a two-day total of 164. The champion, Taylar Jaramillo of Belen, shot 153.

Boys

The Storm’s boys finished third and collected the program’s first trophy in its third varsity season.

Cleveland, which was fifth after the opening round Monday, picked up a huge break in the next-to-last group Tuesday, when Clovis’ Sam Bridgwater took a 9 on the par-4 18th hole.

The Storm finished one shot ahead of the Wildcats for third place. Had Bridgwater just managed a bogey on the 18th, Clovis would have counted his team score and that would have left Cleveland in fourth.

Individually, Cleveland junior Craig Garcia placed fifth. He was the top male golfer from the metro area, and earned All-State honors.

“You have to come in to try to win. That was the ultimate goal,” Garcia said. “Hopefully, I’ll win next year.”

Garcia shot rounds of 74 and 75. He finished six strokes behind winner Kenneth Fadke of Hobbs.

But Garcia said taking third as a team left the Storm elated.

“That’s amazing,” he said. “We played pretty decent, and luckily, the winds came up and the scores (of other teams) rose in the afternoon.”

Cleveland shot rounds of 315 and 320. The two-day total of 635 trailed only Hobbs (614) and Oñate (629).

“We’re really pleased, considering our goal was to shoot right around 315 each day. And we stayed around that goal,” senior James Skinner said.

Skinner tied for 16th individually. Also for Cleveland, Paul Montoya tied for 21st, Brandon Siow tied for 26th and Chase Brown was 44th.