In addition to the on-court rivalry that exists between the men’s basketball programs at New Mexico and New Mexico State, the Lobos and Aggies now have a shared — and local — pursuit:
Jalin Holland.
Los Lunas High School’s 6-foot-4, 190-pound guard, who still has three years left to play for the Tigers, last week was offered a scholarship by UNM and coach Richard Pitino.
“It meant a lot, knowing that’s from New Mexico and it’s only, like, 20 minutes away from me,” Holland said.
Already, Holland had offers from Southern Utah and New Mexico State. And he just finished his freshman season.
“I find that it’s really impressive,” Holland said, “knowing all my hard work has paid off and seeing all these offers come in.”
Holland, 16, is a combo guard for the Tigers, although he said he wasn’t sure what his best position might be at the next level.
He averaged 19.8 points and 6.7 rebounds last season for Los Lunas. He was named to the Class 5A All-State first team last season.
JOHNSON HONORED: Longtime La Cueva High School boys tennis coach Dick Johnson recently was inducted into the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) Southwest Hall of Fame in Phoenix.
Johnson, 77, last month coached the Bears to a state championship, his 11th at La Cueva, and the leader in the large-school division.
Johnson was for 45 years an elite tennis pro inside the USPTA.
“It’s just a great honor to be inducted, that’s all I can say,” Johnson said. “I feel like I have given a lot back to the sport, and this was such an honor.”‘
FORMER MATADOR, LOBO A NATIONAL CHAMP: Former Sandia High and University of New Mexico pitcher Drew Gillespie over the weekend celebrated as Southeastern University captured the NAIA World Series title in Lewiston, Idaho.
Southeastern (59-4), located in Lakeland, Florida, was ranked No. 1 in the country and won its second national championship.
Gillespie was the starting pitcher in the final against Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), striking out five, walking one and giving up five earned runs in four innings of work. He competed as a graduate student this spring.
Gillespie made 56 appearances over three seasons for the Lobos before transferring to Southeastern.
He went 10-0 with a 3.78 ERA this season for the Fire in 17 starts.
GATORADE: Carlsbad pitcher/infielder Nolan Perry has been chosen as the Gatorade New Mexico Player of the Year.
The senior righty led the Cavemen last month to the Class 5A state championship, and was influential on the mound and at the plate for Carlsbad.
He was 10-1 with a 0.42 ERA for the Cavemen, striking out 115 batters while walking only nine in 66 innings of work. He also swatted eight home runs with 34 RBIs. He has signed with Texas Tech, and he could be selected in July’s draft.
HALL OF FAME, PART II: One of St. Pius’ most stellar volleyball players is this week finally being formally inducted into Seton Hall’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
Jennifer Cheshire (now Petersen) was announced as a HOF inductee for the Pirates in February 2020, but the pandemic has delayed the actual induction ceremony until this week. It was supposed to occur in June of 2020.
Cheshire, Seton Hall Class of 1998, is to be honored Thursday.
She graduated as the school’s all-time kills leader (1,379) and still ranks fourth two decades later. She also ranks first all-time in points scored and is second in aces .
In her senior season, Cheshire was named first-team All-Big East and was a CoSIDA Academic All-America.
THIS AND THAT: Harvey Carreathers has resigned as Manzano’s boys track and field coach to become the new boys coach at Rio Rancho High School. He replaces Sal Gonzales, who left the Rams to become Rio Rancho’s campus athletic director … The Monarchs also lost their baseball coach recently as Tim Campos resigned. … Cibola track athlete Jonah Vaquera announced on Twitter that he was going to continue his athletic career at UNM. … The large-school Red/Green All-Star baseball series is Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Field of Dreams in Las Cruces. There is a single game each day: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday. Players from Class 5A and 4A are participating. … Former Rio Rancho High wrestler Bo Nickal, a three-time national champion at Penn State, won his MMA debut over the weekend with a 33-second knockout (as a middleweight) in Richmond, Virginia. … Cleveland linebacker Stratton Shufelt, who will be a junior next fall for the Storm, has picked up another Division I offer, this one from Sam Houston State. It is his sixth D-1 offer. The Bearkats are a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) program.
