NM prep coaches group hands out awards aplenty

The start of a new high school athletics calendar also means wrapping up some business from the previous year.

The New Mexico High School Coaches Association annual clinic, which ended on Wednesday, comes with it a slew of awards to men and women who excelled during the 2022-23 school year.

That includes naming its coach of the year in all sports.

The latest honorees:

g Jeff Kiraly, Piedra Vista (baseball);

g Brad Holland, Fort Sumner/House (boys basketball);

g Phil Keller, Rio Rancho (boys cross country);

g Shaun Gill, Cleveland (boys soccer);

g Joel Partridge, Socorro (boys wrestling);

g Kenny Henry, Cleveland (boys track and field);

g Jeremy Maupin, Artesia (football);

g Jaylyn Cook, Texico (girls basketball);

g David Nuñez, Organ Mountain (girls cross country);

g Ahren Griego, Volcano Vista (girls wrestling);

g Amy Fankam, Hope Christian (girls soccer);

g David Chavez/Mario Trujillo, Santa Rosa (girls track and field);

g Esther Lorenzo, Laguna Acoma (volleyball);

g Jason Black, Rio Rancho (golf);

g Kevin Werth, Piedra Vista (softball);

g Colleen Gibson, Cottonwood Classical Prep (swimming/diving);

g Maria Medina, Questa (spirit);

g Juan Carlos Fulgenzi, Robertson (tennis)

g Steve Castille, who resigned after last season as the head football coach at Organ Mountain, was named the 2023 Ralph Bowyer Coaching with Character Award recipient. Tohatchi’s Fern Spencer was given the Distinguished Service Award. Artesia’s now-retired Cooper Henderson was named the Athletic Director of the Year.

One of the highlights of the annual NMHSCA coaches clinic is the formal recognition of the new Hall of Honor inductees. There are three this year.

g Roy Johnson has long been a coaching staple in the Four Corners, and he has coached state championship teams at both Farmington (wrestling) and Aztec (softball).

g Dickie Roybal won multiple state football championships as Melrose’s head coach at both the 6-man and 8-man levels, and is also among the honorees.

g Mesa Vista’s Jerry Villareal, who led the Trojans to multiple boys basketball titles, rounds out this year’s NMHSCA Hall of Honor class.

BLUE-GREY: The official start of the 2023 prep football season arrives on Monday, but already a handful of players are picked up some accolades.

Like Hope Christian senior two-way lineman Jacob Baca, for example. Baca on Wednesday received an invitation to compete in the Blue-Grey All-American Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. He will compete Dec. 18, Huskies coach Fernando Salinas said.

Cleveland’s Strat Shufelt also was invited to play but does not plan to participate.

Other local players have been named to the game’s watch list according to the Blue-Grey Twitter account: Albuquerque Academy’s Brody Whitaker, La Cueva’s Cruz Markham and Jackson Cherry, and Volcano Vista’s Zach Markham (Cruz’s cousin).

JACOBSEN UPDATE: Former La Cueva High big man Daniel Jacobsen now has a scholarship offer from Purdue, the third school in the Big Team to offer the 7-foot-2 Jacobsen.

Minnesota and Illinois also have offered Jacobsen, as have New Mexico, Tulsa, Xavier, Boise State and New Mexico State.

He will be at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire this academic season. He is set to graduate in 2025.

PIPELINE TO CORVALLIS: Aiden May, the former Sandia High baseball pitcher who most recently was throwing for the University of Arizona, didn’t spend much time without a new school after recently entering the transfer portal. Last week he announced on Twitter that he would transfer to Pac-12 rival Oregon State.

The Matadors will have three former pitchers going to OSU, as May will be there with the Kmatz brothers, Jacob, who already pitches for the Beavers, and Zach, who verbally committed to OSU in May.

Former La Cueva football standout Exodus Ayers also is headed to Oregon State via a prep school in New Hampshire. He reclassified and has one more season of prep eligibility.

THIS AND THAT: Eldorado High junior-to-be basketball guard Bella Hines picked up her 33rd official Division I offer earlier this week, from Oklahoma State. … La Cueva softball standout Addisen Byers, an offensive standout last spring, has committed to play for Western New Mexico.