Peerman's Power Rankings: 10 best things in New Mexico sports this week (April 21)

Welcome to Peerman's Power Rankings (PPR), the 10 athletes, teams and story lines that have Journal sports editor Lucas Peerman's attention. Look for a new power rankings list every Sunday.

Have a suggestion, complaint or compliment? Email lpeerman@abqjournal.com or contact me on X @LucasPeerman.

10. Jaelen House

UNM's dynamic basketball player is often praised for his tenacious defense and charged-up style of play on the court. This week, House got kudos for performing well in another arena — the classroom. He was one of 15 Division I men’s basketball players in the country to be named an Academic All-American. A grad student, House has a 3.56 cumulative grade point average. “Jaelen is, for one, off the court he’s nothing like he is on the court. He is really soft spoken, never an issue of going to class or academically," coach Richard Pitino said on a recent Talking Grammer podcast.

9. Don Kirby Tailwind Open

Several Lobo track and field athletes had noteworthy performances at Friday's meet in Albuquerque. Of course, freshman Habtom Samuel, one of the best distance runners in the country, was among them. He ran a 29:00.59 in the 10,000 meters, which should be good enough to qualify for the NCAA national championships in June. Also, 11 other Lobos recorded new personal bests and five more netted probable NCAA Prelim qualifications at the Don Kirby.

8. Desirae Spearman

New Mexico State's sensational softball player had another spectacular outing Saturday in the Aggies' 6-2 win over Jacksonville State in Alabama. She hit two homers, bringing her season total to 15 and tying her for the lead in that category in Conference USA. Spearman was also in the circle, allowing just one earned run over seven innings. The freshman threw 124 pitches in what was her seventh complete game and eighth win of the year.

7. La Cueva baseball

The Bears are hungry for that District 2-5A crown and a shot at the state title. How hungry? On Saturday, top-ranked La Cueva (19-2 overall, 6-0 in district) avenged its only loss to a New Mexico team this year in beating No. 3 Sandia 4-2 and 17-2 in a doubleheader at the Matadors' home field. The second game was Sandia's worst loss in eight years.

6. Hursty

Greg Hurst netted two goals in New Mexico United's 3-2 win at North Carolina FC on Saturday. With the win, NMU (4-1-1) moved into third place in the USLC Western Conference standings. “I challenged Hursty this week in training,” coach Eric Quill said. “I told him, ‘You’ve got one goal in five games and we need you to step up.’ He stepped up.”

5. Jaiya Daniels

This may be the Los Alamos junior's debut on PPR, but it certainly won't be her last time accomplishing feats worthy of discussion. Daniels stars on the vaunted Hilltoppers' track and field team and shined bright at last week's Marilyn Sepulveda Meet of Champions. She not only won the triple jump with a leap of 39 feet, 4½ inches, by far a personal best, but she was the runner-up in the 100 meters, and later won the 200. Though Daniels wants to be an Olympian (as she told KOAT earlier this year), she has interests beyond the track. She's also a filmmaker (her 2023 short film, "Sisters of the Circle," featured below, won Best Documentary in a state competition) and she helps her mom with the family apparel business, Right Mind Athletics.

4. Noah Rush

A senior catcher for the 2A Oak Grove/Menaul Owls, Rush accomplished something this week that possibly no other player in New Mexico high school baseball history has done: A grand slam in three consecutive games. There are no New Mexico Activities Association records for this unique statistic, so it's impossible to state whether this is unprecedented. It's an amazing feat, nonetheless, and one PPR likely won't record again.

3. UNM women's tennis

The Lobos beat Air Force 4-0 on Friday to capture the team's first outright Mountain West regular season championship. The team is 19-2 overall and 8-1 in conference heading into this week's conference tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. For some reason, UNM isn't ranked nationally but Mountain West No. 2 seed San Diego State is (No. 60).

2. Mitchell Parker

The former Manzano High standout pitcher made his MLB debut this week, and what a debut it was. The Washington Nationals started the lefthander last Monday on the road against the L.A. Dodgers and Sunday at home versus the Houston Astros. Talk about a gauntlet of hitters. But that didn't faze Parker. He won both games, easily, and in the process became only the fifth MLB pitcher to strikeout 12 hitters and not issue a walk in the first two games of his career.

1. Emma Bunch

It wouldn't be a stretch to call New Mexico State's sophomore the Nelly Korda of women's collegiate golf. Both won their previous five tournaments, the latest championship coming on the biggest stage, respectively, each has played on this year. Korda won the Chevron Championship, a women's major on Sunday. Bunch won the Conference USA women’s golf individual championship on Tuesday and in doing so automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships. Here's the lead sentence in a recent GolfWeek article profiling the NMSU star, who's won every tournament she's entered in 2024: "Emma Bunch has played against 463 golfers this spring. She hasn’t lost to a single one."

Honorable mention

Roy Sanchez: Eldorado's boys basketball coach and athletic director marked his 60th birthday by running a 60K in Prescott, Arizona. The Steve Miller Band would be proud of this Eagle.

Hunter Goodman: The Isotopes' slugger hit a homer in four consecutive games this week. It was the 13th time in Isotopes history a player went deep in at least four straight.

Savannah Bananas: Should the barnstorming Bananas be on the Sports page? Debatable. But selling out Isotopes Park on consecutive days for a game that is within the ballpark (so to speak) of the wider world of sports is impressive.

End of the bench

Pictures or it didn't happen, right? Readers of this Sports section may have noticed there were no photos of UNM football's spring game that allegedly took place Saturday at University Stadium. The program's powers-that-be asked media and fans to cap their cameras and leave their phones in their pockets while the scrimmage was ongoing. "The no-camera thing is real, and if you are filming or shooting, you will be asked to leave," UNM athletics advised in an email to media before the game. The Journal complied amid much grousing in private. Not being able to photograph the spring game? That's a molehill. A taxpayer-funded entity telling press what they can and can't photograph inside a taxpayer-funded stadium? That's a hill big enough to have a slippery slope. You know what might combat future no-photo directives? A mountain of subscribers calling and emailing the athletics department to ensure the press be their eyes and ears within the program.

Meet the sports editor

Albuquerque Journal Sports Editor Lucas Peerman will be visiting a different coffee house the last Wednesday of every month to meet with community members. This is an opportunity to discuss in person what you’d like to see in a sports section, or to just talk sports. This month, meet Lucas at Catalyst Coffee, 6010 Coors Blvd., from 10 to 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 24. Look for the little guy.