Peerman's Power Rankings: 5 best things in New Mexico sports this week (Sept. 15)

Welcome to Peerman’s Power Rankings (PPR), the five athletes, teams and story lines that have Journal sports editor Lucas Peerman’s attention this week. Have a suggestion, complaint or compliment? Email lpeerman@abqjournal.com or find me on X, @LucasPeerman.

5. Lovington football

Last season, the Wildcats cruised through Class 4A, won the state title and lost only two games to New Mexico teams — to 5A’s Roswell and Artesia. This season, Lovington moved up a class and is now in the same district as the Coyotes and Bulldogs. Most expected the Wildcats to be competitive in 5A. Most underestimated just how competitive. Lovington took care of business at home against Roswell on Friday, scoring 35 of the game’s first 41 points en route to a 35-21 victory. The Wildcats, 4-0 and ranked No. 1 in 5A, will be the favorites when Artesia (2-2) visits on Sept. 27 and can usurp the title of New Mexico’s most dominant program with a big win.

4. Las Cruces volleyball

Cleveland should be lauded for its performance in the Albuquerque Metro Volleyball Championships, where the Storm defeated four-time reigning champ La Cueva in straight sets. But Cleveland’s most impressive feat of the young season may be taking a set from Las Cruces in a 3-1 defeat at home on Sept. 7. That’s because the 2023 state champion Bulldawgs are a behemoth, having won eight matches in a row to start the season. Las Cruces High has dropped only 2 of 25 sets on the year, one to Cleveland and another to El Paso Franklin, a Top 40 team in Texas. Bulldawgs junior outside hitter Addison Massey is averaging 6.1 kills per set.

Cobre’s Hayley Gutierrez, at 5.1 kills per set, is the next closest in that stat category and no other player in the state is averaging more than 4.5 kills per set.

3. Harper Dunn

The top women’s college basketball programs in the country have their eyes on the 6-foot-6 sophomore standout from Corona — she was up to 24 Division I offers at last count. And while Dunn ostensibly spends much time honing her craft on the court, it’s the hours upon hours she put into raising and grooming Drew — a 1,433-pound market steer — that gets her on PPR this week. Dunn and Drew were awarded Grand Champion (the champion among champions) at the New Mexico State Fair Junior Livestock Show on Wednesday. At Friday’s Junior Livestock Sale, a bidder paid $21,000 for Drew — the most expensive sale of the auction. PPR may be a little hazy in the particulars of raising steers, but no doubt it involves persistence and attention to detail, traits that transcend arenas and should serve Dunn well in her future endeavors.

2. Fan frenzy

Like most Triple-A franchises, the Isotopes held a Fan Appreciation Night during the team’s final home stand of the year. Isotopes fans came out Friday to cheer on their beloved Topes in action against the Las Vegas Aviators. Midway through the third inning, the scoreboard showed 10-1 Aviators. Only twice before in the Isotopes’ 21-year history had the team rallied to win after a nine-run deficit. To quote the great philosopher Lloyd Christmas, “So, you’re telling me there’s a chance?” Isotopes power hitter Eluheris Montero provided a spark with a two-run homer in what would be a three-run third inning. 10-4 Aviators. AJ Lewis drove in three runs with a double in the fifth inning and Daniel Cope brought Lewis home with a homer. 10-8 Aviators. The Isotopes scored five runs in the seventh, highlighted by Greg Jones’ three-run dinger, and added another run in the eighth. 14-10 Isotopes. And the fireworks weren’t scheduled until after the game! But, the Aviators answered with a home run, sac fly and triple that evened the score in the ninth. It was 14-14 headed into extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, Montero blasted his second homer of the night, a walk-off that was the cherry on top of an extremely entertaining night at the ballpark. Final score: 16-14 Isotopes.

1. Emma Bunch

New Mexico State’s top golfer hasn’t lost a regular-season tournament this year. Not this academic year, mind you. But this calendar year. Bunch won the GCU Invitational in late February, the UNF Collegiate in early March, the PING/ASU Thunderbird Classic in late March and the Cowgirl Classic in early April to sweep the spring regular season. She won her fifth straight tournament, the Conference USA Championship, in mid April. OK, Bunch didn’t win the NCAA Cle Elum Regionals in May, but she did finish a respectable 24th in a tournament featuring 67 of top female college golfers in the country. Back for her junior season at NMSU, the native of Lynge, Denmark started the fall 2024 season where she left off last spring — hoisting a championship trophy.

Last week, Bunch won the season-opening GolfWeek Fall Challenge in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina, by a stroke. Bunch will be in the Albuquerque metro area for the NB3 Match Play on Oct. 8-9.

Honorable mention

The Albuquerque Academy boys and girls soccer teams won their home tournament over the weekend, the first time either had won it since 2018. … UNM women’s soccer is unbeaten (4-0-1) since losing its first match of the season … The Mountain West and its member schools (which includes UNM) are owed somewhere in the neighborhood of $110 million to $123 million due to a recent negotiation with the Pac-12 conference. Stay tuned for details.