Peerman's Power Rankings: Top New Mexico sports stories of 2024

As the year comes to a end, it's time for Peerman's Power Rankings' best of 2024. These are athletes, teams and story lines that caught my attention.

15. Number ones

Let's start with some notable achievements from New Mexico residents and teams this year.

-- Todd Fincher, a New Mexico-based horse trainer, scored the biggest win of his career in February when Señor Buscador (16-1 odds) came from behind to pull off a huge upset in the $20 million Saudi Cup, the richest horse race in the world.

-- DeeRon Booker, who bowls out of the Starlight Bowling Center inside the Santa Ana Star Casino, surprised the bowling world in March when he won the USBC Masters in Las Vegas, Nevada — one of the sport's most prestigious tournaments.

-- The Albuquerque Academyswimming and diving team won its eighth straight state title in February, which pales in comparison to the Academy men's boys tennis program, which claimed its 21st consecutive state championship in May.

-- West Las Vegas eighth-grader Malie Satete broke the state softball record for most home runs in a season.

-- At the U.S. track Olympic Trials in June, former UNM track star Weini Kelati won the women’s 10,000 meters and Los Alamos native Chase Jackson won the women's shot put.

-- Rio Rancho teen Sarah Souza won two divisions at an international jiu-jitsu competition in Las Vegas, Nevada in June and followed that up with a jiu-jitsu national championship in Orlando, Florida in July.

-- Francesca Benavidez, a state champion swimmer at Eldorado, won the the women's barebow under-21 division at the Junior Olympic Archery U.S. Open at Balloon Fiesta Park in July.

-- Bryan Candanosa and his horse Hezgothelook Z claimed the Quarter Horse Triple Crown, winning the three most prestigious quarter horse races of the year — including the All American Futurity held at Albuquerque Downs (and not its usual home track of Ruidoso Downs due to summer fires and flooding) on Labor Day — a feat that had only been accomplished once before (in 1981)

-- Rio Rancho High senior Charlie Vause won the Nike Cross Nationals in December, claiming victory on a rain-soaked 5K course in Portland, Oregon.

-- In December, Isla Rahmer, of Albuquerque won her age group (girls ages 11 and 12) at the 2024 USA Track & Field National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in Shelbyville, Indiana.

14. Three's company

For the first time that anyone can remember, three high school seniors from the same football program committed to schools in power conferences. La Cueva quarterback Cam Dyer will be going to Arizona State (as a receiver); linebacker Mason Posa is headed to Wisconsin; and offensive tackle Mark Handy signed with Minnesota.

Also, Volcano Vista basketball in March became the first big-school boys program from Albuquerque to win three consecutive state championships in that sport.

13. New York, New York

Ivana and Carmen Corley, sisters who were each state tennis champions at Eldorado High, were invited as a doubles team to compete at the U.S. Open in New York in August. They easily won their first-round match and gave the 10th-seeded team all they could handle in a three-hour, back-and-forth epic. More than anything, the Corleys proved this year that they belong at the sport's major tournaments.

12. Passing the torch

Two of the state's most important sports organizations — the New Mexico Activities Association and the University of New Mexico Athletics Department — made changes at the top this year.

At the end of October, NMAA Executive Director Sally Marquez called it a career after 12 years in the role and handed off leadership duties to Dusty Young, the longtime No. 2 in the organization responsible for school-based athletics.

UNM Athletics Director Eddie Nuñez left for the University of Houston in August and was replaced a few months later by Fernando Lovo, who at 36 is an AD for the first time. Lovo's first week involved allegations of a fight among members of the school's vaunted basketball program leading to a walk-on having to be hospitalized, the football team's coach leaving for a rival school and in-state rival New Mexico State going 3-0 against the Lobos in men's and women's basketball games.

11. Five in a row

New Mexico State golfer Emma Bunch won five consecutive tournaments, including the Conference USA Championships, to begin 2024. GolfWeek, in an article profiling the Belgian star, noted: "Emma Bunch has played against 463 golfers this spring. She hasn’t lost to a single one."

10. This hit is Bananas

The Savannah Bananas' Banana Ball World Tour came to at Isotopes Park for a weekend in April and the MLB Home Run Derby X visited the stadium in August. Both events hit it out of the ballpark. A cousin recently told me that attending one of the Bananas games "was the most fun our family had all year," and everyone I talked to who went to the Home Run Derby admitted, "it was a blast."

The Duke City showed it supports sports-adjacent events, and the hope is these and other entertainers will take notice and book future dates here. In fact, the Party Animals and Texas Tailgaters — teams within the Banana Ball universe — have already announced they'll return to Albuquerque in 2025.

9. Solid on the pitch

New Mexico United had an extraordinary season in the United Soccer League Championships, winning the Western Conference and hosting a playoff match for the first time in its five-year history. Also, the team reached the quarterfinals of the Open Cup, beating MLS Real Salt Lake at home in the process. And, after several legal wranglings, the club got approval to begin building a stadium at Balloon Fiesta Park (the stadium would open for the 2026 season). However, coach Eric Quill announced he would be leaving for his "dream job," coaching the MLS FC Dallas. Dennis Sanchez, formerly of the Las Vegas Lights — which knocked United out of the playoffs — will take over next year.

8. Fight nights

Angelo Leo's thunderous left hook, sending Luis Alberto Lopez to the canvas on a nationally televised Top Rank, Inc. card at Tingley Coliseum, gave Leo, an Albuquerque native, the IBF world featherweight belt. The 10th-round punch made its way onto all the "Knockouts of the Year" compilations.

Albuquerque's Jon Jones did whatever everyone expected him to do — retire Stipe Miocic — and he did so with authority (a leg kick to the ribs) during their November fight for the UFC heavyweight belt in Madison Square Garden.

7. Thunderbirds roll

How about this roster of accomplishments for the New Mexico Junior College Thunderbirds in 2024?

The women's track program claimed third in the junior college indoor national championships in March and won the outdoor national championship, for the second consecutive year, in May. The men's track program was national runner-up at both the indoor and outdoor championships. Multiple runners claimed individual national titles.

The men’s golf program claimed its first NJCAA Division I national title in May. The women's golf program was fifth nationally.

NMJC sprinter Tapiwanashe (Carlie) Makarawu, of Zimbabwe, was sixth in the men's 200-meter race at the 2024 Paris Olympics in August. A few weeks later, NMJC teammate Aymane El Haddaoui, of Morocco, captured a gold medal in the Paraympics T46/T47 400 meters in world record time.

In November, the women's cross-country program finished third and the men seventh in the junior college national championships.

The 2024-25 men's basketball team is 13-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country; the women's team is 15-0 and ranked No. 3 nationally.

6. Fleet afoot

In June, UNM sophomore distance runner Habtom Samuel survived a late fall and bounced back to win the 10,000 meter final at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Oregon. He's the first ever Lobo to win the men's 10K.

In November, Samuel lost one shoe halfway through the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Wisconsin, but still managed to beat every other competitor except one, who was running with both shoes. Samuel finished second for a second straight year.

UNM freshman Pamela Kosgei didn't lose a cross country race all season until the national championships, where she also finished second.

Both the men's and women's cross country programs — filled with freshman and sophomores — logged top 10 finishes nationally.

5. Native son

For two weeks this year, national sports media turned its attention to Diego Pavia. The Albuquerque native, in his first year as quarterback at Vanderbilt, helped lead the Commodores to a historic 40-35 upset of then No. 1 Alabama in October. Then, in December, a judge granted Pavia’s request for a preliminary injunction allowing the graduate transfer to play the 2025 season. The ruling potentially sets a precedent for thousands who played in junior college to retain eligibility at the top level of college athletics.

Still, after being caught on video urinating on the UNM Indoor Practice Facility turf in 2023 and leaving New Mexico State University after guiding the Aggies to back-to-back bowl games, the state and Pavia maintain a complicated relationship.

4. Scaling (back) the Mountain

In news that shook the college sports world, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State announced in September that they would be leaving the Mountain West for the rebuilding Pac-12 in the 2026-27 season. Utah State joined the defectors a few weeks later.

New Mexico, ostensibly without an invite to do the same, remains in the MW, which has since added UTEP and Hawaii in all sports, and Grand Canyon and UC Davis in most sports except football. Notably, New Mexico State remains in Conference USA.

Conference realignment is messy, and this is no exception as lawsuits over exit fees and agreements abound.

3. She got game

Bella Hines, who signed with reigning national champion LSU, is the most prominent girls basketball player in New Mexico. In a probable first for any New Mexico prep athlete, Hines announced in February that she signed with an agent while still in high school.

Over the summer, Hines left the public schools to finish her senior season at Albuquerque's ABC Prep, which started a girls basketball program just this year.

Hines left the high school ranks as the leading girls basketball scorer in Albuquerque Public Schools history, and Eldorado’s all-time leading scorer regardless of gender. She attained both those milestones in her junior year.

In November, Forbes and Sports Illustrated reported Hines signed a multi-year deal with Jordan Brands, becoming the brand's only active high school player.

Yes, Hines is a generational athlete in New Mexico, but she's far from the only notable girls basketball player to emerge this year.

Sandia senior Sydney Benally is also a top 100 player nationally. and it was her Matadors that won the state championship in March. Benally made headlines in November when she reneged on a commitment to Princeton, choosing to go to BYU instead, to be closer to home.

But, neither Hines (ranked 23rd nationally) nor Benally (89th) are as highly rated as Corona's Harper Dunn. The 6-foot-5 sophomore is the 16th best prospect in the Class of 2027, according to 247 Sports. Dunn, who helps out on the family's ranch, is also a national champion in FFA judging. And and her steer was chosen as the New Mexico State Fair's Grand Champion in 2024.

And let's not forget about the Kirtland Central girls basketball team, which won its 21st state championship in March. The Broncos were named the national Girls Team of the Year by USA Today.

2. Care to dance?

The most noteworthy accomplishment this year has to be the UNM men's basketball team's performance in the Mountain West tournament in March. The sixth-seeded Lobos, led by senior guard Jaelen House, became the first team to win four straight en route to winning conference championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Though the Lobos fell in the first round, the return to the Big Dance for the first time in a decade was a momentous occasion for a community that prides itself on college basketball excellence.

"When the Lobos rise, when they win — especially the basketball team — it brings our whole city together like no other," said Albuquerque mayor Tim Keller at a celebration honoring the team. “I told these guys, they do more for city morale than almost anything we can do.”

Coach Richard Pitino, who flirted with other team's offers in the offseason, ultimately returned for a fourth season at the helm. Along with phenomenal junior point guard Donovan Dent, hw has led the team to a 10-3 start, giving fans hope they'll go dancing for a second straight year.

1. Spurned, never a given

The top story of 2024 has to be the drama surrounding the UNM football program.

Bronco Mendenhall, once the defensive coordinator for the Lobos, returned two decades later as head coach, his résumé filled with successful reclamation projects.

And UNM, maybe more than any FBS program in the nation, was in need of someone who didn't mind starting from scratch. Las Vegas oddsmakers put the team's over-under win total at 1.5 games.

Mendenhall preached culture and mindfulness, his mantra "earned, not given" echoing through the halls and the program's outward messaging.

It worked.

The Lobos blew all expectations out of the water, finishing 5-7, including a win over then No. 19 Washington State, the team's first win over a ranked squad at home in 30 years. Sophomore quarterback Devon Dampier set all sorts of records on his way to being named to the All-Mountain West first team. The offensive line led the nation with only five sacks given up all year. The team managed back-to-back 50-point games, the first time it had done that in more than a century.

OK, so they lost more than they won, but Mendenhall and his crew had this team headed in the right direction and Dampier was a legit star — the first Lobo quarterback to ever earn All-MW first team.

The city was starting to believe — could UNM football be a winning program?

Not so fast.

In December, Mendenhall shocked the system by leaving for conference rival Utah State. Dampier would soon leave for Utah, which also grabbed Offensive Coordinator Jason Beck. Several other prominent players entered the transfer portal.

The following week, Jason Eck, formerly of FCS Idaho, was announced as the program's third head coach in as many years. This will be Eck's first FBS head coaching job.

Have something to say about this list? Email Lucas Peerman at lpeerman@abqjournal.com or find him on X @LucasPeerman.