Prep notes: Great Southwest begins Thursday; St, Pius RB Olloway offered by UNM

The annual Great Southwest Track and Field Classic gets underway on Thursday at the University of New Mexico complex.

The boys’ decathlon and girls’ heptathlon both start Thursday. The first boys event is 9 a.m., the first of the girls events is at 11 a.m. They’ll both finish on Friday afternoon.

There is a modest running schedule on Friday, although one of them is the 4x800-meter relay, close to 9 p.m.

Organ Mountain’s Corbin Coombs and Rio Rancho’s Charlie Vause, in a New Mexico swan song for this graduated duo after so many memorable head-to-head battles in cross country and on the track, are confirmed to be participating in this relay, along with Elliot Hickey of Albuquerque Academy and Laguna-Acoma’s Tagoya Pedro.

The large majority of the meet is scheduled on Saturday, including all of the field events. They’ll be starting at 9 a.m., and the final event, the pole vault for the elite boys, starts at 5:30 p.m. La Cueva’s Grant Vlaun, who just set a Class 5A state record at 16 feet, 6 inches at the recent state meet, is expected to be vaulting, meet director John Samone said.

One of his former La Cueva teammates, Tanner Montano, now the co-overall state record holder in the long jump, is also slated to compete. His event is 11 a.m. Saturday.

A couple of other prominent boys scheduled to compete are Santa Fe sprinter Bryce Melton, Santa Fe 400-meter state champ and state record holder Valin Wittenburg, and Albuquerque High hurdler Kaden Andrus.

A large number of the country’s top athletes will be participating, many of them from Texas.

OLLOWAY OFFERED BY LOBOS: Last month, St. Pius’ Hershul Olloway Jr. won the Class 4A 100-meter dash title.

But his future clearly is in football, and the Sartans’ stellar running back, coming off a magnificent sophomore season, on Wednesday received a scholarship offer from the University of New Mexico and new coach Jason Eck.

The 5-foot-7, 175-pound Olloway was at an Arizona State individual camp when UNM offered him.

“It was a great feeling,” Olloway said by phone from Arizona. “Growing up, I’ve always been a Lobo fan.”

UNM’s was the second Division I offer Olloway Jr. has received this week. He was at a similar prospects camp at UTEP on Monday; the Miners were so impressed, they offered Olloway in the middle of the camp.

“That was a pretty cool moment,” Olloway said.

UTEP’s offensive coordinator is Mark Cala, an Albuquerque native. He was an assistant coach for La Cueva in the Bears’ 2009 championship season.

GATORADE: Cleveland junior outfielder/infielder Anthony Del Angel on Tuesday was chosen New Mexico’s Gatorade Player of the Year.

The 6-foot-4 Del Angel was one of the state’s highest impact players last season for the Storm. He hit .534 with 28 RBIs for Cleveland, and belted seven home runs. He was named the District 1-5A Player of the Year. Perfect Game ranks him as the No. 13 recruit in the country for the Class of 2026.

Del Angel already has committed to play at Oklahoma once he graduates from Cleveland.

GONZALEZ OUT: Robertson’s Leroy Gonzalez, who coached the Cardinals to multiple state championships in both football and baseball, is out of both jobs at the Las Vegas school.

Gonzalez confirmed to the Journal that he had been removed from both positions, adding that the school was looking to create coaching searches in every sport. The Journal could not immediately confirm that.

He said he was given a chance to re-apply, but Gonzalez told the Journal “I’m looking to go somewhere else.”

He said he could not comment on the circumstances regarding his coaching status. He did say he already had applied at a couple of schools for teaching positions right now. He also said the district was moving him as a teacher from Robertson to a local elementary school.

THIS AND THAT: David Lunn of Volcano Vista, who’ll be one of the hottest prep basketball recruits next season, has received an offer from New Mexico State, he announced on social media. The 6-5 forward will be a junior next season for the Hawks.