Prep notes: NMAA inducts trio into its HOF; weather delays metro baseball

The three 2025 inductees into the New Mexico Activities Association Hall of Fame could easily be called rural giants.

Paul Benoit (Floyd Municipal Schools), Bill Green (Reserve Independent Schools) and Dickie Roybal from Melrose High School were introduced late last week during the state basketball tournament.

The 117th, 118th and 119th members of the NMAA’s HOF will be formally inducted later this year.

Benoit has been in education and coaching for nearly three decades. He has coached, taught or been an administrator at Tucumcari, Estancia, Animas and Floyd.

He is a previous member of the NMAA’s Board of Directors and continues to serve on, and chair, the appeals committee.

Benoit graduated from the College of Santa Fe, and received his Master’s degree from Eastern New Mexico.

Green’s career is nearly 40 years in duration, and he is a Quemado High graduate, where he was an athlete in football, basketball and track and field. He later graduated from Northern Arizona, and earned his Master’s from Western New Mexico.

Green is a former basketball coach at Quemado, a principal at Ruidoso and also the superintendent at Quemado, and served as the superintendent at both Quemado and Reserve for a three-year period (2012-14).

For the last four years, he has been the superintendent and girls basketball coach for Alamo Schools. He, like Benoit, is a former NMAA board member.

Roybal, a Fort Sumner graduate where he played football, basketball and ran track, led the Buffaloes to nine state football championships in either 8-Man or 6-Man, along with six runner-up finishes.

For most of his career, he has served as a Spanish teacher or principal or athletic director at Melrose. Twice he was named AD of the Year (2018, 2024).

He graduated from Eastern New Mexico and received his Master’s from Wayland Baptist University.

BLOWN AWAY: The relentless winds that disrupted things in the metro area on Tuesday also forced Albuquerque Public Schools to delay the start of the Albuquerque Metro Baseball Championships.

The original schedule called for games on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

The amended schedule will see the first round begin on Wednesday, with second-round games on Thursday. Friday will be an off day, with the semifinals set for Saturday morning.

Assuming no other delays, the championship game will be played Monday afternoon at the site of the highest remaining seed.

METRO SOFTBALL: Meanwhile, the metro softball tournament is set to begin Wednesday, with four rounds in four days.

There are eight, first-round games at four fields on Wednesday.

Cibola is the No. 1 seed and playing host to Del Norte at 1 p.m. At 3 p.m. at Cibola, it is No. 8 Albuquerque High taking on No. 9 Eldorado.

At Cleveland, No. 12 Los Alamos faces No. 5 Sandia at 1 p.m., with the Storm, the No. 4 seed, playing 13th-seeded Valley.

La Cueva is the 2 seed and anchors the bottom half. The Bears play host to No. 15 Rio Grande at 1 p.m., with No. 10 St. Pius and No. 7 Atrisco Heritage to follow at 3 p.m.

The fourth site Wednesday is Eagle Ridge Middle School in Rio Rancho. First up at 1 p.m. is No. 11 West Mesa meeting No. 6 Volcano Vista. The Rams, seeded third, play No. 14 Manzano at 3 p.m.

The second round/quarterfinals are Thursday at 3 p.m. at Cibola, Cleveland, La Cueva and Eagle Ridge MS. The semifinals are Friday afternoon, and the final is noon Saturday at the site of the highest remaining seed.

APS SINGLES: Mitchell Rocca of Albuquerque High, in a dramatic three-setter, and Vianca Corley of Eldorado, were the No. 1 singles bracket champions at the APS singles tournament last week.

Rocca, the No. 2 seed in the top bracket, outlasted top-seeded Ben French of Sandia, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Cristian Olson of AHS won the No. 2 singles bracket.

Corley rolled 6-2, 6-0 over second-seeded Aurelia Fulgenzi of Albuquerque High. Vivica Corley from Eldorado took the No. 2 singles bracket. Between them, the Corley sisters dropped only three combined games in six matches.

MORE WRESTLING: A handful of other New Mexicans also earned All-American honors last weekend at the USA Wrestling Nationals in Des Moines, Iowa.

Cleveland High’s four-time New Mexico state champion, junior Roman Luttrell, was the national champion at 120 pounds in Iowa.

Rio Rancho’s Josiah Neri was fourth in that same bracket, which was good enough to earn All-American honors.

Isabella Maes of West Las Vegas (national runner-up at U16, 95 pounds) and Harper McClain of Aztec (runner-up at U16, 207 pounds) also were All-Americans.

THIS AND THAT: Sandia’s boys basketball team broke a single-season state record for made 3-pointers in a season, with 339. The Matadors bettered the previous mark of 327, previously held by the 2008-09 Springer Red Devils. … Rio Grande is searching for a new girls basketball coach, and the job has been posted.