McCurdy School, athletically and scholastically, has really fallen off from when I started working with the SUN in the fall of 2001.
At that time, the private Española school appeared so often on the sports pages that readers would ask me why I was always writing about McCurdy.
It was really quite easy to explain. At that time McCurdy dominated athletically. The girls sports were particularly strong. The school had won the 2000 girls all sports award for small schools because of the overall strength of its girls athletic program.
The volleyball team was the best in the area. McCurdy had been Class AA state runnerup in 2000 and defeated Pojoaque and Española during the 2001 season. McCurdy dominated in volleyball at that time and had for several previous seasons under then coach Brian Ainsworth.
The girls basketball program was very strong under then co-head coaches Walter Bustos and Seledon Martinez. The Bobcats produced one of the few players from the Española Valley to play Division One basketball in 2000 graduate Myriah Spence, who attended Old Dominion University. The girls basketball program consistently qualified for postseason play. Both coaches were not rehired after the 2004-2005 season
McCurdy dominated spring sports as well. The Bobcats’ softball team won the Class A-AA state champion in 2002, and coach Danny Vigil built a powerhouse program that every year challenged the strong southern schools for the state crown. Vigil decided not to return to McCurdy after the 2008 season.
The boys track and field team won its last district track championship in 2000.
McCurdy also sent both boys and girls teams to the state cross country meet and produced some quality runners such as Gina Ortiz, who ran at New Mexico Highlands University.
The situation in girls sports at McCurdy has now changed dramatically. To begin, no McCurdy girls ran at the District 2A-AA cross country meet this year.
The volleyball team finished in the district cellar for the first time in at least 19 years. Continuing a trend that began last year, the girls basketball team will likely not have enough players for a junior varsity squad, and this year’s varsity team will be comprised primarily of inexperienced players after nearly all of last year’s starters graduated.
McCurdy’s girls track team won district championships in the 1990s but now has trouble even putting together a relay team. The softball team was decimated by graduation and is likely rebuilding.
All of the coaches that were part of the Bobcats’ outstanding girls sports program are now gone.
The high school’s total enrollment is down to 112, and there are just 50 female students attending the school, according to registrar/advisor Jenny Duran.
This will be McCurdy’s last season competing in Class AA in basketball, volleyball, baseball and track for both the boys and girls due to the decline in enrollment.
In another disturbing trend, McCurdy graduates used to attend prestigious out-of-state universities such as West Point, Davidson, Colorado College, Notre Dame and Regis. This year, no McCurdy graduates — boys or girls — are attending an out-of-state school, according to Duran.
McCurdy has a rich tradition and history here in the the Española Valley. However, the school’s future appears uncertain and losing it would be a big loss for the entire area.