Senior Wrestler Wins Regional
The spotlight was on for the regional wrestling finals. There was only one mat of competition, and they turned down the lights around the gymnasium to put a light on the center.
Española Valley’s Cruz Sandoval made the most of it.
Sandoval went through the wrestling regionals with ease on Feb. 16-17. He faced three opponents, and they lasted a combined 213 seconds against him. He pinned all in the first period.
“Those Four Corners wrestling teams are very tough, but he wrestled smart,” said team coach Gilbert Sandoval.
Martinez is one of three Sundevils who will compete at the state tournament this weekend. Noah Maez placed third and Juanito Mondragon sixth.
Cruz Sandoval will face tough competition at state in St. Pius X’s Valentine Popadiuc, who beat Sandoval in Albuquerque in January and is 44-2 on the season.
“I should be able to get to the finals and get another shot at it,” Sandoval said.
Maez made the 160-pound semifinal then lost to Los Alamos’ Jackson Blair in a 4-2 decision. Maez scored the first takedown, but gave up a reversal in the first and second periods, and could not score in the third. He won via pin in the consolation round, then won via forfeit in the third-place match.
In the lightweight category, Mondragon placed sixth to make state for the second-straight year. He won his first match, and in the consolation bracket won with two pins before falling to strong opponents.
Pojoaque will have three male representatives at state, led by freshman Ben Duran who placed second at 133 pounds. Duran won his semifinal with a medical forfeit, but fell to the top seed in the second period in the final.
Alan Padilla placed fourth in 172 in a seven-wrestler bracket, winning one consolation match with a pin and another with a medical forfeit.
And freshman Roman Gonzales placed fifth of 15 in 189. He won his first match in the first period, and in the consolation bracket scored two more pins, including over the bracket’s No. 2 seed, and won the fifth-place match over the No. 5 seed.
Dulce Girls Avenge Loss
After a very busy December, Dulce has had a much lighter schedule in 2024. The Lady Hawks had an 11-day break at one point, and between Jan. 7 and Feb. 2 had just two games.
Team coach Alyssa Veneno said they have made the most of that time, recovering from their hectic month, and working on “little things” in practice.
The Lady Hawks (14-9, 3-1 in district) parlayed that into back-to-back wins over Rehoboth Christian (10-11, 2-2) and Laguna-Acoma (14-8, 3-1). Dulce now sits at the top, tied with Laguna-Acoma in the district.
Against the Lynx on Feb. 16, Bailey Vigil led Dulce with 12 points in a 45-36 win. Dulce went up 20-16 at halftime, and slowly expanded their lead in the second half.
The next evening, they went on the road and scored revenge over Laguna-Acoma with a 49-45 win. Dulce was led in that game by 16 points from Kelby Enjady-Vigil, who Veneno said was, “Firing on all ends, offensively and defensively.”
A run had Dulce up 27-20 at halftime and by even more in the third quarter before Laguna-Acoma mounted a comeback and were within two points late in the game.
Veneno said they were prepared with a big intensity on defense, and a focus on slowing down Laguna-Acoma’s key players. She said that Laguna-Acoma got back into the game on free throws, and Dulce’s turnovers and missed free throws.
Dulce has two more regular-season road games, starting on Wednesday at Navajo Pine (2-22, 0-4). But Veneno said they are preparing for a potential district playoff game against Laguna-Acoma.