Garcia named SJBL’s best boys’ coach
If you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go – and in sports if you’ve got to go, you’ll want to go out on top.
Having motivated student-athletes at Ignacio High for a decade, Alfonso ‘Ponch’ Garcia knew the 2024-25 school year would be his last, and his male Bobcat Track & Field competitors rewarded him with a San Juan Basin League championship. Six of those gents would ultimately qualify for the 2025 CHSAA Class 2A State Championships and rewarded not only themselves again for their work but also their commanding general’s by posting four podium-grade top-9 results in Lakewood, Colo.
All told, IHS’ boys also broke four school records – including the 3,200-meter relay, in which State-bound James Martin, Thunder Windy Boy, Trace Crane and Cayson Burcham clocked 8:24.99 – this spring, and when all was said and done, the retiring Garcia was declared SJBL Boys’ Coach-of-the-Year.
And in addition to the aforementioned fleet-footed quartet, comprised of First Team All-League selections who combined to place fourth inside Jeffco Stadium, State qualifiers Lincoln deKay – Ignacio’s new record-holder in both the 110- (15.72 seconds) and 300-meter (40.81) hurdles – and Zane Pontine (pole vault) also earned First Team All-SJBL.
deKay brought home third place from State in the 110m hurdles (he took seventh in the 300) and thus earned First Team All-2A in the event, while Burcham’s fifth in the 800-meter run (in which he’d set IHS’ new standard at 1:57.72 during regular-season competition; his State time was 1:59.99) was worthy of Second Team All-2A status.
Judah Ashley and Dillon Brann also copped First Team All-League, as were Lady ’Cats Juliann Avila and Kelly Sirios.
The SJBL Girls’ Coach-of-the-Year award went to Dolores’ Angie Lowe, who guided the Lady Bears to a runner-up standing at the Ignacio-hosted league meet. Lowe’s 4×400 and 4×800 relays both qualified for State, as did First Team All-SJBL pick Coralea Wright in the 100m hurdles, but all came up short in trying to score at least one team point.
Garcia’s Bobcats, meanwhile, tallied 21 and placed 17th out of 45 scoring boys’ teams (43 did so on the girls’ side).
The San Juan Basin League’s Male Athlete-of-the-Year award went to Mancos’ Jonah Ritter. One of the circuit’s fastest individuals, Ritter not only qualified for State in both the 100- and 200-meter sprints but placed third in the former (11.18 seconds) and sixth in the latter (22.66). The junior also went to Lakewood in the 400, but his 18th-place 54.08 in the event’s preliminary heats wasn’t enough for him to make the Championships’ Day 3 final. Still, his efforts helped MHS total 11 points and share 28th place with, ironically, Dolores.
Ridgway junior Sophia Forrest was named SJBL Female Athlete-of-the-Year and qualified for four events at State – where she finished fifth in the 100 (12.88) and fourth in the 200 (26.44), and ran a leg on RHS’ 4×100 and seventh-place 4×200 (1:50.17) relays. And with the 4×800 – comprised of freshmen Emery Cornell, Natasha Hessler and Ariel Hessler, plus junior Sophia Scranton – placing first, the Lady Demons ultimately racked up 42 points and placed seventh.
ADDITIONAL BOYS’ FIRST TEAM ALL-SJBL
Dolores – Aaron Nielson, Tray Traweek, Michael Rantz, Bridger Beyhan, Miles Brown, Joseph Padilla, Darren Hicks, Owen Lowe; Dove Creek – Jonathan Davis, Daniel Gray, Josh Kibel; Mancos – Michael Resner, Levi Priestley, James Potts; Nucla – Austin Garvey, Drake Long, Brycen Rummel; Ouray – Jeep Demuth, Alex Zurigo; Telluride – Sean McKillop, Thomas Mahoney.
ADDITIONAL GIRLS’ FIRST TEAM ALL-SJBL
Dolores – Emma Kemp, Akaia Edwards, Elia Lowe, Maya Lowe, Emilynn Hill, Kendall Chavez; Mancos – Destiny Kramer, Brooke Jabour, Trinity Angle, Sarah Knezek, Randi Lewis, Teagan Archer; Nucla – Cadence Shaw, Kieley Shepardson, Jacque Tapia, Viviana Zunich; Ridgway – Samantha Lizzio-Cammack, Jean Strong; Telluride – Austin Cook, Lana Kenworthy.
ADDITIONAL BOYS’ ALL-2A
Mancos – Ritter (First Team, 100m); Dolores – Rantz (First Team, 400m); Telluride – Mahoney (Second Team, 100m and 200m). ADDITIONAL BOYS’ ALL-1A: Nucla – Garvey (First Team, high jump), Long (Second Team, 110m hurdles and high jump), Cole Bray (Honorable Mention, 4×100), Rummel (H.M., 4×100), Owen Tackett (H.M., 4×100), Daniel Zunich (H.M., 4×100); Ouray – Demuth (Honorable Mention, 100m).
ADDITIONAL GIRLS’ ALL-2A
Ridgway – Cornell (First Team, 4×800), Ariel Hessler (First Team, 4×800), Natasha Hessler (First Team, 4×800), Scranton (First Team, 4×800), Forrest (Second Team, 100m and 200m); Mancos – Kramer (First Team, high jump); Telluride – Cook (First Team, 800m), Kenworthy (Honorable Mention, 400m and 800m). ADDITIONAL GIRLS’ ALL-1A: Nucla – Shaw (Second Team, 1,600m and 3,200m).