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STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Five storylines to watch during this weekend's championships

Baseball, softball and track and field all resume state championship tournaments

Cleveland High School player Anthony Del Angel, left, throws the ball to Marcus Abeyta, right, during a game against Piedra Vista, April 07.
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For casual high school sports fans, here are five storylines worth tracking as we reach the final three days of competition in the 2025-26 prep sports calendar year:

1. Is this finally the year for Cleveland baseball? The Storm and coach Shane Shallenberger have been to the finals three times, and they鈥檝e been knocking on that proverbial door for a few years now. Cleveland was the best team in Class 5A for a large chunk of the 2026 season, winning its first 20, but stalled a bit and are 5-3 in their last eight. This team, seeded No. 2 in the 5A bracket, has the state鈥檚 best player (Oklahoma-bound Anthony Del Angel) and excellent pitching, and hopes to regain the form they showed most of the season.

2. Tanner Montano of La Cueva is the co-overall record holder in the long jump, and now the Bears鈥 senior, who is headed to the University of Texas, has one last shot to own the record by himself. He soared 24 feet, 3录 inches twice last season, tying a 55-year-old mark. The Class 5A long jump competition is set for 8 a.m. Friday, and Montano has six attempts (three prelims, three finals) to become the solo record holder. The good news is, the weather is supposed to be warm this weekend, and that bodes well.

3. It has been a decade since anyone other than Cleveland has won a big-school boys track and field championships, and the Storm 鈥 their coach, Kenny Henry, just may be the most underrated great coach in any sport in New Mexico 鈥 look to maintain their dynastic ways on Friday and Saturday at the University of New Mexico Track and Field Complex. La Cueva appears to be the top challenger, and the Bears absolutely have the personnel to make this close come Saturday afternoon.

4. It has been a super quiet spring for Eldorado running star Gianna Rahmer, who鈥檚 been hindered by a couple of minor injuries most of this season. On Friday, she will run a major 3,200-meter outdoor final for the first time all season, a race she has owned the last two years. Will be extremely interesting to see how she performs (the race will start roughly 11-11:30 a.m. Friday). She鈥檒l also be in the 1,600 on Saturday. sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Academy鈥檚 outstanding Anna Hastings beat Rahmer in the 1,600 at metros, but Academy and Eldorado are in different classifications for state.

5. Just in the last 10 years, Centennial, Las Cruces and O帽ate (now Organ Mountain) have won big-school state softball championships, and the city of Las Cruces has, by and large, been producing the best prep softball in Class 5A. Now comes Mayfield, the No. 1 seed, which has never won a state title in softball and has never even reached a championship game. The Trojans nearly lost in the first round to No. 16 Rio Rancho, which will put considerable pressure on their shoulders here in Week 2.