Rio Rancho and Cleveland high schools’ districts shaken up

ALBUQUERQUE — The New Mexico Activities Association’s Board of Directors met in regular session today, Nov. 29, in the NMAA Hall of Pride and Honor in Albuquerque.

It’s time for some reclassification for schools and alignment, the latter affecting the district the Cleveland and Rio Rancho high schools compete in for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. (Realignment is done in two-year blocks to ease scheduling.)

The NMAA board of directors voted 8-4 in favor of the proposal that was presented to them on Wednesday.

The city’s schools will still be in District 1, of which RRHS is the lone charter member since its formation in the 2000-01 school year. Basically, the Rams and Storm gain two Four Corners teams and lose Atrisco Heritage Academy.

Here are the new Class 5Am, 28-team district alignments for baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball:

1-5A: Cleveland, Rio Rancho, Cibola, Farmington, Piedra Vista and Volcano Vista.

2-5A: Capital, Eldorado, La Cueva, Manzano, Sandia and Santa Fe.

3-5A: Alamogordo, Centennial, Gadsden, Las Cruces, Mayfield and Organ Mountain.

4-5A: Carlsbad, Clovis, Hobbs and Roswell.

5-5A: Albuquerque High, Atrisco Heritage Academy, Los Lunas, Miyamura, Rio Grande and West Mesa.

Whereas there are five districts for the above sports, football will have just three unbalanced districts – and the Observer suspects some will wonder why the NMAA didn’t place West Mesa in 1-6A and have three 7-team districts:

1-6A: Cleveland, Rio Rancho, Cibola, Farmington, Piedra Vista and Volcano Vista.

2-6A: Albuquerque High, Atrisco Heritage Academy, Eldorado, La Cueva, Los Lunas, Sandia, Santa Fe and West Mesa.

3-6A: Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Centennial, Clovis, Hobbs, Las Cruces and Organ Mountain.

As has been the case, 4A and 5A swimming & diving (49 schools), and 5A wrestling (28 schools) have totally different alignments, with one classification for all such swimming & diving teams:

District 1 (All APS schools): Albuquerque High, Atrisco Heritage Academy, Cibola, Del Norte, Eldorado, Highland, La Cueva, Manzano, Rio Grande, Sandia, Valley, Volcano Vista and West Mesa.

District 2: Capital, Farmington, Gallup, Los Alamos, Miyamura, Piedra Vista, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Prep, St. Michael’s and Taos.

District 3: Alamogordo, Artesia, Carlsbad, Centennial, Clovis, Gateway Christian, Hobbs, Las Cruces, Lovington, Mayfield, NMMI.

District 4: Albuquerque Academy, Belen, Bosque, Cleveland, Cottonwood Classical, Cuba, Hope Christian, Los Lunas, Magdalena, Oak Grove, Rio Rancho, Sandia Prep, Socorro, St. Pius X and Valencia.

And here’s the two-region wrestling alignment for Class 5A (There is also an A-4A alignment):

Region 1: Capital, Cibola, Cleveland, Eldorado, Farmington, La Cueva, Manzano, Miyamura, Piedra Vista, Rio Rancho, Sandia, Santa Fe, Volcano Vista and West Mesa.

Region 2: Albuquerque High, Farmington, Atrisco Heritage Academy, Carlsbad, Centennial, Clovis, Gadsden, Hobbs, Las Cruces, Los Lunas, Mayfield, organ Mountain, Rio Grande and Roswell.

Girls’ wrestling has but one class, encompassing 69 schools in two regions; Cleveland and Rio Rancho are in 35-school Region 1.