Top sports stories of 2023 in Rio Rancho; here are numbers 6-10

For the past 20-plus years, the Observer has compiled a list of the top 10 — sometimes top 12 — sports stories in the city of Rio Rancho and published it in late December or early January. Sports Editor Gary Herron compiles a list and consults with the local athletic directors to obtain their input. The top 10 stories and a photo to accompany every one of them will soon appear in the Observer’s print edition.

Here, then, is a recap of stories 6-10 for the calendar year 2023, with stories 1-5 appearing online Jan. 1.

10. Carver says goodbye … again

Last spring, Rio Rancho Public Schools Executive Director of Athletics Bruce Carver announced his plans to retire at the end of June.

It was a déjà vu for the school district: After retiring from the same position in June 2018, he returned to RRPS in 2021 after his successor, Larry Chavez, retired. Carver became the district’s A.D. in February 2008.

Under Carver’s leadership over the last two school years, RRPS has hired several outstanding new head coaches, received seven state team championships, launched middle school cross-country and high school powerlifting programs and improved multiple athletic facilities.

Carver was replaced by Todd Resch, who has been with RRPS since 2021 as the executive director of Secondary Curriculum and Instruction. He had 18 years of administrative experience in Albuquerque Public Schools, serving as principal at Desert Ridge Middle School, La Cueva High School and the College & Career High School on the CNM campus; he also was the associate superintendent for high schools in APS for two years.

9. Rams’ Baltz finishes second in singles

Samantha Baltz’s place in Rio Rancho High School lore is set.

Maybe someday she’ll even gain entry into the RRHS Sports Hall of Fame and have a plaque designating her feats on a wall in the RAC.

Maybe she’ll be the answer to a trivia question: Who’s the first Rams tennis player to win a state doubles title as a junior and become the singles runner-up player as a senior?

Samantha Baltz, who grabbed her diploma May 23 at the Rio Rancho Events Center, began playing tennis at the tender age of 7.

“I played my first tournament when I was 9,” she said, getting better year by year — maybe even week by week — until she became a tennis star at Rio Rancho High School, basically a regular participant at state tournaments and winning the 5A doubles crown in 2022 with Katie Segal.

Segal graduated last May, so with another year of high school to go, Baltz went back to singles, earning the No. 3 seed at state. She beat the 2 seed before running into the No. 1 seed, Eldorado sophomore standout Vianca Corley, in the championship match, where she lost in straight sets.

Not many girls have beaten Corley, who has two sisters playing on the University of Oklahoma team.

“I had a blast playing against Vianca and believe that playing her always makes me a better player. She is a strong opponent and hits hard,” Baltz said, and when asked what she’d do differently if she had another shot at her, answered, “One thing I would have done differently is hitting balls higher to allow myself more time when in defense. Vianca hits both fast and hard, so I struggled.”

The loss wasn’t because of a lack of effort; Baltz works tirelessly to get better.

“During the high school season, I play every day, with the exception of one day to rest and work,” she said. “The rest of the year, I play at least 3-4 times a week. Usually if I am practicing, I play for about two hours.”

“I would say tennis is my life,” Baltz said.

No kidding.

“Tennis is a sport I would describe as my ‘happy place,’ because it has always brought me calm and happiness, even when my life was lacking it,” Baltz said. “It is also where I have found lifelong friends.”

Next stop: Linfield University in Minnville, Oregon, with the goal of being an educator.

8. Storm spikers make final 4, beat state champ along the way

If you beat the No. 1 team in the state, a team that had swept its last 13 opponents, there’s no way you can’t be a top-10 sports story.

So, there’s no way the Cleveland High School volleyball team’s run at the state tournament can go unnoticed.

Headed into the 12-team postseason tournament at the Rio Rancho Events Center, the Storm (18-9) were the No. 5 seed, just as head coach Charity Gomez had predicted.

The District 1-5A champs swept No. 12 Hobbs easily in the first round, and then — get this — avenged three earlier losses to No. 4 Los Lunas, 3-1, later on Nov. 16, the opening day of the Rudy’s Real Texas Bar-B-Q State Volleyball Championships.

On the tournament’s second day, Cleveland rallied from two sets to one deficit and beat the Bulldawgs, 26-24, 16-25, 11-25, 25-18, 17-15.

That victory sent the Storm into the final four, in which they met district foe Cibola Saturday afternoon.

The No. 3 Cougars couldn’t be considered as strangers — the Storm had handed Cibola its first district loss in the Thunderdome on Oct. 26, 3-1, after having been swept in three earlier meetings with the Cougars.

But this time, the Cougars disposed of the Storm 25-21, 25-21, 15-25, 25-14, ending the Storm’s adventure at state and sending Cibola into the championship match.

In the championship match the Cougars faced Las Cruces, which got there after beating two-time defending champ La Cueva in four sets, and in Saturday evening’s finale, the Bulldawgs beat the Cougars 25-19, 30-28, 22-25, 25-21.

Cleveland was the only team in New Mexico to beat the champs (26-2); El Paso Franklin had swept Las Cruces in El Paso in the Bulldawgs’ third match of the season.

Like all teams, the Storm will lose a handful of seniors — Lauren Snippen, libero Haylie Griego, Baylee Savage and setter Marian Hatch, heading to University of New Mexico to play for the Lobos.

But the Storm will be tough again in 2024, with Emma Wild, Azlynn Tittmann and Kelsey Heffner up front.

7. Cole leaves Santa Fe to coach Storm boys

On May 19, Zach Cole officially became the third boys hoops coach at Cleveland High School, departing Santa Fe High School, where he’d been the boys basketball coach.

Cole, 125-64 over the past seven seasons with the Demons, succeeded Sean Jimenez, who resigned this spring. Jimenez filled the shoes of the school’s original coach, Brian Smith, when he left CHS after the 2015-16 season for a coaching job at a new school in California.

Cole was the only one of five finalists who had not led a team to a state championship: The other four finalists were William Benjamin, Frank Castillo, Andrew Dunnell and Justin Woody.

According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Cole graduated from Española Valley High School in 1998 and after attending and playing four seasons at Ft. Lewis College in Durango, began his coaching career as an assistant at Capital High in Santa Fe. He became the head coach at Santa Fe Indian School in 2012 and left there after two seasons with a 14-41 won-lost record, heading west to coach in Ramona, California, with his team there going 41-19 in two seasons, 2014-16.

He returned to the City Different in 2016 to be the head coach for the Demons, who he took to the Class 5A title game in 2019, when they lost to Atrisco Heritage Academy. The Demons were 18-13 in the 2022-23 season, when they lost at Rio Rancho and to visiting Cleveland, then fell in the first round of the state tournament at West Mesa, 56-41.

“We watched him coach the last few years and were really impressed with what he’s done,” Rio Rancho Public Schools Executive Director of Athletics Bruce Carver said. “We can only give (the job) to one guy, and he’s the winner.”

Cole won at least 22 games three seasons at SFHS and had only one losing season (12-16 in 2017-18), when the late Fedonta “JB” White was a freshman.

With the Storm, Cole said he expects to “put a good product out there on the floor. … It’s all about the program, all about the team.”

6. Ohio transplant becomes state CC champion

It was an amazing debut season for Rio Rancho High School junior Charlie Vause, who moved with his family to Rio Rancho from Ohio in the summer: He won every one but one of the cross-country races he competed in with the Rams — teammate Cody Sullivan won the other, the Organ Mountain Invite in Las Cruces.

And Vause came up big again in the state championship meet, held on a chilly November Saturday morning at Albuquerque Academy. He’d won his first meet of the year, the Cleveland Invitational, back on a hot August day and capped it with becoming the first male cross-country champ in school history.

Along the way, he’d become better adjusted to the change in altitude and all of its effects on a distance runner, much tougher than running in Ohio.

Vause’s time at state (15:17.16) was the fastest of the day — for any division, just missing his hoped-for 15-minute time. He finished 14 seconds ahead of runner-up and teammate Mateo Herrera, while Ram Sullivan (eighth/15:54) gave the Rams three in the top 10, earning them All-State accolades.

“I’m happy; I wanted to go under 15 (minutes), but I can’t complain about that,” Vause said. “It was a good performance.”

A junior, he said he’s been enjoying his time thus far at RRHS.

“It’s honestly been great. I’ve met so many great people,” he said. “It’s a great team that we have: great coaches, great teammates, great parents — everybody is so supportive. It’s awesome.”

In October on the same course, Vause and the Rams won the big Academy Extravaganza; his time then was 15:32. Knowing the course, along with some rain/snow from the day before — and more than 100 runners behind him at state — helped him shave about 17 seconds off that finishing time.

“The dirt was more packed,” Vause said. “It was like running sand dunes last time. I knew the downhills; I knew when to push.”

And he’s even starting to enjoy red and green chile.