Today's Sports

The Los Alamos High School varsity boy’s soccer team is heading into the state tournament with momentum, as it defeated district rival Capital High School 2-1 at home Thursday to finish the regular season.
It was an important game for the Hilltoppers, currently ranked fourth in Class 5A, as it solidifies the team’s chances of earning a top-four seed in the state tournament. In the tournament, the top four seeds receive a bye directly to the quarterfinals, leaving them three games from a potential championship.
The bracket for the state tournament will be revealed this weekend.
While head coach Ron Blue does not yet know where his team will end up in the tournament, he said he is proud of the way his players have performed this season to be in consideration for a top seed.
“It shows that we really do have talent in this group, and the depth is pretty impressive,” Blue said. “We have had a ton of guys step up big this year, and it shows what kind of character we have.”
From the opening whistle, it seemed the Hilltoppers understood the importance of Thursday’s matchup. The team kept good possession in the early going, and was able to get good runs toward goal, as Capital had a difficult time stopping the duo of Tristan Semelsberger and Arthur Steinkamp.

The University of New Mexico men’s basketball team has been tabbed to finish ninth in the Mountain West this season, the conference announced Wednesday morning. Defending regular-season and tournament champion Nevada has been predicted to repeat.


The Mountain West preseason poll is comprised of votes by conference media members and was announced by the league at the 2017-18 Media Summit, being held at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Las Vegas.
The Wolf Pack received 19 of a possible 24 first-place votes and 257 points to earn the top spot.


Nevada was followed by San Diego State which garnered two first-place nods and 229 points while Boise State also received two first-place votes, 211 points and landed in third place.


Fresno State collected 188 points for the fourth spot in the poll followed by Colorado State (5th, 154), UNLV (6th, 138), Wyoming (7th, 133) and Utah State (8th, 102). UNM (93), San José State (41) and Air Force (38) rounded out the poll.

Under first-year head coach Paul Weir, the Lobos return just five players from last season’s squad that finished 17-14, 10-8 MW, and welcome nine talented newcomers that include six transfers.

The highly successful fall season continued for the Los Alamos High School’s boy’s and girl’s golf teams this week at Arroyo del Oso Golf Course. The boys picked up their third victory in a row, and the girls once again had two girls earn state qualifying legs, while finishing in third as a team.
The boys finished with a score of 317, winning the tournament over second-place La Cueva by six strokes, which finished with a score of 323. The Hilltoppers were 19 strokes ahead of third-place Rio Rancho.
While the boy’s head coach, Andy Ainsworth, was pleased with the win, he felt the team could have performed even better.
“It’s good for the boys to get another win in a quality field in Albuquerque,” Ainsworth said. “As a team, we didn’t have our best stuff for most of the day.”
The team’s best score came from Sean Rau, who finished with a 75. The score was good enough for second overall, behind Bowen Davis of Manzano, who shot a 71.
“Sean’s 75 could have easily been a 68 or 70 if a few putts had gone in,” Ainsworth said. “He made nothing all day outside of five feet and still shot 75.”
The other Hilltoppers put together good rounds as well, as the four other scorers all shot 85 or lower.

For the second time this season, University of New Mexico cross country athlete Ednah Kurgat was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division I Women’s Athlete of the Week.
She also earned Mountain West Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors on Tuesday.
Kurgat a sophomore from Eldoret, Kenya, by way of Liberty University, helped lead the now-second ranked New Mexico women to a win at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational Presented by Under Armour last Friday, winning her second individual title of the season.
Just two weeks after capturing the individual title at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, Kurgat won the six-kilometer race at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course with a time of 19:23.2
The leader from virtually the start, Kurgat led at every intermediate split before running away from the competition over the final half of the race.
Kurgat’s title also helped the UNM women to head-to-head wins over 15 other teams ranked in the USTFCCCA National Coaches’ poll, helping bolster the squad’s position for the NCAA Championships next month.