Today's Sports

ALBUQUERQUE — There was little in the recent history of either Los Alamos or Farmington girls tennis to suggest the Hilltoppers stood much of a chance in the Class 4A doubles title match.

But that didn’t deter either Madeline Margevicius or Gillian Hsieh-Ratliff Thursday evening.

Margevicius/Hsieh-Ratliff came out firing in the first set, winning five straight games to set the tone against the powerful Farmington Scorpions’ squad of Molly Merrion/Danielle Nguyen.

Then, when Los Alamos needed it, the Hilltoppers put together a nearly-unstoppable attack at the net, putting away Merrion/Nguyen in a classic title match, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

“It’s surreal, it’s liberating,” said Hsieh-Ratliff, a five-year veteran of the program who had never tasted a state title until Thursday. “I feel like my senior year ended on a nice note. I’ve worked since eighth grade. All that’s come together…working so hard, but it’s all been worth it.”

Hsieh-Ratliff crushed an overhead volley right in between Merrion and Nguyen to put the final touches on the upset victory. Margevicius/Hsieh-Ratliff entered the 4A doubles draw as the No. 3 seed, while Merrion/Nguyen was the top seed.

Girls doubles teams advance, boys doubles teams go out in opening round at state

All three Los Alamos girls doubles teams survived Wednesday’s opening round of the Class 4A playoffs. The Hilltoppers all advanced to this morning’s quarterfinal round at the Jerry Cline Tennis Center in Albuquerque.

Unfortunately, the Hilltopper boys didn’t fare so well, falling in both their doubles matches to open the tournament.

The Hilltopper third-seeded doubles team of Madeline Margevicius/Gillian Hsieh-Ratliff handily defeated Madison Raess/Xochitl Benitez of Las Cruces Centennial 6-1, 6-1 to move on to the quarters.

Daniel Fryer was the top all-around finisher for the Los Alamos School of Gymnastics Atomic Tumblers and Dane Harris had the best all-around score at the boys state championship meet.
The state championship meet was March 16-17 in Albuquerque.
Fryer, competing in the Level 5 Junior Division, placed fifth in the all-around competition, scoring 48.45 points. Fryer finished fourth on the vault and parallel bars and took fifth in floor exercises to earn the fifth-place finish.
Harris, meanwhile, placed second on the high bar and earned an all-around score of 54.15, which was good enough for eighth place in the Level 4 Junior Division. Harris scored a 9.70 on the high bar and was also fourth on the rings and in the vault competition.
Two more competitors took part for LASG at the meet. Philo Shelton was seventh in the Level 5 Senior competition and Caden Stilwell was 27th in the Level 4 Child Division, one of the largest divisions at the meet.
Shelton earned a 51.95 all-around score, taking sixth on the parallel bars (8.80) and seventh on the pommel horse.
Stilwell had an all-around score of 47.05. He scored a 9.45 on the vault, which placed him 14th in that event.
 

About the only thing the Los Alamos Hilltopper baseball team was sure of heading into Selection Sunday was that it was going to appear in the playoffs.
Now, the Hilltoppers know their opponent. More importantly, they know they’re staying home.
Los Alamos (17-9) earned the No. 8 seed for the upcoming Class 4A tournament and is paired up against Aztec, the No. 9 seed, for this weekend’s series.
The first round of the 4A playoffs consists of a best-of-3 series. The top seed in each of the eight pairings will host the series.
Los Alamos and Aztec (16-7) will meet in the first game of the best-of-3 set at 4 p.m. Friday. The second game is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday and the third game, if necessary, will start at approximately 1 p.m.
For those wondering where the Hilltoppers were going to fall heading into the playoffs, it was no better than even money whether they would get a home game. The Hilltoppers won District 2-4A, their fifth consecutive district title, to qualify for the postseason, but they had a 5-5 record against nondistrict 4A competition, although four of those five losses came against the same two teams, Piedra Vista and Los Lunas.
Piedra Vista, as expected, was awarded the No. 1 overall seed and will most likely be the opponent of the Los Alamos-Aztec winner in next week’s second round.