Daily Press Staff Report

The Artesia High School swim teams ended the regular season Saturday with top-10 finishes at the Tom Casey Memorial in Albuquerque.

The boys took fifth and the girls took seventh as the district championships are this weekend in Hobbs.

The boys 200-medley relay took second place and won first place in the 400-freestyle relay, out touching Albuquerque La Cueva High School.

Aidan Ciro placed third in the 200-intermediate and fourth place in the 100-freestyle. Layton Whitmire placed third in the 50-freestyle and fifth place in the 100-backstroke. Eli DeHoyos placed sixth in the 50-freestyle and tied for first place in the 100-breaststroke.

The girls took fourth place in the 200-medley relay and seventh place in the 200-freestyle relay. Addisyn Hartman placed sixth in the 200-intermediate and fourth place in the 100- fly.

Ann Greenwood placed fourth in the 200-intermediate and won first place in the 100-breaststroke. Morgan Fisher placed ninth in the 100-freestyle and sixth place in the 100-breaststroke. Sarah Plotner was 10th in the 200-freestyle and ninth in the 500-freestyle.

By Ken Clayton

Sports and real life often cross paths and in doing so can create bonds that last a lifetime. We have all seen the amazing compassion of many of our professional athletes through their making dreams come true via organizations like the Make a Wish Foundation and other such organizations.

Young people being delt a hand that we may say is unfair and that we don’t understand, yet they show a strength and a resilience that we may also not understand. We watch intensely and are moved by both the joy and excitement we see in a young person that we know has seen so many tough days. We are proud of the organizations and the athletes that make this special young person forget the rest of the world for the day.

I write this story to admit that I watch the stories I have described, am touched emotionally and then life goes on. Little did I know that one day, my own emotions were going to be moved in a way I had never felt before.

In speaking at the American Bankers Association, Government Relations meeting in Washington, D.C., I looked to the back of the room and saw Bobby Sutton Mork. Bobby’s Mom, Kirsten Sutton is the Executive Vice President (EVP) of Congressional Relations for the American Bankers Association (ABA), and I am fortunate to work with her in my involvement with the ABA.

Bobby is a 10-year-old young man who just recently completed the first year of his three-and-a-half-year treatment plan for T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. When the dinner ended, all I wanted to do was go talk to Bobby. I can’t explain the feeling I had talking to a young man I had never met before. Bobby captured my attention telling me about his video game that I am sure he could beat me at easily, but when he came over and shook my hand before leaving, he touched my heart.

So where do sports and real-life cross paths in my story. As many know, I have coached the Artesia, NM High School Bowling team for eighteen years. Some say we have a dynasty, in which the state trophies and banners may seem to support, however I say our dynasty is our reputation of respect, desire and compassion.

At bowling practice, I was telling Bobby’s story to some of my bowlers and that his mom Kirsten ends her emails with #TeamBobby #BeatCancer. My team was touched. This season we had decided to buy jackets for all team members which have our team logo, our State Champions designation and everyone’s name. Long story short, #TeamBobby has a new member in team #ArtesiaBulldogBowling. And Bobby is an honorary member of a team of thirty-eight kids and two coaches that will carry his #TeamBobby #BeatCancer proudly on our jackets.

Student athletes making a choice, turn orange thread into hashtags that say we stand with a 10-year-old boy in his battle. The logo and words State Champions on Bobby’s jacket will remind him that he is part of a team that wins and that together we will both win.

Ken Clayton is the head bowling coach at Artesia High School and chairman of Western Bank in Artesia.

Peter Stein

Hobbs News-Sun
LOVINGTON – The Lovington boys basketball game against Artesia Friday night was a see-saw battle for a while.
It see-ed in Artesia’s direction, then saw-ed in Lovington’s.
But ultimately the momentum see-ed back toward Artesia, and the Wildcats might have seen their District 4-4A championship hopes saw-ed off, after they went ice cold and lost 59-46 before a packed Lovington High School gym.
“We didn’t hit shots,” Wildcats head coach Casey Pack said. “The game’s about knocking down shots and we weren’t knocking down shots, and the zone got tighter. We’ve got to knock down shots.”
“Artesia, you’ve got to give credit to them,” Lovington senior Kayle Covington said. “That’s the No. 1 team in the state. We did get a little cold in the third quarter, and they got into a zone.”
Artesia opened the game looking like the No. 1 team in the state, jumping to a 7-0 lead, thanks to a fallaway jumper by Clay Kincaid, a running bank shot plus an and-one by Charlie Campbell, and a Kincaid dunk.
Lovington, though, then embarked on a 12-2 run, including six points from Covington and a pair of treys – one by Mika Pando, the other from Danny Criswell from the right corner that gave the Wildcats their first lead of the night, 12-9, with two minutes to go in the first quarter. Lovington was up 17-13 by the end of the period.
The Wildcats opened up a 25-17 lead in the second, with the 24th and 25th points coming on a Criswell reverse. But that’s when Lovington’s offense went into chill mode while the Bulldogs got going again. With an inside basket from Jack Byers, a two-point bucket from ex-Hobbs player Braylon Vega, a free throw from Campbell, and a trey from Vega, the Bulldogs quickly erased the eight-point deficit and drew into a 25-all tie.
A Criswell bank shot put Lovington back in front, 27-25, but a pull-up jumper by Campbell knotted the game at 27, and that was the score at halftime.
The Bulldogs had opening possession in the new half and made good on it when Campbell buried a three-pointer to make it a 30-27 game.
A short turnaround jumper followed with an and-one by Campbell put Artesia ahead by six, and a third-chance basket by Kincaid a bit later had the Bulldogs up 35-27.
Lovington was within 35-30 when Pando drilled a right-elbow trey with just over three minutes to go in the third quarter, but Artesia went up 37-30 on a short jumper from Campbell, then 39-30 on an inside basket from Trent Egeland off a Campbell dish. It was still a nine-point game, 44-35, by the end of the third quarter, and though Lovington was within 44-38 early in the fourth, Artesia closed on a 15-8 run and won by double digits.
Cambell led the way for Artesia, pouring in a game-high 27 points.
“We had a mismatch with Charlie,” Pack said, “and Charlie did a great job. We’ll have to do a better job of controlling that.”
Despite their defeat, the Wildcats had a huge crowd behind them.
“I want to thank Lovington fans,” Pack said. “I’ve been here seven or eight years, and this is the fullest this place has been.”
Lovington will move away from that friendly gym for a road game against Goddard, 7 p.m. Tuesday night in Roswell.
“We can’t look past them,” Pack said. “Now we’re starting (district) 0-1, we’ve got to get after it. You’ve got to take care of your home advantage; we didn’t, so now we’ve got to win on the road.”
And the ’Cats will see Artesia again, at least once, possibly three more times.
“I think we can contend with any team in the state when we’re on,” Covington said, “and we’re competing for shots and playing like I know we can play.”

Too little, too late: Lady ‘Cats fall short against Artesia

Sometimes when teams are already down by a bunch and miss shots, it doesn’t seem to matter. But then they rally, lose a close game and all those earlier missed shots seem a lot more crucial in retrospect.
The Lovington girls basketball team endured that against Artesia on Friday night at Lovington High School. The Lady Wildcats clanked, clunked and doinked their way through too many possessions, then raced back in the fourth quarter with a chance to tie, only to ultimately fall 41-37 in the District 4-4A opener for both teams.
“‘Look at yourself,’” is what Lovington head coach Chief Bridgforth said he told his players after Friday’s game. “In the third quarter alone we had seven empty possessions; in the fourth we had several run-outs and bobbled it away. We just never got over the hump.”
“There were a lot of opportunities that we missed,” Lady Wildcats junior forward Abby Shouse said. “But I feel like we’re getting better seeing each other on the court, and we’ll definitely be able to see more opportunities as we go through district.”
Shouse also believed Artesia had a lot to do with Lovington’s offensive woes.
“It was really tough getting thrown across the floor,” she noted. “But it’s Artesia, they’re going to be physical. Next time at their place we’re going to fight back.”
Lovington mustered just four points in Friday’s first quarter – a Malaiya Castro trey and an Ashelynn Borunda free throw – while Artesia scored 14 to build a 10-point lead by the period’s end.
The Lady ’Cats charged back in the second quarter, narrowing their deficit to a reasonable 24-21 by halftime.
Lovington was down only 27-23 early in the third quarter, and had chance after chance to climb even closer. There was a possession where the usually steady-eddy Aubrey Aranda pulled up for a jumper that bricked off right iron. The Lady Bulldogs missed on their ensuing possession, but when the Lady ’Cats took over, they lost they ball out of bounds. After Artesia failed to score on its possession after that, the normally accurate Castro missed a shot, and the next Lady Bulldog possession ended with a Kailee Padilla layup that stretched Artesia’s lead to 29-23.
Lovington’s J’Bree Rios narrowly missed a shot from underneath, and Artesia transitioned that to an Avery Frederick hoop – a third-chance bucket on the possession to boot. The Lady Bulldogs soon added another basket, this time from Jenna Whitmire, to reclaim a double-digit lead, 33-23 with 1:20 remaining in the third quarter. By the period’s end, Artesia led 35-26.
It was 40-32 Artesia when the Lady Wildcats recovered some of their rhythm, some of their offense. An inside basket from Borunda brought the Lady ‘Cats within six, soon followed by a stop-and-pop trey from her to make it a 40-37 game.
But time was fleeting, under a minute to go. With just over 30 seconds remaining, Aranda hustled to the sideline for an apparent steal, and fed the ball downcourt to Castro. But Aranda had stepped on the line and Artesia retained possession.
The Lady Bulldogs, though, soon suffered one of their own miscues, throwing the ball out of bounds with 19.57 seconds left. The Lady Wildcats set up their offense, needing a three, and Aranda found Borunda open in the left corner. Borunda put up the potential game-tying shot, and it looked good on the way up and on the way down, but spun around the rim tantalizingly before spinning out. Padilla was intentionally fouled with 5.37 seconds to play, and hit one of two free throws, making it a 41-37 – in other words, two-score – game. After Padilla missed the second attempt, Shouse grabbed the rebound and sent the ball ahead to Aranda, who only had time for a half-court chuck that hit off the glass.
Lovington had suffered a four-point loss. So close, but …
“I asked them, ‘Anyone here, be honest, if you thought that you played well, tell me.’ No one did,” Bridgforth said. “Gotta make shots. If you’d told me before the game we would hold ’em to 41, I’d have felt pretty good.”
Artesia improved its overall record to an unspectacular 9-11, but the Lady Bulldogs are 1-0 in the super-important district standings. Lovington, meanwhile, dropped to 12-9 overall, but 0-1 in district.
“It’s tough to lose a home district game,” Bridgforth said. “Winning this could have won District 4, losing it could lose District 4. You get more than one district loss you never recover, so we’ve got to get to work, bounce back.”