September is a key month for recruits
Golf fund-raiser is set for Oct. 14
For high school athletes, September can be an important month in the recruiting process.
Cibola girls basketball player Amaya Brown, for example, has started entertaining college recruiters at her home — with the University of New Mexico as her first home visit.
The junior guard already has welcomed Arizona State and TCU. UCLA arrives today, then Baylor on Thursday, Oklahoma on Friday, Kansas on Sunday, Oklahoma State on Monday and both Florida State and Oregon State next week.
For a senior like Albuquerque Academy thrower Jackson Morris — who swept the state titles in each of the three throwing events at the Class 5A meet in both 2015 and 2016 — September marks the start of his official visits.
And Morris is a hot commodity.
Morris will visit Oregon to start. Later, he plans to visit Colorado State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, with Arizona or Texas as his fifth and final visit.
Morris is being recruited for the discus and javelin. It is possible he may sign early, in November, but that remains fluid. KIP LUNA FUND-RAISER: The second annual Kip Luna Memorial Golf Tournament is Oct. 14 at Desert Greens Golf Course in Paradise Hills.
Luna is a former athlete and longtime basketball official who passed away in December 2014. He spent nearly the final 13 years of his life confined to a wheelchair, the result of serious back and neck injuries he suffered in a January 2002 car crash just south of Las Vegas, N.M.
The entry fees are $125 per person or $500 for a team of four.
There is a shotgun start at noon Oct. 14. The entry fee covers the golf and cart, range balls and dinner.
For more information, contact Hugo Sanchez at 250-6664, or hugosanchez@comcast.net.
Money raised by this event will benefit the NMAA Foundation, and checks or money orders should be made out to that organization, with a Kip Luna charity golf tournament notation.
ELITE XC: Friday afternoon’s Albuquerque Academy cross-country meet will bring together 21 teams, including some of New Mexico’s best squads.
Among them are the host Chargers, Rio Rancho, Cleveland, Los Alamos and Eldorado.
These schools also competed against each other at the season-opening University of New Mexico Invitational, which was won by Rio Rancho’s girls and Academy’s boys.
The boys varsity race goes off at 3 p.m., with the girls to follow at 3:30 p.m.
CLARKE BOUNTY: Cibola High School’s carnival and fun runs last Saturday raised $6,000 for injured Cougars boys soccer coach Cameron Clarke, Cibola activities director Jeanine Chavez said.
Clarke suffered serious injuries during the summer in a backyard swimming pool accident and continues to rehab in a Denver-area hospital. HIGH SCHOOL STATISTICS: The Journal today will be accepting high school football stats. Schools are asked to email to sports@abqjournal.com, by 2 p.m. each Wednesday for publication Thursday.