By James Yodice / Journal Staff Writer
Albuquerque Academy’s girls and boys swept first place Tuesday in Farmington.
The girls won by 37 shots (673-710) over Kirtland Central, with Lovington (712) a close third. Academy has won five consecutive state championships in girls golf.
Academy’s boys, in going back-to-back in 4A, prevailed with an 11-shot victory over Artesia (623-634), with Lovington (641) third.
Deming senior Riley Apodaca won medalist honors. He went 72-73–145, and bested Lovington sophomore Ramon Orosco by two shots. Eighth-grader Thomas Whitten of Academy, who led the Chargers at metros a couple of weeks ago, again was low man for Academy, finishing in a three-way tie for third, six shots back of Apodaca.
“We played pretty solid, nothing exceptional,” Academy boys coach Kevan Schott said. “The boys wanted to play better, but we practiced really well throughout the week.”
Academy won eight of nine tournaments this season. The Chargers, as with the rest of the field, had to battle some winds that kicked up in the afternoon. (Salome, by contrast, was in the second group off in the early morning and avoided the worst of the conditions.)
“We thought we were gonna win it, and it came to fruition,” Schott said.