Players from all six of Socorro County’s high school varsity basketball teams were selected for postseason honors, and two coaches were named their district’s Coach of the Year.

Socorro

The Lady Warriors won their second straight District 3-3A basketball championship and a short-handed Socorro team (12-17, 5-1). Ariana Crespin, Tamra Fowler, Faith Lucero, and Kaedyn Gonzales’s selection to the All-District team comes on the heels of a fantastic finish where Socorro won nine of its final 11 games.

The Lady Warriors coach, Amanda Saenz, was picked as Coach of the Year.
After finishing second in District 3-3A basketball action, three Socorro Warriors (10-15, 4-2) have been named All-District players.

Jacob Robinson, William Griego, and Josh Gutierrez helped lead Socorro to a 10-15 overall record and 4-2 in league play. The Warriors got hot late and were 7-4 over their final 11 games.

Alamo Navajo

The Lady Cougars (17-13, 6-2) will have three All-District 3-1A players returning next season as Alamo Navajo’s young team will look to reclaim the league title.
Valaria Cheney and Sapphira Sandoval were named to the All-District team, and freshman Layla Apache is an honorable mention. The Lady Cougars will lose the service of All-District player Claire Apachito.

Alamo Navajo’s Cougars (19-9, 8-0) won their second straight District 3-1A basketball title after celebrating the school’s first-ever boys championship last year, and all four of this year’s All-District selections were part of both.

Senior Jacob Apache triple-dipped the postseason honors with a New Mexico High School Coaches Association All-Star selection to play for the Red Team. Apache was named the District 3-3A Player of the Year and is joined on the All-District roster by Zephaniah Guerro, Scotty Guerro and Jay Apachito.

Magdalena

Nobody in New Mexico enjoyed a more significant turnaround from one season to the next than Magdalena’s girls, who went 22-8 and 9-1 in District 2-1A basketball. The Steers were 13-15 last year and only 3-7 in district action.

Magdalena has a strong case for being the state’s No. 2 team this season after giving eventual state champion Fort Sumner/House all it could handle in a 42-41 loss. Fort Sumner beat Logan 54-36 in the state final.

Jorianne Mirabal and Kambree Montoya picked up double postseason honors. In addition to being named All-District, Mirabal also picked up NMHSCA All-State honors. An NMHSCA All-Star game appearance capped Montoya’s All-District honorable mention selection. Jema Ganadonegro was Magdalena’s third All-District honoree.

Magdalena’s Steers posted a 30-2 season and ended the year in the Class 1 boys state championship game for the fifth-straight season. The Steers also win their 11th straight district championship in 2024.

Postseason honors for the Steers include NMHSCA All-State selections for Joseph Zamora and Jeffery Stuteville. Lanbrent Ganadonegro was named to the MNHSCA’s All-Star game.
All five starters for Magdalena earned some form of postseason honor, with Zamora, Stuteville, and Ganadonegro being named All-District2-1A first team, and Matthew Parker and Ayden Herschbach are honorable mentions.

Coach Jory Mirabal was named Coach of the Year.

Russell Huffman, El Defensor Chieftain Asst. Editor