The time has really seemed to fly past since graduation. Here we are on June 26 and look at what we’ve seen so far.
Gallup High had their Athletic Director, Domonic Romero, who is also the school’s boys’ basketball coach, transfer to a new position as Principal at Thoreau High School. Fortunately, one of his assistant coaches, Richard Rangel, will move into that vacancy and attempt to continue the success the team has experienced in the last few years.
The AD vacancy has been filled by James Malcolm, who had been the wrestling coach for the Bengals. No word on who might be slated to take that job or if Malcolm will be allowed to keep it.
The other high schools in our coverage – Miyamura, Rehoboth and Wingate – have not notified the Gallup Sun of any coaching changes, however that may change with little or no notice.
We have also had the British Soccer Camp return, held the 24-hour Bike Ride in the Enchanted Forest (McGaffey) with a reported 380 riders, watched the Lions Club Parade and Rodeo, anticipated the upcoming Wild Thing Bull Riding Extravaganza, and had 81 participants in the Gallup Triathlon. The word is out as well that the number of participants in the Best of the Best Timed Event Invitational Youth Rodeo has doubled since last year.
There has also been a Tennis Camp, Golf Camp, Volleyball Camp and All Star basketball and softball games to watch, not to mention the rule-bending antics of the NBA Finals, won by somebody that a lot of people really don’t care about. Sorry, my article, my opinion.
Many of the area athletes have received scholarships for their talents on the floor, pitch, gridiron or diamonds, and many more for their academic prowess. Gallup residents have also been fortunate to take a look at the brand new Second Street, an addition to our historic El Morro Theater. If you haven’t seen it, take a short trip downtown, if for no other reason than to see what a million dollars will buy these days.
Oh, and did you get to watch the Danse de Femme Belly Dance performance at El Morro, or were you too busy scrolling through the video collections on Facebook to notice? If it was the latter, how about the newly promoted Major League Baseball pitcher that is equally adept with either arm. I watched that video and have to say I was impressed. His curve ball from the right side seemed to break about two feet.
Well, the summer is just starting, although the Youth Baseball Program – known as the Gallup Amateur Baseball/Softball Association – is winding down their season with single elimination City Tournaments in all but the youngest and oldest divisions. You will probably see me out there, taking pictures of as many kids as possible. Failing to make that connection, I have also agreed to visit the adult softball games for more pictures and more stories.
So, if you are lucky, I’ll see you in the bleachers and we can talk!