Holbrook Teams Gear Up For The Fall Sports Season

By Greg Perkins
   School has started, coaches and athletes have been on the playing fields, the courts and the track, and parents have been shuttling kids to and from practices, which can only mean that the fall sports season at Holbrook High School is under way.
   With Arizona Interscholastic Association re-alignment looming, this may or may not be Holbrook’s final season in the 3A North conference for a while. Either way Roadrunner fans of all sports will watch their favorite teams compete against Winslow, Monument Valley, Window Rock, Ganado, Tuba City and Chinle in regional action over the course of the next nine months.
   All of the fall sports head coaches once again return to their duties, with Darrin Thomas on the football field, Leslie Baldonado in the gym with volleyball, Dave Wright and Shawn Layden with the boys’ and girls’ soccer programs, and Tim Yazzie on the trails with the cross country teams.
   Student athletes in football and volleyball have been practicing for nearly two weeks, while the rest of the sport teams started practice Monday.
   The football squad is hoping to finally be able to unseat the Winslow Bulldogs at the top of the confer-ence. Winslow has owned the North in football over the past decade, but this year’s game will be in Hol-brook on October 3, and just maybe the Roadrunners can pull of the upset. Last season the Birds ended the conference schedule tied with Tuba City and Ganado for second, third and fourth, and earned a state tour-nament bid before losing to the eventual state champion, Show Low, in the first round. The team opens the season in the Skydome against Chino Valley on Aug. 29.
   The Lady Roadrunner volleyball team also put together a solid season last year playing in the always competitive North region. Holbrook made the state tournament as a 14 seed and fell to eventual state champion Parker in the opening round. The team will need to replace hitter/blocker Alicia Nichols and set-ter Anna Gabaldon, who were key components to last year's team, but many players return with varsity experience for Coach Baldonado. The team starts out on the road at Snowflake on Aug. 26.
   The boys’ soccer program also reached the state tournament last year, where the Roadrunners advanced to the second round before losing to St. Gregory in a hard fought 2-0 game. Last year’s premier goalie in the conference, Victor Paz, has moved on and Coach Wright’s team will need to find another keeper to make a deep playoff run. The team faces Snowflake in the first match of the season on Sept. 6 in Lobo country.
   The girls’ program is still searching for that first winning season, but under second year head coach Shawn Layden, fans can expect to see the team continue to build on the improvement they showed last sea-son. The team will begin the season at the Show Low Invitational tournament on Sept. 5 and 6.
   Finally, the toughest of all athletes, the cross country runners, will once again be challenged by several good harriers from the North region. They have about three weeks to prepare for their first meet, which will be a very competitive run at the Hopi Invitational on Sept. 2.