The New Mexico High School Coaches Association released its All-State players on Friday and Lea County had four players named first team and six more named second team.
Of the four first team honorees, two came from the girls’ side and two came from the boys’ with both girls and both boys being teammates.
Hobbs led all Lea County teams with three All-State players.
Hobbs senior Elise Turrubiates and sophomore Wisdom Anthony were both named First Team All-State while freshman Aniya Joseph was tabbed second team.
Turrubiates and Anthony both averaged 16.4 points a game this season. Turrubiates also added 7.6 rebounds and 3.3 steals a game while Anthony dished out 4.6 assists and came up with 4.6 steals a game. Joseph chipped in 9.7 points, 9.4 rebounds a game, and 1.3 blocks a game.
“I thought all year we were pretty much a three-headed monster,” Hobbs coach Joe Carpenter said. “We had three athlete who consistently came in, night in and night out, performing at a high level.”
The second team nod is the second of the year for Joseph who was also named Second Team All-State in volleyball.
The only other Lea County girls’ team to have any All-State players was Tatum. Ashlyn Slover and Kylie West both made Second Team All-State in Class 2A. For Slover and West, it is the second All-State nod this year as both Lady Coyotes were named First Team All-State during volleyball season.
On the boys’ side, five players from Lea County were named All-State.
Hobbs junior Jalen Goar was named Second Team All-State for Class 5A while Loving-ton’s Cobe Sandoval was also tabbed Second Team All-State, but for Class 4A.
Jal had two players named to the Class 2A All-State team while Tatum had one.
Panthers Alexavier Carreon and Josh Cervantes were both named First Team All-State while Kivan Cardenas, of the Coyotes, was selected to the second team. Carreon averaged 10.2 points and 7.7 rebounds a game while Cervantes averaged 13 points and 6.8 rebounds a game.
“They were both very big. Those two boys were our overall most consistent on both ends of the court. Between both of them, they probably led in 90 percent of the categories we have,” Jal coach Emmanuel Lujan said. “Alexavier was probably our most consistent player throughout the year as a sophomore. He played big for us underneath and we were able to utilize him in areas. He led in a couple of different categories. Then we have Josh. He has been a tough kid for the last few years. He started to come on strong late in the season when we started district and when we started in the state tournament. We always looked to him to be one of the biggest parts of our team. He was very unselfish. He would start the games out doing other stuff and then all of the sudden he would catch his rhythm and then take over the game.”
For Cervantes, it is the second First Team All-State honor earned this year. The Panther senior was also named First Team All-State during football as a running back for the Panthers. As for Carreon, he was an Honorable Mention at inside linebacker during football season.
