Melrose teams reload for 2018-19

The Melrose boys basketball team will look a bit different than the one that captured a state Class A championship in Albuquerque last March. Losing six seniors tends to give a team quite the makeover.

But head coach Kevin Lackey doesn’t expect a freefall. He thinks the Buffaloes can be solid, perhaps even contend for another state crown.

“We don’t use the word rebuild at Melrose,” Lackey said Tuesday afternoon, “so we’ll be competitive, no doubt.”

Still, those six seniors aren’t going to be easily replaced. Jordan Jasso, Blake DeVaney, Carson Fraze, Sterling Sena, Hunter Sorgen and Jared Lee were integral cogs for the team that rallied to beat Maxwell in the March 10 state title game at The Pit.

Guards Tristan Sena and Dylan Valentine, along with post Tate Sorgen, are the only three returnees who saw significant varsity playing time last season, and there isn’t a senior among the trio. Sena and Valentine are juniors, Sorgen just a sophomore.

“We’ll have a young core to build around,” Lackey said, “and I think they’ll find some success.

“And then we’ve just got a slew of good sophomores and juniors and a few seniors to pick up the slack. After those three (Sena, Valentine and Sorgen), we’ve got a solid core that will all pick up the slack from the seniors that we lost.”

Lackey didn’t want to mention any particular player or players that will form that core, but did say he expects a lot of contributions from a lot of up-and-comers. Many players on this season’s roster were key parts of Melrose’s state semifinalist football team, so they know how to work hard and win.

Other than some nagging injuries left over from that football season, the boys basketball team is fairly healthy. “Everyone’s able to play,” Lackey said. “It’s a managing-the-pain type of thing.”

Lackey has only recently had a chance to see the players at an official Melrose practice, but liked what he saw.

“Really, (Monday) was the first practice we’ve had together,” Lackey said. “It was good, the kids worked really hard. They’re buying in, they’re doing what we’re asking them to do.”

Among Melrose’s potential challenges is offseason realignment that placed the team in District 6-1A this season, with some different opponents on the slate.

“Fort Sumner will definitely be one of the top-tier teams. They’ll be one of the teams to beat for sure,” Lackey said of the squad that won last year’s state 2A championship. “We plan on seeing some other solid teams. Logan will be very good in our district, and it’ll go on and on. There’ll be a lot of depth and parity in 1A this year.”

Which could bode well or not well for young Melrose, depending on how you look at it. Lackey looks at it with optimism.

“We had a solid summer with the guys,” he said, “and I think they’ve gained some confidence with that. From the outside looking in, it’s easy for other people to say, ‘They lost four all-state kids and six seniors and when you compound that with the new alignment and the quality programs moving down from 1A, it could be a difficult season.’ But we don’t see it like that. I think we have a good core and a lot of kids who can contribute. I think we can scrap our way to a lot of wins.”

Trying to close the deal

Melrose’s girls basketball team got there. Now the Lady Buffaloes just have to win there.

The Lady Buffs reached last season’s state Class A championship game in Albuquerque, but were defeated 58-44 by area rival Elida on March 9 at The Pit. Getting back upstate and taking that last step will be the goal this season, and head coach Caleb King thinks Melrose is quite capable of reaching it.

“We look good,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “We return all but two players, and they were good seniors, but we’ve got some players that can fill their positions. We’ll have a lot of girls who will have some varsity experience, they’ll have a lot of athleticism. We don’t have a whole lot of height, but we’ve never had height, so that doesn’t really hurt us.”

Landry Widner is the only regular starter from last year to graduate, though the other departing player — Lakasey Mondragon — did start a few games.

Melrose returns four regular starters: senior guard Kiki Roybal (5’3”), junior guard Nataley Mondragon (5’5”), junior forward Brette DeVaney (5’8”) and sophomore forward Hailey Martin (5’10”).

As of Tuesday afternoon, King wasn’t sure who would fill the fifth starting spot, but said Pyper Belcher, Shannon May and Caitlyn Nicholson were the candidates. “I’ve got a few that are trying to work out for that spot,” King said, “which is a good thing because that means we’ll have a deep bench, too.”

No matter which one of that trio starts, all three are expected to be integral parts of any success Melrose has this winter. King, in fact, refers to all the above returners as “the main seven.”

The team has a few sore knees from volleyball here or there, but is OK for the most part. “We’re pretty healthy,” King said, “so if we can just maintain it, that’ll be a big key.”

The health is there. The experience is certainly there. The athleticism is there. Though Melrose is playing in the newly-realigned District 6-1A, King thinks the Lady Buffaloes can return to Albuquerque and notch that championship win this time.

“It’ll be tough,” King said, “but yeah, we’ve got a shot for sure to make it all the way. ... They should know what it takes to make it there. We’ve just got to prepare ourselves to be able to win it.”