Two CHS soccer players sign with ENMU

CLOVIS — Clovis High seniors Madison Lynch and Danielle Griego have played soccer together for a while now, and they plan to continue doing just that.

Both have signed national letters of intent to compete next fall at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. First, though, they hope to get in an abbreviated, covid-impacted season with CHS this spring.

Lady Wildcats coach Traci Sievers noted that Lynch and Griego have been on the varsity since the eighth grade, and have been starters since they were freshmen.

“These girls have been (All-District 4-5A) several times,” she said. “Madison was our scoring leader as a sophomore; last year, she had an injury that (slowed) her up.”

Still, Lynch — a forward who was the district’s player of the year in 2019 — ranks second in program history in goals (52) and fourth all-time in points (73), and she wants to get to the top in the former category.

“Individually, I want to set the record for goals,” she said. “As a team, I want to try to make it to the (state Class 5A) championship.

“I’ve always done Eastern camps, and I’ve been around the school and the players. Because of COVID, I wanted to stay close to home.”

ENMU underwent a coaching change last March as Abbey Barnum replaced Josh Smith, who left the program after two seasons to pursue other coaching opportunities.

“I talked to coach Smith (originally),” Griego said. “I didn’t know Coach Abbey that well, but once I talked to her I knew that was where I wanted to go.”

The Lady Cats went 10-6-4 in 2019, winning the district championship before dropping a 1-0 first-round decision in the 5A state tournament to eventual runnerup Centennial.

Griego, a forward-midfielder who has accumulated 24 goals and 16 assists at CHS, also liked the idea of staying closer to home to attend college and continue playing soccer.

“I’m very exited,” she said. “I love that Eastern is closer to home, and I kind of knew from the beginning where I wanted to go.”

Griego added that she’s looking forward to playing again with Lynch.

“Me and Madison have played together forever,” she said. “We’ve played a lot of ‘3v3’ together.”

They’ve also played against each other in the summer when they were on opposing club teams in Albuquerque.

Both players are anxious to try and get in a final high school campaign this spring. If they get the go-ahead from the state, the season would start in March.

It’s been challenging, Lynch acknowledged, but she’s hopeful for the opportunity to play.

“I think as we go into the spring, we as players need to prepare for it,” she said.

The university also announced a trio of signings in other programs.

The baseball program signed a pair of pitchers from other colleges. Jason Vasil, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound lefthander, comes from Division I Wisconsin-Milwaukee, while Javier Luna is a 5-foot-9, 180-pound righthand pitcher from Southeast Community College.

The track program signed Jaliyah Denny of Christ Church High School in Bridgetown, Barbados.