Monday was a big day for Carlsbad standout Tylen Gonzalez, who signed his letter of intent to play with the University of Arizona. Gonzalez, a 6-6 ,250-pound senior, is the top ranked high school player in New Mexico. Heavily recruited, he’d actually committed to play for Arizona last summer, and he is receiving a full athletic scholarship. He’s projected to play offensive tackle in college. By the way, Gonzalez was also this year’s Homecoming King at Carlsbad High School and he is also a competitive member of Carlsbad’s BPA team, taking first place on the administrative support team. Congratulations to Tylen and his entire family. We look forward to following his college career.
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Former Carlsbad wrestling standout Fabian Padilla won by decision, 5-4, to win the 157-pound weight class at the 2023 NJCAA National Championships earlier this month at Council Bluffs, Iowa. Iowa Western finished third on the men’s side with 106.5 points, and the women also finished third, after eight total wrestlers from the college reached the finals. Padilla was also named an All American.
Padilla graduated from Carlsbad High School in 2019. Here, he won a state title and was selected as an All American by the National High School Coaches Association.
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Finally, Shorthorn baseball kicked off in Carlsbad on Monday when legendary coach Tom Forni threw out the opening pitch. It will be a busy time of year for Carlsbad’s many baseball and softball families, and we wish all of our youth sports teams the very best. Carlsbad’s High School baseball team is now 11-2, following a 13-4 win over Artesia this week. The Cavegirl softball team beat Las Cruces, 16-0, and now has a 5-2 record. The Cavegirls had their first home game of the year on Tuesday night against Lovington.
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On the arts and culture side of things, the Pearl of the Pecos Arts & Culture District is hosting a POPup art event from 6-8 p.m. April 14 at Milton’s Brewing. This will provide you with a chance to meet talented local artists in the community and, if you are so inclined, add a new piece to your collection. You will also be able to learn about how to become more involved in the effort to have Carlsbad designated as an arts and culture district.
Carlsbad’s Ken Britt also delivered an excellent presentation about the Cavern Theatre yesterday to AARP and received a lot of positive feedback about that project’s development.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway