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By Don Eskins The Carlsbad High School swim teams recently returned home from the state tournament with good reviews. This year’s tournament took place in Albuquerque on Friday and Saturday, February 20-21. Olivia Jang, with a 10th-place finish in the 100 Butterfly, recorded the Cavegirls’ top performance. She covered the distance in a time of 1:03.02. Benjamin Jang, with 12th-place finishes in the 100 Free (50.86100) and 100 Breaststroke (105.56), along with Sam Vega, who pl

By Don Eskins The Cavemen and Cavegirl tennis teams competed at the Statewide Invitational in Albuquerque on Friday and Saturday, February 20-21. On Friday, CHS competed in flighted singles bracket competition, and on Saturday, flighted doubles bracket play. “The competition here was a bit more difficult than last weekend in El Paso,” said CHS assistant coach Diamond Morrill. “However, it was nice for us to get to see what some of the other teams in the state are looking like

By Don Eskins Carlsbad High’s Cavemen and Cavegirl wrestlers closed out the 2025-26 season with identical 10th-place finishes at the NMAA State Tournament on February 20-21 in Rio Rancho. “Although winning state has always been one of our goals, I knew doing it this year in either our boys’ or girls’ programs probably wasn’t going to happen,” said CHS head coach Mark Pratt. “Along with some youth and inexperience, we just had too many open weight classes. “But we did feel lik

By R. Gabriel Villalobos On National Parks Highway, just past San Jose Boulevard, to the right on the property where there’s a Super 8 motel, an unassuming food truck parked off to the side is quietly becoming a local phenomenon. Edgar, whose family runs Birrieria Leo’s, still remembers a time when two orders in an eight-hour shift felt like a miracle. That was just three years ago. “It was that bad,” Edgar said, sitting in his truck. “We were ready to throw in the towel.” Th

By Misty Cryer Workforce development is a hot topic in Carlsbad. Southeast New Mexico College (SENMC) has stepped up the game by developing workforce training classes, opening the SENMC Workforce Training Center @ the Formerly Joe Stanley Smith Elementary School, and publishing a Spring Catalog for Workforce Training. “Workforce Development is a little bit different than the academic side, where you go for an associate degree or a bachelor’s,” said Chris Spaulding, Interim Vi

Members of the Carlsbad Early College High School BPA chapter recently participated in the 2026 New Mexico BPA State Leadership Conference in Albuquerque, held February 19–21, 2026. Students competed in a variety of business and leadership events, demonstrating excellence in workplace skills, professionalism, and industry knowledge. There were over 620 student members who competed in 84 events over the conference. Of those members, only 280 students qualified to represent New

The Carlsbad High School chapter of Business Professionals of America has once again distinguished itself on the state’s stage in student leadership and career development—bringing home its seventh straight New Mexico BPA state championship. This achievement reflects consistency, commitment, and an exceptional culture of excellence. Unlike many competitions, the New Mexico Business Professionals of America State Championship is not determined by contest results alone. Chapter

By Misty Cryer Recognized in Carlsbad’s 40 Under 40 in 2024 and featured in a Teacher Spotlight published by the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association (NMOGA) in 2025, the community of Carlsbad is likely familiar with Hannah VanScotter, a local educator at Carlsbad High School. At the New Mexico Association for Career and Technical Education (NMACTE) Conference in January, VanScotter was named NMACTE Career Technical Education (CTE) Teacher of the Year. “I will go on to the Regi

By Don Eskins Carlsbad High will compete in the NMAA State Swim Meet on Friday and Saturday, February 20-21. The meet will take place at Albuquerque Academy High School. Overall, 10 CHS swimmers—six Cavemen and four Cavegirls—qualified in 13 events for the meet. The following is a list of the events and swimmers competing in each. CHS 2025-26 Individual State Qualifiers: Olivia Jang: 200 IM, 100 Fly, 100 Breast, 100 Free. Benjamin Jang: 100 breast, 200 IM, 100 Free. Samuel Ve

By Don Eskins Ten Cavemen, headed by divisional runners-up Justin Owens, 138; Jay Norris, 157; and Juan Rubio, 215, qualified for state at the Southern Regional Championships in Albuquerque on Saturday, February 14. In order to qualify for this year’s Big Dance, grapplers had to place among the top seven placers of each weight division or draw a wild card for their overall performance during the meet. “Our goal was to get as many of our wrestlers to state as we could. Of the

By Don Eskins The prep tennis season officially opened up for Carlsbad High on Friday and Saturday, February 13-14, at the El Paso Austin Invitational. According to CHS assistant coach Diamond Morrill, the Cavemen and Cavegirls got off to a good start. “As this was our first tournament of the season, our kids played pretty well. We have a lot of young players this year, so many of them were a bit nervous as the tournament got underway,” said Morrill. “But after they got out o

By Don Eskins The 11-14 Carlsbad Cavegirls, ranked 20th by MaxPreps, will host the second-ranked 23-2 Hobbs Eagles on Friday night, February 20. The clash will mark the end of regular-season and district play for both teams. The JVs will open up the night’s play at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity at 7 p.m. To nobody’s surprise, Hobbs, who has already clinched this season’s conference title, sits at the top of the District 4/5A standings with an unblemished 5-0 record. The