Bayfield High School senior Kelton McCoy was all smiles Tuesday afternoon at the BHS cafeteria, as he made his decision attend University of New Mexico next fall.
McCoy's athletic prowess may have gotten him noticed on the baseball diamond – with football awards for good measure – but it was his academics that drove him to be the recipient of the Colorado Reciprocal Scholarship, which is handed out to only 10 high school students each year.
While getting a chance to study at New Mexico, McCoy will also continue his baseball career at the Division I level playing in the Mountain West Conference with a perennial conference championship contender.
“I'm thankful that I have great coaches like Adam Morrissey and Damion Lovato from Farmington and Jon Qualls and Tom Horton here at Bayfield. They all played equal parts,” said McCoy, son of Derek and Loresa McCoy. “I'm thankful for (New Mexico) head coach Ray Birmingham for giving me that chance. I'd like to thank my family and friends for backing me during this whole deal.”
McCoy will graduate with honors at BHS. He boasts a 3.9 grade-point average and said he plans on studying business.
Their business school is one of the top in the country so I'm excited for that,” McCoy said.
McCoy, who quarterbacked BHS to a state football championship and was named the CHSAA Class 2A Player of the Year, will bring plenty of expectation to the classroom, and the Lobos will receive a player who can control the diamond at the catcher position with the skills to also play third base, where he played the majority of the 2016 season.
“I think anyone who has watched him over the last couple of years has a pretty good understanding that he's very smart baseball-wise,” Qualls said. “He plays nearly all year long. He just knows the game inside and out. That's who schools are looking for, someone who's smart. He's done himself a favor by working hard in school and now it's paying him off.”
McCoy, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs in at 190 pounds, has a .515 batting average in 77 plate appearances with 35 hits and 26 runs batted in. He has also been dangerous on the mound for the Wolverines. He is 3-0 with a 2.48 earned-run average and leads the team with 51 strikeouts.
McCoy's academic scholarships were so great that he didn't need an athletic scholarship, but Birmingham will get to add a catcher that was ranked among the top 10 at the position in Colorado going into his senior season. Birmingham couldn't comment on McCoy as of Tuesday, but he came highly recommended by Morrissey, the head instructor at Strike Zone Baseball in Farmington as well as former Lobos All-American Mark Wulfert. Sources said Birmingham was excited to add a high-character player with McCoy's athletic ability.
On top of a savvy business school, the proximity of New Mexico was appealing to McCoy. It's a perfect 3½ hours away; enough space to experience a new life and close enough for weekend laundry trips.
But the education and location of New Mexico were just the tipping point. The Lobos recently reached a 10-year, $1 million deal to rename the baseball stadium to Santa Ana Star Field with renovations to be added. The allure of playing for an NCAA Division I program in the Mountain West was hard to turn down, and the program has made three NCAA Tournament appearances in the last five years to go along with ad four conference championships in 16 years.
McCoy is one of many student-athletes who have had a great senior year. Bayfield's graduating class has a slew of student-athletes going to compete at the next level, creating a standard for the generations to come.
“I think it shows a lot about our class,” McCoy said. “We were brought up together and were brought up to win and be winners. To be successful in the classroom and on the field, I think we really feed off each other. The more I see people signing, the more it puts Bayfield on the map.”
McCoy and the Wolverines (15-4, 8-0 3A Intermountain League) will quickly turn their attention to the regional round of the state tournament, with the brackets set to be released Wednesday.
Herald Sports Editor John Livingston contributed to this report.
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
