Three San Juan County athletes sign to play college sports at next level

Jazzlyn Gomez, Beau Willie and Maliah Goins gave San Juan County another reminder that local schools continue to produce college-ready athletes in more than one sport, with each signing carrying the weight of family support, school pride and academic work.

Gomez, an Aztec senior, signed Wednesday, April 8, at Lillywhite Gym to play basketball at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana. Surrounded by family, Gomez closed a prep career that stretched across basketball and volleyball and finished with more than 12 points, seven rebounds and six steals per game in her most recent basketball season. She also earned District 1-4A first-team honors in volleyball and graduated with a 5.0 GPA, a combination that made her signing about more than just scoring. It also connected her to a Rocky Mountain program that entered the spring off a 21-10 season, a second-round run in the NAIA national tournament and 12-year head coach Wes Keller, whose teams have won more than 200 games.

The Aztec signing also carried a family legacy. Gomez is the daughter of Joe Gomez, a former WBC Intercontinental Welterweight titleholder, adding another layer of athletic pedigree to a moment that took place in the same Lillywhite Gym where she built much of her high school identity.

Willie followed with his own college move when he signed Friday, April 3, at Navajo Preparatory School to play football for the University of Minnesota Morris Cougars in Morris, Minnesota. Family members were present as Willie, who played three seasons on the Navajo Prep football team, chose a path that keeps him in the game while moving him into college academics. His signing added football to the list of sports sending San Juan County athletes beyond the region.

Goins completed the trio by signing to play soccer at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Bloomfield High senior had already shown she could drive a match from the attack, with assists in district play and a two-goal performance in a tie against Los Lunas during the 2025 season. Her college choice sends a Bloomfield scorer to a Catholic liberal arts college founded in 1840, and it extends a pipeline that now runs from Aztec to Navajo Prep to Bloomfield across basketball, football and soccer.

Taken together, the three signings showed how San Juan County schools keep turning local talent into college opportunities. The pathway is built in gyms, on fields and in classrooms, then reinforced by families, coaches and the academic standards that help athletes get to the next level.