Carlos & Chick Griego Memorial tees off for scholarships

One of the bigger golfing weekends on the local scene hits the links July 5-6 as the Carlos & Chick Griego Memorial Foundation tees off for its 15th anniversary at the New Mexico Tech Golf Course.

The annual fundraising event that benefits four Socorro High School graduates with scholarships every year is actually bigger this season as the field is larger since players are going to a shot gun start from the front nine and back nine, said Miguel Griego, who helped found the tournament with other family members to honor his dad, the late Carlos Griego.

Later, Chick Griego was added to the name of the tournament after his death.

“Me, my brother and my uncle, wanted to do something in his memory,” Miguel Griego said of the tournament. “They were big golfers and it was just a fit. My brother and cousins, we were student athletes and we actually played in college so we knew how hard it is for students to maintain their grades and everything else so we thought it would be a good thing to honor the students and give them a scholarship for their hard work.”

Each year, scholarships are awarded to a male and female member of the golf team, as well as two other graduating senior athletes, he said.

Griego, who is the Socorro boys golf coach, said there are still openings for players, as well as sponsorship opportunities for businesses.

This year, scholarships for $750 went to golfers Ariana Crespin and Ian Gonzales, as well as football player and track athlete Isaiah Ocampo and swimmer Eryn Esquibel.

“It means a lot,” Crespin said of receiving the scholarship. “I’ve always been one to put my academics first and it means a lot that I was able to apply for the scholarship because it is something that can help me. But this is also for my athletic portion and that shows a lot to me that I was able to maintain both.”

Crespin, who helped the Warriors win the Class 1A-3A girls state championship this season, will be studying mechanical engineering with a minor in bio-medical at New Mexico State, where she is already working at the golf course in Las Cruces.

Her eventual goal is to get a master’s with an emphasis in orthotics and prosthetics.

“I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do something with healthcare but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stomach the portion of being a doctor or a nurse. So I knew with the mechanical engineering and bio medical, I’d be able to help with resources for the hospitals with prosthetics or even with mechanical engineering and bio medical, I can help create new machines for the hospitals.”

Crespin has both played in the tournament in the past, and also helped with the closest to the pin and longest drive competitions that act as fundraisers for the Socorro golf team.

“It’s a great experience,” she said. “For one thing, it helps us learn how to speak and learn how to help others and not just sit there and be quiet. It helps us talk to these new people and all the people are talking to you about golf. They all know we’re on the golf team so they talk to us about golf. They talk to us about our experiences and it helps us get out there.”

“The tournament also is important because it’s a way of giving back,” Crespin said.

“I think the biggest thing for me is it’s not just about the money, but it’s for our own community, which means a lot,” she said. “The amount of support that we get for this and for our golf team is incredible. There are so many people who support us and it means a lot because of our own community and them wanting to be there for us.”

As for the golf itself, “I wouldn’t say it’s too competitive,” Crespin said. “I would say it’s a lot of fun. We have some people who enter the tournament where you know they’re going to win the tournament. And I think it’s just a lot of fun. I’m here to play. It’s fun because you play with your family or you play with your friends.”