Founder of Area Track/Running Club Wins National Championship

By Misty Cryer

Michael Sims competed in the 2025 USATF Masters Indoor Championships in Gainesville, FL, held February 20-23, representing Cavern City Aces, a local track/running club. He started the club to allow youth and adults to enjoy the sport of running and compete in events. He aims to increase membership of the club with runners of all ages.

The USATF Masters Indoor Championships are for ages 25 and up. “I got national runner-up in the M25 3000 Meters, and I was the National Champion in the Men’s M25 1500 meters,” said Sims.

As a high school graduate of Carlsbad, Sims participated in track and field and cross country on the Cavemen teams. He studied at the University of Texas El Paso, majoring in history with a minor in education. “I ran track and field and cross country there as well,” said Sims.

In addition to teaching history at CHS, Sims said, “I’m the head cross country coach at Carlsbad High School, and I’m one of the assistant coaches for track.”

Sims said he created the club after graduating from college. “I initially just wanted a way for me to compete after my college and high school career in cross country and track,” he said.

Sims said the club currently has four to six adult members with about twice as many youths. “I coach high school cross country and track. I had some of my athletes interested in running outside of their season, so I started using the club to give them more opportunities to compete. I found some of my old teammates from high school that were interested in competing as well,” he said.

Competitions, Sims said, depend on the individual and the season. “For high school cross country, they go to Arizona for the Nike Cross Regional Championship in Mesa, AZ. We brought three kids to that this year,” he said.

“For indoor track, there’s only one indoor track in the state, which was in Albuquerque, NM,” Sims said.

“For the adults, it was just me that went this year for Masters,’ which is ages 25 and up. I went to the United States Track and Field Masters Indoor National Championship,” Sims said.

As for joining the club, Sims said, “For now, they just have to contact me,” adding that he will check to see how the athlete’s schedule runs. “As of right now, high schools are on high school seasons, so for athletes 18 and under, we don’t really have practices or seasons right now,” he said, explaining that they will start in the summer.

“For open masters, 20 and up, they can contact me, and I’ll kind of just give them the information,” said Sims. “I’m planning this month, if not next month, to have the meeting for anyone else that’s interested,” he said.

About the costs to join the club, Sims said, “There will be fees, but those are currently still being calculated right now. The club is registered under the United States Track and Field—that’s the sports federation—so whenever people join the club, they have to get a membership within that federation.”

The club officially started last fall. “We had the youth represented at Nike Cross Regionals. We opened up our winter season in 2025; in general, we went to a variety of locations,” said Sims.

“As of now, the master and open groups meet at the Carlsbad High School track after the school is done using it for their practices,” said Sims, reiterating that youth practice won’t start until summer. “We do our main workouts on the track. For those wanting to do their own other runs and easier runs, we usually just do those on our own since, as adults, we have different work schedules and family and all of that,” he said.

“I want to make sure people know that this is a running and track club. We want people of all ages to come, join and participate,” said Sims.

“We’re really pushing to recruit from all age groups,” he said. In addition to youth, he said, “I want to provide an opportunity for adults to have something to train and compete for—something outside of what they could do in college and high school, give them a new avenue to pursue new goals and challenges.”

Sims said there is a competition May 10-11 in Las Cruces. “It’s called the New Mexico Games. It’s kind of like the state championship for clubs. One goal I have is to get enough people to join to compete at that competition for a team championship.”

He said people race in age groups and are awarded individual awards at the New Mexico Games. To determine the team winner, points are combined from the individual races. For example, Sims said, “Let’s say there’s a grandpa that runs at the race and he wins his race. He has a granddaughter or a grandson that runs and wins. They combine those points.”

He said, “I think that would be a cool opportunity, not only for the individuals competing but just for the community to say that Carlsbad competed to potentially win an event like that.” He said there are not many sports where you can win a championship along with others on a totally different walk of life.

Sims can be reached by phone at 575-361-6494. The running/track club, Cavern City Aces, also has a Facebook and Instagram page to follow for information.