It is with a weighted heart that I tell you this is my last column for this newspaper. I will be leaving after eight years and roughly 2,500 bylines. Even as these words hit the page, the situation seems somewhat surreal. I'm moving on as a result of a dramatic economic shift in the industry and the offer of personal opportunities.

It has been my pleasure to help fill the pages of this section for nearly a decade. I came to Santa Fe, site unseen, fresh out of college. I owe thanks to then-sports editor Pancho Morris and managing editor Rob Dean for giving the nod to the greenhorn. I've had the opportunity to serve a great community.

My first big assignment was to write a feature on Myriah Spence, a standout girls basketball player from McCurdy School who was on scholarship at Old Dominion University. I flew to Richmond, Va., hopped off the plane, gathered my luggage, and watched the woman at the rental car counter stare back at me like I kicked her purse-poodle. There was a slight problem: I wasn't quite old enough to rent the car. They wanted a minimum age of 25. I was 23. I called Morris and told him I would be charged a pretty hefty additional fee, which of course I hadn't budgeted for.

I ate cheaply, wrote a decent series of stories, and left the rental parked as much as possible.

Through the first couple years I learned who to talk to and what the important angles were. I jumped right into the birth of the St. Michael's football program. It was just up from Class AA at the time. Then it grew to respectability in Class AAA and eventually into a two-time AAA champion. It is now a perennial playoff team.

I came on for a renaissance of the St. Michael's boys basketball program. The Horsemen won four AAA titles from 2002-07. It was a period unmatched since St. Michael's three straight titles from 1967-69.

I covered players that would go on to play in college and had the chance to experience the rivalries with West Las Vegas and Pojoaque close enough to smell the sweat. The teams regularly played games in front of 1,000 to 2,500 screaming fans. It was Northern New Mexico hoops at its finest.

I also had the chance to cover part of Capital's run to the 2004 AAAA title and enjoy its successes with the Mirabal Brothers, Terence and Brian.

Covering District 2AAAA from 2000-02 was also pure joy, and maybe the best collection of northern teams from top to bottom. Española, Capital, Albuquerque St. Pius X and Los Alamos were all loaded with talent and could have provided enough material for the book I should have written.

There was the NCAA Cross Country National Championship in Terre Haute, Ind., where Santa Fe High's Matt Gonzales narrowly missed a national title while running for The University of New Mexico. And there was New Mexico State's run to the 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in Spokane, Wash.

There are too many memories to write in such a confined space, just rest assured it has been a fruitful journey.

But what I will remember most, and keep stored in my heart for a lifetime, are the relationships I have built here. It's a great part of the country with exceptional people.

Until we meet again, my friends.