Christian Martinez's hot hand at the free-throw line the other night got me to thinking about some of the other flash-in-the-pan prep sports moments l've witnessed over the years.

That's not to say the Capital junior won't -- or can't -- hit 16 straight freebies in a critical district game again. He's as reliable at the line as anyone I've seen this season. If I'm the coach and I need a guy to toss 'em up, he's the one I'd want.

It's just that hitting that many in the final three minutes of a game, something he did on Tuesday against Bernalillo, is pretty hard to replicate even in the best of circumstances.

Golf: Hard to forget the best awful hole in state tournament history.

With Albuquerque Hope Christian's Jessica Dailliboust trying to unseat defending state champ Alyssa Otero of St. Michael's at the New Mexico Tech Golf Course in Socorro in 2004, the Lady Huskies' top player lined a James Barron-esque tee shot on No. 18 down a sloped service road far to the right, then smacked a chest-high iron approach between the trees and off the lip of a fairway bunker.

The ball rolled in and out of a trap just shy of the green, settling on the green and helping Dailliboust save par and win the title while simultaneously demonstrating that hideous shots can sometimes be a thing of beauty.

Football: The 44-carry effort from Albuquerque La Cueva running back Ronnie Daniels in the 2009 big-school championship. Pundits argue that the future Texas Tech signee only had 200 yards rushing in the Bears' 31-14 win over Mayfield.

I counter with this: Everyone in Wilson Stadium knew Daniels was going to get the ball. And the vaunted Trojans could do little to stop it.

Track: Anything Los Alamos' Chase Ealey does in a sprint and/or throwing event is worth watching. Still, it's hard to top what came in June 2009 when recent Albuquerque Academy graduate Curtis Beach set what was then the high school world record in the decathlon during the Great Southwest Classic.

Having been featured in USA Today, been congratulated by Bruce Jenner and been the subject of a national recruiting battle, he showed his true character when he said he was proud to have done it as a native New Mexican. Hard to forget that.

Baseball: It came during a visit to an Academy practice during Max Walla's senior year. The Chargers slugger was in the midst of a record-setting season and was being eyed as one of the top prep prospects in the upcoming Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

There for batting practice, I noticed how the entire junior varsity silently followed a daily routine of leaving the field and positioning itself among the trees and bushes beyond the outfield fence. The reason was simple.

One by one, Walla's ferocious swing sent balls rocketing into the thicket, some on hard liners, others on a towering trajectory. It was the kind of raw power that comes along only every 10 or 15 years.