'Dream come true': UNM alums tie the knot during Lobos' historic tournament run

Mar. 22—Every year, University of New Mexico alums Sarah and Joe Gallegos fly to Las Vegas to watch the Lobos play in the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

Every year, the couple fantasizes about getting married while they're there.

This year, Sarah and Joe decided they would wait no longer. They decided to double up, and scheduled a small ceremony for last Friday at Chapel of the Flowers, just about 15 minutes away from the Thomas & Mack Center, where the tournament was being held.

About 80 of Sarah and Joe's family and friends — many of whom would already have been in Las Vegas for the tournament — packed into the white chapel, where glittering glass chandeliers dangled from a coffered ceiling over the crowd as they were married.

"I got to marry my best friend," Joe told the Journal.

Marcos Anaya, a longtime friend of Joe's and a similarly avid Lobos fan, said a wedding ceremony scheduled in the middle of the Mountain West Tournament was a marriage of two of Joe's favorite things: the love of his life, and of course, the Lobos.

"That's probably a dream come true for him," he said.

"He actually surprised, I think, a lot of us, because at first we weren't sure if he was going to get married in his Lobo shirt and shorts," Anaya added. "But no, he got dressed, and he put a suit on."

The ceremony was short and sweet, Sarah said — not one dull moment. The wedding party took some photos and spent the next hours celebrating in a party bus and a tiki bar.

Then, they got ready for UNM's semifinal matchup against Colorado State University.

The Lobos sailed past the Rams on Friday, and, despite trailing for much of the second half of the next day's championship game, rallied past San Diego State University to win the tournament. In so doing, UNM became the first team to win the tournament by winning four games in four days.

The Lobos' victory, Sarah said, was like its own wedding gift.

"It was a memory that is unforgettable," she said.

Icing on the wedding cake came when the couple ran into the hoops team and got personal congratulations from head coach Richard Pitino.

Joe, who said he's been going to Lobos games since he was 6 years old, is following the team to Memphis, where they're scheduled to face off with Clemson University on Friday.

Sarah, meanwhile, is staying behind with their 2-year-old son, planning instead to watch the game with Joe's father.

"I wanted to go really bad," she said. "But then I was like, 'OK, well, what do we do with our son?'"

But for the happy couple, simultaneously getting married and getting to watch the Lobos advance to the NCAA tournament — for the first time since 2014 — seemed to be momentous enough.

"A lot of people were like, 'Joe can't forget his anniversary now,'" Sarah joked.