PREP SWIMMING: Cats, Lady Cats look for top 5 state finishes

CLOVIS — For veteran Clovis High swimming coach Vincent de Maio, a fifth-place team finish in next weekend's state meet at Albuquerque Academy for either the boys or girls would be quite an accomplishment.

Given the discrepancy in numbers with other strong teams in the state, anything higher than that would be something special.

"That's always our goal," de Maio said. "If we can get in the top five, we're where we want to be."

Of course, it's not that the Wildcats and Lady Wildcats don't want to finish higher. They just realize that some of the teams outnumber them by two or three times, so you can only do what you can do.

What the Cats and Lady Cats do have, though, is quality, and they hope to put that on display at Academy.

"There's a lot of really competitive kids out there," junior James Skuse said. "A lot of times it comes down to numbers."

The boys, who finished sixth in last year's state meet, will send nine athletes to Academy while the girls, fifth in 2016, have qualified 10. Most are swimming multiple events, many in two individual events and two relays.

The boys program struggled for several years due to lack of numbers. They still don't match up in that area with some of the stronger programs in the state, but they've gotten more competitive.

Skuse and the program's only two seniors, Brian Nordgren and Case Smith, will lead the Cats at state. The boys will compete in 10 of the 11 swimming events, de Maio said - everything except the 100 butterfly.

"The boys are very strong," he said. "James Skuse is certainly one of the top three or four swimmers in the state."

Meantime, the Lady Cats' state roster includes two juniors, six sophomores and an eighth-grader.

Juniors Olivia Reeb and Annie Smith, sophomores Anya Hammond, Hannah Luscombe and Bella Zamora and freshman Bella Zamora will all swim two individual events and two relays. The Lady Cats are entered in all 11 swimming events, including three relays, and have a chance to get to Saturday's championship finals (top eight) in many of them, de Maio said.

The ninth through 16th-place finishers on Friday will swim in consolation finals on Saturday.

"They have three strong relays," de Maio said of the girls. "We'll just see how they place. It would be nice to see all the girls in the (championship) finals.

"We have the experience to have a great state championship."

Reeb, who like Skuse is making her fourth trip to state competition, is confident the Lady Cats will put together a solid showing at state.

"I think the girls will do really well," said Reeb, who is slated to compete in the 100 breaststroke and probably the 500 freestyle along with the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. "Everyone is kind of starting to understand what they need to do."

Skuse and Reeb said they don't worry that much about where the team finishes as doing their best.

"I don't worry as much about that (team standings) as I worry about individual times," Reeb said.

Skuse concurred.

"For me it's not as much about winning as much as, 'Did I do my best?' " he said. "As a team, I just want everyone to do their best."

As far as teams to beat, de Maio said schools like Eldorado and La Cueva should be near the top on both sides, simply because both have quality and depth. He added that Sandia and Academy are in the same boat on the boys side.

"We just don't have the numbers to compete with that," he said.

CHS STATE QUALIFIERS

Boys

Seniors: Brian Nordgren, Seiji Aponte. Juniors: James Skuse. Sophomores: Cade Nordgren, Case Smith, Ethan Zamora, Glen Southard. Eighth graders: Alexis Aburto, Barrett Bryant.

Girls

Juniors: Katie Kelley, Olivia Reeb, Annie Smith. Sophomores: Mykala Chavez, Anya Hammond, Maya Hammond, Hannah Luscombe, Nina Mead, Bella Zamora. Eighth grader: Katie Reeb.