Ailing Skuse leads Wildcat swimmers

ALBUQUERQUE — It might not generate as many headlines as Michael Jordan’s flu game in the 1997 NBA Finals, but Clovis swimmer James Skuse has been battling a bug of his own.

Skuse missed practice on Friday with an illness but looked no worse for wear on Saturday at the Academy Invitational in Albuquerque.

He finished first in both of his individual events, the 100 free with a state-qualifying time of 49.03 and the 100 back with a state-qualifying time of 53.85, and Skuse also led off the 400 free relay team that finished first with a state-qualifying time of 3:26.88, along with Barrett Bryant, Case Smith and Alexis a hero.

“James had a great meet,” Wildcats coach Vincent de Maio said. “James swam very well. He had a great meet, especially after being sick for a day, so we’re happy to see him come back and swim pretty well.”

Skuse highlighted an otherwise somewhat disappointing meet in de Maio’s eyes despite the girls finishing second with 614 points behind Academy (828) and the boys finishing third with 438 points behind Academy (768) and Los Alamos (742).

“Second-place finish, I really think that was a better place than we actually deserved, to tell you the truth,” de Maio said. “The way we swam I was happy to see second because there’s a lot of teams there. I’m surprised the boys got third too.”

One source of frustration came from the Wildcats falling just short in picking up several new state-qualifying times, one of de Maio’s goals for the meet.

In the girls 500 free Annie Smith finished third with a time of 5:43.11, less than a second shy of the state-qualifying time and in the boys 500 free Aburto finished a second and a half behind the state-qualifying time.

In the girls 200 IM Bella Zamora finished third with a time of 2:21.50, also less than a second shy of the state-qualifying time.

“Mid-season racing is unpredictable and sometimes we’re just a little bit short, and we were a little bit short in every one of those,” de Maio said. “Seconds are eternities when it comes to qualifying times. I firmly believe we’ll pick them up next week, I don’t have any doubt we’ll get the 500 next week.”

A new state-qualifying time the Wildcats did add was in the girls 50 free where Anya Hammond finished second with a time of 26.00.

Hammond also added a state-qualifying time when she led off the 400 free relay with a time of 55.72

“That was a new state-qualifying time and that was our best time of the year in the 100, so that’s pretty good,” de Maio said.

Clovis finished second in that race with a state-qualifying time of 3:48.81. Hammond was joined in the 400 free relay by Olivia Reeb, Hannah Luscombe and Annie Smith.

The Clovis girls also added two other top-three relay finishes.

The 200 free relay team of Bella Zamora, Luscombe, Nina Mead and Annie Smith finished third with a state-qualifying time of 1:46.04 and the 200 medley relay team of Bella Zamora, Reeb, Katie Kelley and Hammond finished second with a state-qualifying time of 1:55.87.

The Clovis boys 200 medley relay team also took second place as Bryant, Skuse, Ethan Zamora and Aburto finished with a state-qualifying time of 1:45.41.

Ethan Zamora also added a third-place finish in the boys 200 free with a state-qualifying time of 1:51.32.

Other top five team finishes for the girls included Los Alamos (588), Las Cruces (536) and Clevelend (387) and for the boys Santa Fe (319) and St Pius X (300) round out the top five.