Still inseparable

CLOVIS — When Anya Hammond first came into the world, she didn’t have a sister.

That lasted for 1 minute and 10 seconds.

Then, Anya was joined by her twin Maya, and the pair has been close to inseparable ever since.

Oh, they’ve had their own personalities, separate interests, especially when they lived in Albuquerque. Since moving to small-town Clovis, however, they’ve had to run — and swim — in the same circles more often than not.

The Hammonds have been integral parts of Clovis’ swim program in recent years and will continue the family tie back in Albuquerque beginning about two weeks from now when they launch their college educations at the University of New Mexico and swim for the Division I Lobos.

They’ll even be roommates.

Their studies won’t intersect much, as Anya plans to major in Biology, Maya in Exercise Science. But the girls who have been a box set for the last 18 years plan to be one for at least four more.

That’s quite a bond for sisters who have been on this earth together for all but that minute-and-10-second gap.

“I usually just say a minute,” Anya noted.

Whatever the time difference, since both Hammonds officially arrived they’ve had a physical and emotional connection that few siblings enjoy.

“It’s having a best friend,” Maya said, “whenever you go to a new school or a new classroom.”

But?

“Sometimes it’s annoying,” Maya added.

For the most part, though, a cool deal.

“Especially in swimming,” Anya said, “because swimming’s so rigorous and mentally hard. To have someone to relate to, it helps.”

Twins can be a great gift and a caution at the same time. In soap operas there’s often an evil one wreaking havoc on the fictional town where the story is set. But neither Anya nor Maya is evil. There isn’t even any twin high-jinx like switching clothes to mess with their parents’ and teachers’ minds.

“No,” Anya said, “because we’re fraternal, so we don’t look alike. I don’t think we look alike.”

Probably not enough for the clothes-switching gag, but enough for people who don’t know them to assume they might be twins.

In the pool, they’re equally deadly. Each helped Clovis’ girls win a District 3/4 championship Feb. 9 at Hobbs High School. The Lady Wildcats won by 18 points over second-place Las Cruces, who had won the previous year’s meet by 40.

Anya set a new district record in the 500 freestyle (5:16.0) that day, and contributed to a new district and Clovis mark in the 400 free relay (3:39.1), with a quartet that also included Maya, Hannah Luscombe and Bella Zamora.

Anya also took first in the 200 freestyle (1:57.0), with Maya contributing to the first-place 200 free relay team (1:45.2) that included Mykala Chavez, Shyann Kissinger and Nina Mead.

At the state meet in Albuquerque two weeks later, Anya captured second in the 200 freestyle (1:55.4) and fourth in the 500 free (5:10.5). She and Maya were part of a school-record-setting, third-place 400 free relay team (3:36.6), along with Luscombe and Zamora.

Anya helped the 200 medley relay team — that also included Luscombe, Zamora and Mead — place fourth (1:50.9) in states. And Maya was part of the 200 free relay team — along with Mead, Kissinger and Chavez — that took fifth (1:45.1).

Solid numbers. And yet, the Hammond twins who began swimming at an Albuquerque YMCA when they were about five years old didn’t always think they were destined to be Division I athletes.

“No, not really,” Maya said. “Until this year, swimming in college was an option.”

“College was just to get our degree, not to swim,” Anya said. “Gordy said, ‘You can do both.’”

Anya was referring to Gordy Westerberg, who had already coached swimming in Albuquerque for 36 years when he took over for Vincent DeMaio as Clovis’ head swim coach last year.

“Coach DeMaio did a lot for us,” Maya said. “He built the platform and then Gordy kind of gave us that little push.”

Both coaches may have helped. But Westerberg gives credit to Anya and Maya, who had to do their part in finding their way to the Division I level. “They’re both really hard workers,” he said.

Westerberg says that New Mexico State and the University of New Mexico both wanted the twins to come swim for them. UNM, Westerberg’s alma mater, may have needed them a tad more.

“UNM’s under a mandate that they have to have a certain number of New Mexico kids,” Westerberg said. “But they’re not just taking anybody. Those two for sure are going to help them.”

Since both sisters swim distance freestyle, they will swim the 500 and the mile for UNM. Anya is also capable in the backstroke, Maya in the breaststroke, so they can complement each other, too.

They recently attended UNM orientation where they had a chance to train in a non-formal setting with other swimmers, some from other schools, and the twins had success against that formidable competition. Among the swimmers from outside of UNM was Zofia Niemczak, who won this year’s Mountain West Conference 200 butterfly championship last February. Niemczak is also vying to make the Polish Olympic team next year.

Westerberg was already familiar with Niemczak, having coached her during his Albuquerque days, so he knew she was a standout swimmer before the MWC championships. Niemczak, with all her credentials, squared off against Anya at the orientation.

“And on the first day, her and Anya were pretty comparable,” Westerburg said. “On the second day, Anya was miles ahead of her. And that’s huge. So for them to see, ‘Hey, I can train with these guys,’ that’s going to be big-time, big-time.”

Sounds like a ‘big-time’ swimming future is in store for Clovis’ dynamic duo. They won’t be a duo forever, though.

“I think once we graduate and figure out what we want to do,” Maya said, “I think it’ll be OK to go separate ways.”

For more than 1 minute and 10 seconds.