Cats place 15th in state swimming

ALBUQUERQUE — Lacking the numbers to post a high team finish, Clovis High’s boys nevertheless continued to make progress in Saturday’s state swimming competition in Albuquerque.

The Wildcats, with just four boys participating, finished 15th out of 23 teams which scored with 45 points. The Cats placed in three relays and two individual events.

Los Alamos won the team championship with 397 points, while Eldorado was second at 316.

The foursome of senior William Longhenry, sophomore Thomas Palla and freshmen Porter Kidd and David Reeb finished 11th in the 400 freestyle relay and 12th in both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays. Also, Palla finished ninth and Porter 14th in the 500 freestyle, while Reeb was 16th in the 100 butterfly.

Coach Gordy Westerberg said that all but one of the team’s performances were personal bests.

“The best swim of the day was by Thomas Palla in the 500 free, where he dropped nine seconds off his former best time,” Westerberg said. “Overall, the team finished significantly higher than we were last year, (when) we were 24th overall, so we’re definitely headed in the right direction.”

Lady Rams top Goddard — Portales High’s girls swept doubles competition on Monday and claimed a 6-3 District 4-4A tennis victory over Roswell Goddard.

Laura Blaeser and Taryn Wood posted a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles, Lexi Sena and Maggie Duong took a 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 2 doubles and Jenna Brown and Zani Dobbins notched a 6-3, 6-1 triumph at No. 3 doubles. The teams split in singles, with Sena winning at No. 3, Duong at No. 5 and Brown at No. 6 for the Lady Rams.

Goddard posted a 9-0 victory over PHS in the boys dual.

On Thursday, the Lady Rams travel to Artesia to complete the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches from a 4-4A outing suspended from Saturday due to lightning.

Carlsbad sweeps CHS in tennis — The Carlsbad Cavemen posted a District 4-5A tennis sweep of Clovis High on Saturday at Carlsbad, winning the boys matchup 9-0 and taking the girls dual 6-3.

Seniors Alex Gonzales at No. 3 and Ryan Harmon at No. 4 posted singles wins for the Lady Cats, while junior Ayai Alsaleh and sophomore Niliyaah Hall teamed up to beat Carlsbad’s Katharine Waters and Amelia Ananins 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles. Also junior Charlese Phillips dropped a three-setter to the Cavegirls’ Amber Easley at No. 6 singles.

The closest match for the CHS boys came at No. 1 singles, where Carlsbad senior Clayton Bluth defeated Cats senior Brandon Heath 7-5, 6-4.

Clovis was slated to return to action with district duals on Tuesday at Hobbs.

CCS wins Quay County Invite — Clovis Christian put together five of the day’s seven top scores to win the three-team Quay County Invite golf tournament on Monday at Tucumcari.

CCS posted a team score of 308 to outdistance Portales (360) and host Tucumcari (489).

Senior Tyler Lingnau shot 38-33 — 71, one under par, while freshman Noah McKay came in at 40-36 — 76 for the Eagles.

Portales’ Nate Cota had the day’s top individual score at 36-34 — 70, while Valon Low came in at even-par 36-36 — 72.

The next outing for both teams will be on Thursday in the Dexter Invite, to be played on the New Mexico Military course in Roswell.