Clovis swim teams third, fourth in opener

LUBBOCK — Clovis High’s swimmers opened the 2021-22 season with top-five team finishes over the weekend in the Lubbock Fall Invitational.

The Wildcats were fourth in the 31-school competition with 288 points, trailing Lubbock High (603), Andrews (443) and Lubbock Coronado (316). Meantime, the Lady Wildcats garnered third place with 307 points, behind only Coronado (644) and Lubbock High (619).

“We were pretty excited about both teams’ finishes,” Gordy Westerberg, who serves as a co-coach for the team with Vincent de Maio, said Monday.

The highlight of the meet, he said, was a victory by senior Chloe Lee in the girls 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.71 seconds.

“That was not something we were expecting,” Westerberg acknowledged.

Lee, an exchange student from South Korea who will be returning home at the semester after spending a year in Clovis, also earned a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle (56.82) and helped the Lady Cats to third-place showings in the 200 medley (2:27.26) and 400 freestyle (4:04.57) relays.

The Lady Cats were fifth in last May’s state competition in Albuquerque, but probably have their work cut out trying to duplicate that feat. Three swimmers on this year’s roster qualified for state last spring — freshmen Julia Spears and Brynn Longley, and sophomore Jakoda Culley.

“We’re very young on the girls side,” Westerberg said. The majority of our girls are sophomores and below.”

An eighth-grader, Juju Fernandez, could make a big contribution this season.

“She’s somebody that’s going to do well,” Westerberg projected.

The boys are also relatively young, but bring back more experience. They were 15th in last May’s state meet.

“We have a little more depth (than the girls),” Westerberg said. “We’re a little older (than the Lady Cats), but we don’t have any seniors.”

Junior Thomas Palla and sophomores Porter Kidd and David Reeb were state qualifiers in the spring. Junior Clayton Hogan swam a state-qualifying time in the 200 freestyle at Lubbock, while Westerberg said sophomores Ricky Southern, Kriday Andiboina and Matthew Del Toro all could qualify for state competition.

The Cats and Lady Cats return to action this weekend in the Tori Invite at Hobbs.