Clovis squads third at Seminole meet

SEMINOLE, Texas — Winning meets isn’t everything, especially at this time of year.

Clovis High’s squads came up a bit short in Saturday’s Seminole Christmas Invitational, but co-coach Vincent de Maio said the Wildcats and Lady Wildcats learned a lot about themselves.

“It was a good meet,” he said. “We learned some things, and we worked on some of the weaknesses we have. Overall, I think the kids swam well.”

Both CHS squads finished third overall, the girls scoring 364 points to trail Andrews (431 1/2) and Monahans (400 1/2) while the boys finished at 338, behind Andrews (410) and Hobbs (390).

Senior Chloe Lee earned a qualifying time in her sixth event of the season, placing second in the 400 freestyle in 5 minutes, 0.77 seconds. She also won the 50 freestyle (28.94 seconds) and swam a leg on the first-place 400 freestyle relay (4;50.48) and the second-place 200 medley relay (2:17.11).

But Lee, an exchange student from South Korea, is scheduled to return home at the end of the semester and will not be able to compete in state competition in February at Albuquerque Academy.

Other winners for the Lady Cats were eighth-grader Giuliana “JuJu” Fernandez (1:07.51 in the 100 freestyle, and freshman Brynn Longley (1:15.74 in the 100 backstroke). Both also swam on a pair of relays.

On the boys’ side, sophomore Porter Kidd won the 200 and 400 freestyle races with respective times of 2:07.59 and 4:31.35, while sophomore David Reeb took first place in the 100 butterfly (1:04.66) and finished second in the 100 backstroke (1:10.20). Both also swam on the Cats’ 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams, each of which finished second.

Kidd edged teammate Thomas Palla by less than a half-second in the 400 free.

“Porter was great,” de Maio said. “The 400 free was a great swim for both he and Thomas.

“David had a good meet. His 100 fly was great.”

The Cats and Lady Cats will take a holiday break from competition, returning to action Jan. 7-8 at the Andrews Invite.