Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Clovis High junior Clayton Hogan took wins in the 100 butterfly (above) and the 100 backstroke, and also helped two relay teams to victory as the Wildcats took first place in Saturday's Artesia Invite swimming meet.
ARTESIA - Junior Clayton Hogan won a pair of individual events and also helped two relays to victory as Clovis High's boys claimed the team title in Saturday's Artesia Invitational swimming meet.
The Wildcats finished with 144 points to 125 for runnerup Hobbs in the nine-school competition. Meantime, the CHS girls squad collected 93 points, trailing the host Lady Bulldogs (132) and Las Cruces (112).
Hogan posted state-qualifying marks of 57.73 seconds in the 100 butterfly and 59.20 seconds in the 100 backstroke. He also swam the anchor leg on the first-place 200 medley relay team (1 minute, 51.02 seconds) and went leadoff on the Cats' winning 400 freestyle relay (3:32.53).
He led a 1-2-3 Clovis finish in the backstroke with junior Thomas Palla (58.89) and sophomore Ricky Southern (1:03.10), an event that helped turn things in the Cats' favor.
"That was the highlight of the meet," Clovis co-coach Gordy Westerberg said. "We were behind Hobbs until that event."
Other first-place finishes for the boys included Palla, 1:54.56 in the 200 freestyle, and sophomore Porter Kidd, 5:09.36 in the 500 freestyle. Both were state-qualifying marks as well.
"The boys 500 free was very exciting because Matthew Del Toro ended second behind Porter Kidd with a personal best of 5:35.44," Westerberg said.
The Lady Wildcats' lone win came from freshman Julia Spears, who took the 500 freestyle in a state-qualifying time of 5:35.04.
Both teams were missing a key individual, Westerberg said, in sophomore David Reeb for the boys and eighth-grader JuJu Fernandez for the girls. Both were ill during the week and stayed home from the meet.
"I was really happy that we were able to win the boys team competition," Westerberg said. "(JuJu) possibly could have made up the difference between us and Las Cruces."
Westerberg said Artesia's Aquatic Center is a place where his squads like to go.
"Our kids get fired up and swim very well there," he said. "Now we have to figure out a way to get a facility like that in Clovis."
On Saturday, the Cats and Lady Cats return to action in the Tom Casey Invite at Albuquerque Academy. Artesia hosts district competition on Feb. 5, with qualifiers returning to Academy for the state meet, slated for Feb. 18-19.
