Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CHS junior Julia Spears pushes past a Carlsbad swimmer en route to a win in the girls 200 individual medley on Saturday in the Tori Invite meet at Hobbs. Spears added a win in the 500 freestyle to help the Lady Wildcats post a team championship in the event.
HOBBS – Clovis High's girls posted their second team win in two outings this season over the weekend in the Tori Invite, hosted by Hobbs H.S. The Lady Wildcats tallied 474 points to 436 for Hobbs and 301 for Carlsbad in the 13-school meet.
Meantime, the CHS boys finished second for the second week in a row, notching 406 points. Hobbs won it with 522 while Artesia was third at 320.
"We had our first look at the district (opponents)," CHS co-coach Vincent de Maio said. "We had some good swimming and we had some kind of shaky swimming, but for the most part it was good."
The teams' leaders, senior Porter Kidd for the boys and junior Julia Spears for the girls, both had solid outings, de Maio said, noting that both have already qualified for state competition in six events this season. He said the Wildcats and Lady Cats added several new state-qualifying marks as well.
Kidd took first in the 200 individual medley in 2:03.35 and second in the 100 butterfly in 55.14. He also anchored the Cats to a win in the 400 freestyle relay (3:37.31) and a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay (1:36.30).
"Porter had a really good meet," de Maio said. "The 100 fly was probably the race of the day, and he lost out by six-100ths of a second."
Spears posted wins in the 200 IM (2:22.67) and 500 freestyle (5:35.13) and swam a leg on each of the Lady Wildcats' three relays, all of which finished second to Artesia.
De Maio said the relays can get better. "The girls' relays have some work to do," he said.
Freshman Molly Kidd posted the Lady Cats' other win with a state-qualifying time of 2:07.32 in the 200 freestyle, while sophomore Claire Pella came in second in the 100 freestyle (1:01.43).
For the boys, the Cats were first in the 400 freestyle relay (3:37.31) with seniors David Reeb, Ricky Southern, Kriday Andiboina and Kidd, and took second in the 200 freestyle (1:36.30).
Senior Matthew Del Toro added second-place finishes for the Cats in the 200 freestyle (2:03.67) and 500 freestyle (5:40.72).
Clovis squads return to action on Saturday in a meet at Lovington.
