Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Clovis High coaches and swimmers root on the Lady Wildcats' 400 freestyle relay team during Saturday's District 3-4 swimming meet at Artesia. The CHS boys captured the team championship while the girls, who lost to Artesia by less than a second in two relays (including this one), were second to the Lady Bulldogs.
ARTESIA – Clovis High's swimmers posted nine new state-qualifying times in District 3-4 competition on Saturday, capturing first-place in boys team standings while taking second on the girls side.
The Wildcats earned a team score of 130 ½ points to outlast Hobbs, which had 121, in the 11-school boys field. Meantime, the Lady Wildcats finished with 117 points to trail only Artesia (135) in the eight-school girls bracket.
Clovis boys will send eight swimmers to state competition Feb. 23-24 at Albuquerque, while the girls will send nine.
"It was a great day," CHS co-coach Vincent de Maio said. "These kids couldn't have swam any better."
Six of the new state-qual times were compiled by the boys, including seniors Kriday Andiboina, second in the 200 individual medley in 2:06.57; David Reeb, fourth in the 50 freestyle in 23.47, and Matthew Del Toro, third in the 100 freestyle in 52.99 and fourth in the 500 freestyle in 5 minutes, 18.93 seconds. Also, juniors Lucas Bobo and Aron Salfran were third and fourth in the 100 backstroke, respectively, in 1:01.54 and 1:01.83.
Reeb's showing in the 50 freestyle earned him the team's "Iron Cat" award, qualifying for state in all 11 swimming events.
The Lady Cats' three new qualifiers were sophomore Claire Palla, fifth in the 100 freestyle (57.55); freshman Alexis Cornish, eighth in the 500 freestyle (5:56.56), and sophomore Lilyan Russell, fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.42).
After Russell's performance in the breaststroke, both Clovis squads have at least one entry qualified in all 11 events at state.
"It was a really incredible performance for her," de Maio said. "One-15 was the best she had gone this year."
Highlighting the boys' efforts, senior Porter Kidd was a winner in the 200 freestyle (1:47.09) and second in the 500 freestyle (4:51.32) while leading off the Cats' first-place 200 medley relay team with Andiboina, Reeb and senior Connor Dearinger (1:41.95) and swimming anchor in their winning 400 freestyle relay (3:24.37) with the same three teammates. Reeb also picked up a win in the 100 butterfly (54.13), while the Cats were third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:41.64) with Del Toro, Salfran, Gabriel Palomino and Brendan Massis.
For the Lady Cats, junior Julia Spears notched victories in the 200 individual medley (2:16.43) and led a 1-3-4-8 team finish in the 500 freestyle (5:25.33). She also swam a leg on the second-place 200 medley relay (1:54.80), also including junior Brynn Longley, Russell and Palla, and on the second-place 400 freestyle relay (3:50.74) with Freshmen Molly Kidd and Reagan Cornish, and Palla.
Kidd added third-place performances in the 200 freestyle (2:03.35) and 50 freestyle (25.62), while fourths were posted by freshman Karissa Buck in the 500 freestyle (5:42.96) and Russell in the 100 backstroke (1:12.42).
The girls lost by .51 seconds to Artesia in the 200 medley relay, and by .68 seconds to the Lady Bulldogs in the 400 freestyle relay.
Last year, the Cats finished fifth in the state meet while the Lady Cats were 10th.
"I can promise you the girls are moving up," de Maio projected of the state meet. "If the boys stay in the top five, I'll be thrilled."
