Lady Cats capture team title in Andrews meet

ANDREWS, Texas – Clovis High’s girls posted three wins and the Lady Wildcats cruised to the team championship over the weekend in the Andrews Invitational swimming meet.

CHS posted a score of 720 points, well ahead of runnerup Monahans (612) and third-place Andrews (589) in the 19-school competition. Meantime, Andrews took boys team honors with 674 points to 575 ½ for Abilene Wylie and 525 for Monahans, with Clovis coming in ninth at 128.

CHS coach Vincent de Maio said scores would’ve been higher for the Cats and Lady Cats, except that eighth-graders were not permitted to compete. Three of the eight Wildcats boys swimmers are eighth-graders, while the girls left five swimmers at home.

“That left us a little bit short-handed,” he said. “If the eighth-graders were there, that score (for the girls) could’ve probably been 900.

“The boys only had two relays (because of that), but they’re coming around.”

Junior Claire Palla led a 1-2-4 finish for the Lady Cats in the 200-yard individual medley, swimming a time of 2 minutes, 25.34 seconds. Sophomore Molly Kidd (2:26.02) and junior Niamh McWilliams (2:33.97) followed for Clovis.

Other individual top-three finishes for the girls came from senior Julia Spears, second in the 100 butterfly (1:03.37) and third in the 100 backstroke (12:25.92); sophomore Reagan Cornish, third in the 200 freestyle (2:14.69) and 500 freestyle (5:59.09); McWilliams, second in the 100 freestyle (1:01.21), and junior Isabel Abril, third in the 100 butterfly (1:08.52).

“Claire had a good 50,” de Maio said. “Julia Spears was doing off-events and had good runs in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke.”

The Lady Cats won two relays – the 200 medley (2:00.74) with Spears, junior Lilyan Russell Cornish and Palla, and the 200 freestyle (1:47.21) with sophomore Karissa Buck, Palla, Cornish and Kidd. They also were second in the 400 freestyle relay (4:04.30) with Spears, Buck, Cornish and Palla.

The top finish for the boys was a fifth-place showing in the 400 freestyle relay (3:52.75) with senior Lucas Bobo, junior Jason Sands, senor Aron Salfran and freshman Lucas Henrickson.

Clovis is back in action on Saturday in the Albuquerque Academy Invitational. None of the Albuquerque schools will participate, de Maio said, as the meet is designed to give swimmers from schools outside the metro area a chance to compete at the site of the state meet in February.