Clovis squads finish third at St. Michael's

SANTA FE — Clovis High’s swimming teams finished third in the seven-school St. Michael’s Invitational on Saturday.

The host school swept both team titles, finishing with 181 points in boys competition to 103 for Santa Fe Prep and 86 for the Wildcats. On the girls side, St. Mike’s tallied 169 points, followed by Santa Fe High with 129 and Clovis with 108.

CHS coach Vincent DeMaio said his teams were coming off a week-long camp in the Santa Fe area over the break, and it may have affected times a bit.

“We’re swimming pretty well,” he said. “We’re a little tired (after the camp). We almost doubled our usual mileage (during the) week.

“It was great training opportunity, and it really helped the kids a lot.”

DeMaio said New Mexico prep coaches recently released a state poll, and he noted that both CHS squads were ranked just outside the top 10 from among more than 40 schools offering swimming in the state.

Miles Ware (200 individual medley) and Nick DeMaio (500 freestyle) posted individual wins for the boys at St. Mike’s. Amber Espinoza (100 butterfly) and Claire Simpson (100 freestyle) did likewise for the girls, while Espinoza added a second-place finish in the 200 IM and led off on two relays which placed second.

The CHS swimmers return to action at 9 a.m. Saturday in an invitational hosted by Albuquerque Academy.