Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ANDREWS, TEXAS — The majority of Clovis High School students spent their holiday break by getting some rest and relaxation, but that wasn't the case for the Wildcats boys and girls swim teams.
The past 10 days have not been much of a break at all for the swimmers, practicing twice a day and swimming as much as 15,000 meters per day, leading up to the 2018 Andrews Invitational where they competed Friday and Saturday.
Their hard work largely paid off to the tune of five first-place finishes, though Clovis also suffered five disqualifications, taking away first- and third-place finishes in the boys 500 free and a first place finish in the girls 400 free relay which would have set a new meet record.
"I think that overall the swimming was great, we just needed a little bit more focus on details," Wildcats coach Vincent de Maio said. "It was probably the best winter training camp that we've ever had — i.e. the hardest — so to come back and swim fast was great, but we do recognize that we have some work to do on focus on the details."
Though as teams the boys and girls did not repeat the first-place finishes achieved at other meets earlier in the season, de Maio said that was largely due to the Wildcats' smaller rosters compared to the competition.
"Our team placement is really insignificant to us because we're a small team and in meets like this where they score 20 deep, it's extremely difficult for us to win because we don't have enough kids," de Maio said. "El Paso comes down there with almost 35 girls and we have 11, so it's pretty hard to beat them even though we can beat them head-to-head, as long as you don't get DQ'ed, that's always the important part."
The Clovis girls finished second with 562.5 points, with El Paso High School taking the top spot with 911 points. Andrews (342 4), Amarillo High School (212) and Hobbs High School (211) round out the top five.
The Wildcats boys team finished third with 319 points, behind El Paso High School (800) and Pecos High School (443). Andrews and Monahans High School tied for fourth-place with 254 points.
The five races Clovis won were highlighted by James Skuse's performance in the boys 200 free, setting a new meet record with a time of 1:47.86.
"James Skuse is just remarkably strong," de Maio said. "He had a great winter training camp, really, really did the work and came out here and just lit it up. All the way across in every aspect his meet was strong."
Skuse also finished second in the boys 100 breast with a state-qualifying time of 1:02.05 and the boys 200 free relay along with Barrett Bryant, Case Smith and Alexis Aburto with a time of 1:33.40.
The girls 200 medley relay team consisting of Bella Zamora, Olivia Reeb, Katie Kelley and Hannah Luscombe finished first with a state-qualifying time of 1:56.31.
Bella Zamora's performance in securing that relay win was singled out.
"Her 50 back split was our fastest of the year," de Maio said.
Bella Zamora added second-place finishes in girls 100 breast with a state-qualifying time of 1:12.45 and the girls 50 free with a new state-qualifying time of 25.84.
Other new state-qualifying times from the meet included Annie Smith's second-place finish in the girls 100 back with a time of 1:04.85, Barrett Bryant's second-place finish in the 100 back with a time of 57.38 and Bryant's fifth-place finish in the 100 back with a time of 57.38
Anya Hammond added a pair of individual first-place finishes, both in the girls 200 free with a state-qualifying time of 2:01.17 and the girls 500 free with a state-qualifying time of 5:25.94.
Olivia Reeb finished first in the girls 100 breast with a state-qualifying time of 1:11.15 and second in the girls 200 IM with a state-qualifying time of 2:21.29.
In both the girls and boys 400 free relay Clovis earned second place finishes. For the girls Katherine Reed, Maya Hammond, Mykala Chavez and Kelly finished with a state-qualifying time of 4:02.97 and for the boys Bryant, Ethan Zamora, Aburto and Skuse finished with a state-qualifying time of 3:24.85.
In the girls 200 free relay Anya Hammond, Annie Smith, Nina Mead and Luscombe finished second with a state-qualifying time of 1:45.68
Luscombe also added a second-place finish in the girls 500 free with a state-qualifying time of 5:31.77 and a third-place finish in the girls 200 free with a state-qualifying time of 2:06.24.
In the boys 200 IM Cade Nordgen finished third with a state-qualifying time of 2:10.27. Other third-place finishes for the Wildcats included Aburto in the boys 100 free with a time of 51.91, Kelley in the girls 100 fly with a time of 1:06.09 and the girls 200 medley relay team of Chavez, Katherine Reeb, Mead and Maya Hammond with a time of 2:03.19.
The many strong finishes were great, but the five DQs still stung.
"It was certainly the most DQ's I've ever had, so it's something we need to work on before the state championships, that pre-race focus, getting prepared to go on there and go fast," de Maio said. "Sometimes when you're tired that's a little more difficult coming out of winter training, but that's the point of being tired and racing tired, we want these guys to be able to perform under the gun."
The Wildcats will return to practice this week before traveling to Albuquerque for the Academy Invitational on Saturday.
"That's a great meet to go to because we see a few Albuquerque schools, but also that's the pool where the state championships are held, so our kids get a chance to swim in that pool and check out the venue," de Maio said.
