Clovis swim teams win all but one event in Hobbs

HOBBS — In their final tuneup before next week’s district meet, the Clovis boys and girls swim teams showed they are more than ready for what lies ahead.

Both teams finished first at the Eagle Invite in Hobbs on Saturday and the Wildcats took first place in every swimming event but one, a first for the team according to coach Vincent de Maio.

“We’ve never done that before, that’s pretty unique,” de Maio said. “They had a good outing, pretty strong across the board. I’m just very happy with the swimming; we were very competitive.”

The Clovis girls took first place with 282 points ahead of Hobbs (108), Alamogordo (63), Carlsbad (52) and Artesia (25).

The Clovis boys took first place with 151 points ahead of Hobbs (124), Carlsbad (94), Alamogordo (46) and Artesia (11).

De Maio said the team’s relays really stood out on Saturday including a pair of races where the Wildcats two girls relays were separated by less than a second.

In the girls 200 medley relay the team of Bella Zamora, Katherine Reeb, Katie Kelley and Maya Hammond won with a state-qualifying time of 2:13.67 and the team of Annie Smith, Olivia Reeb, Nina Mead and Mykala Chavez finished second with a state-qualifying time of 2:14.30.

In the girls 200 free relay the team of Mead, Anya Hammond, AnneMarie Johnston and Tabitha May won with a state-qualifying time of 2:03.30 and the team of Hannah Luscombe, Olivia Reeb, Chavez and Alexis Spears finished second with a state-qualifying time of 2:03.87.

“We did a great job with the relays. Those were really a lot of fun and exciting to watch,” de Maio said.

The girls 400 free relay had a bit more separation between the Clovis squads, but the Wildcats again took the top two spots.

The team of Annie Smith, Bella Zamora, Kelley and Maya Hammond won with a state-qualifying time of 4:19.90 and the team of Hannah Luscombe, Anya Hammond, Katherine Reeb and Johnston finished second with a state-qualifying time of 4:22.38.

The boys also swept the top spot in each relay.

In the boys 200 medley relay the team of Case Smith, Cade Nordgren, Ethan Zamora and Tyler Noack finished first with a state qualifying time of 2:07.16.

“Those four guys won the event and put up their own state time which we’re very excited about. So we’re going to have all three relays at state,” de Maio said.

De Maio said previously Clovis had only qualified for state in the boys 200 medley relay with Alexis Aburto or James Skuse involved, but neither of those two will be competing in the event at the state meet, so now the Wildcats will be able to field a third relay at state because de Maio will only use a swimmer in a relay at state if they were a part of the qualifying race.

In the boys 200 free relay the team of Aburto, Case Smith, Skuse and Barrett Bryant finished first with a state-qualifying time of 1:44.84.

In the boys 400 free relay the team of Bryant, Ethan Zamora, Aburto and Skuse won with a state-qualifying time of 3:48.17.

“The guys swam well. We were at full strength this meet, (Aburto) was back, so that helped a lot,” de Maio said.

Aburto won the boys 100 free with time of 58.83 and Case Smith finished second with a time of 1:01.08.

One of the only negatives for Clovis was coming up just short in picking up a few final state-qualifying times.

In the boys 200 IM Nordgren won with a time of 2:25.00 and in the boys 100 breast Nordgren won with a time of 1:13.29.

Both of those times, as well as Kelley’s time of 29.52 in the 50 free missed qualifying for state by less than a second.

“We’re not resting so going into district next week I’m confident we’ll get those times,” de Maio said. “Especially when Las Cruces is going to be at district, so there’s going to be some good head-to-head swimming and that will help.”

The Wildcats swept the top three finishes in four events.

In the boys 200 free Skuse won with a state-qualifying time of 2:01.33, Ethan Zamora finished second with a time of 2:07.71 and Case Smith finished third with a time of 2:08.70.

In the girls 50 free Bella Zamora won with a state-qualifying time of 28.60, Kelley finished second with a time of 29.52 and Luscombe finished third with a time of 29.91.

In the girls 100 free Bella Zamora won with a state-qualifying time of 1:03.40, Olivia Reeb finished second with a time of 1:04.46 and Annie Smith finished third with a time of 1:06.00.

In the girls 400 free Luscombe won with a state-qualifying time of 4:54.60, Maya Hammond finished second with a time of 4:54.92 and Johnston finished third with a time of 5:13.24.

The Wildcats picked up the top two finishes in five events.

In the girls 200 free Olivia Reeb won with a state-qualifying time of 2:19.84 and Johnston finished second with a time of 2:28.81.

In the girls 100 butterfly Kelley won with a time of 1:13.06 and Mead finished second with a time of 1:18.12.

In the boys 100 back Skuse won with a state-qualifying time of 1:00.01 and Bryant finished second with a state-qualifying time of 1:04.49.

In the boys 50 free Bryant won with a state-qualifying time of 25.74 and Aburto finished second with a time of 26.69.

In the girls 200 IM Anya Hammond won with a time of 2:40.50 and ASpears finished third with a time of 3:04.20.

The other first place finishes for the Wildcats were Nordgren in the boys 100 breast with a time of 1:13.29, Katherine Reeb in the girls 100 breast with a time of 1:27.56, and Ethan Zamora in the boys 100 butterfly with a time of 1:06.67.

In the lone race the Wildcats did not win, the girls 100 back, Anya Hammond finished second with a state-qualifying time of 1:12.21 and Annie Smith finished third with a time of 1:14.24.