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Prep swimming: Clovis girls repeat as district champs

HOBBS — Both the Clovis girls and boys swim teams faced adversity in last Saturday’s District 3/4 championship meet at Hobbs High School. And each team stared it down.

Especially the girls, who overcame an early and controversial disqualification to win their second consecutive district title, nudging past Las Cruces 144 points to 139.

“It was pretty unbelievable,” Clovis head coach Gordy Westerberg said.

Clovis’ boys team finished second, trailing only Hobbs and improving on last year’s third-place district finish. This time, the Wildcats had 117 points, the Eagles 157, “but Hobbs placed first, second, third, fourth in diving,” Coach Westerberg noted, “and we don’t have any divers. And 27 of those 40 points came from diving, so just from the swimming end they only beat us by 13. And they’re like triple our size.”

So Clovis turned in two extraordinary team performances in respective eight-team fields. Considering how it unfolded, though, the Clovis girls may have edged out the boys just a bit in the extraordinary department.

The meet’s first relay was the 200 medley, with Amber Westerberg, Katie Reeb, Nina Mead and Lexi Spears representing Clovis in the event. The Lady Wildcats were penalized for a false start on one of the relay legs, and though Clovis had video to disprove that, Coach Westerberg said the judges refused to look at it.

“It was a disaster,” he said. “But they swam so well, all four girls swam well, so that made it a much, much harder pill to swallow.”

So two events in, the Lady Wildcats were in fifth place and in catch-up mode. Eight events in, the Lady ’Cats held third place, but were 30 points behind. They had just half a meet left to escape that hole.

“It was slowly but surely just coming back, coming back, coming back,” Coach Westerberg said. “I had talked to them at the break. I said, ‘I don’t know if we can win or not, because 30 points is a lot to make up. But if you guys lose … I don’t want you to lose because you gave up.’”

The comeback was on after the 100 freestyle, which didn’t go well for Las Cruces, while Bella Zamora won it for the Lady ’Cats with her district-record time of :54.2. Helping Clovis’ cause was eighth-grader Kiara Morgan taking fifth place.

The Lady Wildcats’ surge continued in the 500 freestyle, which Shyann Kissinger won with a 5:10.7 time, also a district record. Reeb finished third in the event at 5:19.5.

Clovis had gone from down 30 to up two.

“We had erased the deficit and we were actually leading,” Coach Westerberg said.

He was hoping for a big performance in the 100 backstroke because it was followed by the 100 breaststroke.

I figured we had to be up by 18 (after the backstroke),” Coach Westerberg said, “because I knew we weren’t going to be strong in the breaststroke, and the breaststroke was a very good event for (Las Cruces).”

Actually, the Lady Wildcats’ exceeded their coach’s expectations in the backstroke, coming out of it with a 19-point lead after Hannah Luscombe finished second (1:01.5) and Amber Westerberg third (1:05.4).

Then the breaststroke went a little better than Coach Westerberg thought. Las Cruces did win and took second place as well, but Clovis’ Chara May finished seventh with a time of 1:19 — dropping three seconds off her previous best — earning a crucial point for the Lady Wildcats, who were up by one heading into the finale, the 400 free relay.

Whichever team won that, Clovis or Las Cruces, was going to win the district championship. A title repeat was up to Kissinger, Reeb, Luscombe and Zamora.

It was a tight race, and the third leg promised to be a dandy — Luscombe against Las Cruces star Sara Gormley.

“Hannah held her off the last two lengths,” Coach Westerberg said. “When she turned it over to Bella we were sitting in a very good position.”

Zamora was Clovis’ fourth and final leg of the relay, and when she took over from Luscombe, her future New Mexico State University teammate, Zamora would not be caught.

Clovis won with a time of 3:40.3. The Lady Wildcats had repeated as district champions.

“I told them on the bus, ‘I’m very, very happy we won,’” Coach Westerberg said. “But I’m so proud of the fact that you guys never quit.’”

Clovis’ championship came with six first-place finishes: Kissinger in the 200 (1:57.5) and 500 freestyles; Zamora in the 50 (:24.92) and 100 freestyles; the 200 free relay team of Kissinger, Mead, Luscombe and Zamora (1:43.4); and the 400 free relay team’s crown jewel of a performance.

Luscombe had the Lady Wildcats’ only second-place finish, that critical 100 backstroke performance.

Amber Westerberg had a pair of thirds — her 100 back performance and the 100 butterfly (1:05.4). And there was Reeb’s third in the pivotal 500 free.

Helping the boys to their second-place team finish were three first-place performances along the way.

Riki Aponte won the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:35.2. Thomas Palla won the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:01.5. And the Wildcats’ 400 free relay team of William Longhenry, Porter Kidd, Palla and Clayton Hogan took first with a state-qualifying time of 3:39.0.

Hogan had a second in the 200 freestyle (1:57.1) and contributed to a second in the 200 free relay (1:40.5) on a team that also included Palla, Longhenry and Kidd.

Kidd notched a third in the 200 freestyle (2:03.9), as did Palla in the 200 individual medley (2:15.5). The Wildcats’ 200 medley relay team of Kriday Andiboina, Aponte, Hayden Stewart and Matthew Del Toro was also third (2:08.9).

Longhenry placed fourth in the 100 freestyle with a time of :54.8. “That was over a two-second drop for him,” Coach Westerberg said. “He had an incredible meet.”

As did the Wildcats overall.

Next up for Clovis is the state meet at Albuquerque Academy the weekend of Feb. 21-22.

“Now what we need to be doing is fine-tuning everything,” Coach Westerberg said.

The coach thinks that his girls team is capable of another high finish. “If everything goes perfect — and I mean perfect, perfect — we can be third,” he said. “But we could also be fifth.

“The goal for the boys is to make it into the finals for that 400 free relay. That won’t do anything team-wise; we’ll get a few points for that. … But it will be icing on the cake.”

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