Lady Cats take third, Cats fourth In Academy Invitational meet

ALBUQUERQUE – Clovis High’s swimmers had a challenging time in the Albuquerque Academy Invitational.

First off, they had to leave by 4:30 a.m. on Friday to get there. Then the meet itself proved to be quite competitive.

The CHS girls took third in a field of 19 teams while the boys were fourth out of 20 squads, with Academy sweeping the team titles, as expected.

Academy won the girls’ division with 543 points to 257 for Artesia and 222 for the Lady Cats. The Chargers took boys team honors with 385 points, followed by St. Pius (277), Hobbs (253), Clovis (215) and Artesia (212).

“That meet’s always tough,” CHS co-coach Vincent de Maio said. “But we had a great week of training, and the swimming was OK.”

Clovis’ top finishes were second-place showings by senior Porter Kidd in the boys 200 freestyle (1 minute, 48.97 seconds) and 100 backstroke (56.71), and by his sister, freshman Molly Kidd, who posted a time of 5:40.73 in the girls 500 freestyle.

“Molly was pretty dominant in that 500,” de Maio said.

Meantime, the Cats posted third-place finishes in the 200 medley relay (1:45.83) and 400 freestyle relay (3:32.12). Both included Kidd and fellow seniors Kriday Andiboina, David Reeb and Connor Dearinger.

Junior Julia Spears added a third for the Lady Cats in the 200 individual medley (2:21.11). She was also fourth in the 100 butterfly (1:05.06).

With only one regular-season meet remaining, de Maio said his squads are prepping for postseason competition.

“Our focus now is on district and state,” he said. “We’re getting ready for that.”

Clovis wraps up its regular season this weekend in a two-day invitational at Santa Fe. District competition is slated for Feb. 10 at Artesia, with the state meet back at Academy Feb. 23-24.