BY STU CORLISS
Hilltoppers Swimming Coach

Los Alamos High School senior Orion Henderson was named High School All-America for swimming by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA) for his 200 individual medley and 500 free performances at the New Mexico state high school meet on May 15.>

Henderson’s times of 1:50.69 for the 200 IM and 4:35.37 for the 500 free handily bested the state meet field.
His two individual wins, plus quick relay legs, helped propel the Hilltopper boys to their second straight state team title this past season.

Less than one percent of the 300,000 swimmers and divers participating in high school swimming earn All-America honors in any given year.  NISCA compiles the list of All-America athletes, based on submissions by high school coaches.

Henderson was the only New Mexico swimmer of either gender to make the All-America list for the 2020-21 competition year.  There were 169 male swimmers and 131 female swimmers participating in the 2021 NMAA State Swimming and Diving championships.

Henderson is being recruited by Arizona, Texas A&M, Princeton, Indiana, and Minnesota.

Orion is the son of Kevin and Karen Henderson of Los Alamos.  Kevin, who works at LANL, competed in collegiate swimming for Stanford and Karen, who works as an engineer for the county, competed in swimming for Notre Dame.