Members of the 2024-2025 Hilltopper Swim/Dive Team at Practice January 14. Courtesy photo
BY SANDY HURLOCKER
LAHS Swim And Dive
Last weekend, Albuquerque Academy hosted its 26th Annual Invitational meet, with teams coming from as far away as Hobbs and Gallup, bringing more than 400 swimmers to compete in one of the largest meets outside the State Championships. Both the Topper girls and boys held their own.
The girls placed second out of 18 teams, with 389 points. The Academy girls amassed 500 points for first place. Third place went to Artesia with 213 points.
The boys also placed second out of 21 teams with 279 points behind Academy (387 points) and ahead of Cottonwood Classic (203 points).
In the diving competition, Senior Asher Koh added a third place finish to last week’s first place performance in Farmington.
As in Farmington, strong relay performances boosted both the girls and boys scores. The girls placed fourth in the 200 Medley (Sonya Pakin, Lena Ronning, Michelle Lo, Samantha Clayton) out of a field of 31 teams. The B squad came in tenth (Catherine Price, Grace Evans, Emilie Daligault, Anna Kersteins).
For a similarly large field in the 200 Freestyle, the girls took third (Lena Ronning, Anna Kersteins, Allie Holland, Sophia Pieck) and eighth (Emilie Daligault, Emma Riede, Alma Hurlocker, Catherine Price), with a state qualifying time.
At the end of a grueling day, the girls 400 Freestyle relay brought home a first place (Grace Nowell, Michelle Lo, Allie Holland, Sophia Pieck).
The boys took third in the 200 Medley (Will Borovina, Takeshi Shiina, Zane Pedersen, Jace Kersteins), fourth in the 200 Freestyle (Takeshi Shiina, Thomas Daligault, Zane Pedersen, Tyghe Tripp) and second in the 400 Freestyle (Jace Kersteins, Will Borovina, Thomas Daligault, Zach Sestric).
In addition to the great performances in the relay events, many swimmers placed in scoring positions by placing in the top 16. In individual events, both boys and girls placed at least one swimmer in the top 16.
“This was a great meet with 46 swims that had best times,” Head Coach Pat Brug said. “Zach Sestric dropped nearly 10 seconds in his 500 freestyle to qualify for State. Zane Pedersen had a major time drop in his 50 freestyle and came close to hitting 22 seconds!”
“In a meet like this one, with so many teams, the competition is fierce,” Coach Brug noted. “To have our swimmers place where they earn points for the team shows how solid we are.”
These swimmers earned State qualifying times:
Thomas Daligault: Boys 200 Freestyle
Jace Kersteins: Boys 50 and 100 Freestyle
Sam Nowell and Takeshi Shiina: Boys 100 Butterfly
Zach Sestric: Boys 500 Freestyle
Takeshi Shiina: Boys 100 Breaststroke
Catherine Price: Girls 200 Individual Medley
Sophia Pieck and Lena Ronning: Girls 100 Butterfly
Grace Nowell: Girls 100 Freestyle)