Hilltopper Girls Swimmers who competed in the Tom Casey Memorial are: Front row from left: Aleena Rim, Mckenzie Snelson, Julia Zou, Emma Riede, Jade Peterson, Sonya Pakin, Michelle Lo, Deb Brug, Samantha Clayton, andEmilie Daligault: Middle Row left to right: Anna Kerstiens, Grace Evans, Ellie Rosette, Alma Hurlocker, Malin Eidenbenz and Grace Nowell. Back row left to right: Catherine Price, Sadie Evans, Allie Holland, Nuala Colgan, Sophia Pieck, Lena Ronning and Libby Nolen. Courtesy photo

Boys Swimmers: Front row left to right: Sam Nowell, Austin Theye, Thomas Daligault, William Champenois, Ammon Lee, Zach Sestric, Back row: Zane Pedersen, Jace Kerstiens, James Adams, Takeshi Shiina, William Borovina, Henry McKigney, Tyghe Tripp and Ian Corey. Courtesy photo

Divers and coaches: First row left to right: Carl Cady, Head Diving Coach and Glenn Banks Assistant Coach. Second row left to right: Cora Perkins, Ian Corey and Asher Koh. Courtesy photo

BY SANDY HURLOCKER
Hilltoppers Swim & Dive

In its last regular meet of the swim season, the Hilltopper Swim-Dive team went to Albuquerque Academy’s Tom Casey Memorial to compete against teams that included the 10 best from last year’s State Championships.

The girls placed second with 283.5 points behind Albuquerque Academy at first (368.5 points), and ahead of third place La Cueva High (247 points). The boys came in fourth with 214 points,
behind Academy (276 points), La Cueva High (274 points), and Eldorado High (225 points).

“I told the team on the bus to treat the Tom Casey as a fun meet and really focus on relays,”
said Head Coach Pat Brug. “We ended up doing really well in the relays, plus we had some of
the best individual swims of the season across the entire team.”

Coach Brug noted the team had at least four notable breakout swims

 Grace Nowell dropped nearly 2 seconds in the 200 Freestyle, finishing a close second with a
time of 2:03.49 putting her sixth in state.

 Grace Evans dropped a whopping 3.1 seconds off her best time in the 100 Breaststroke to
be the team’s first girl state qualifier in that event.

 Michelle Lo dropped 2.6 seconds in the 100 Butterfly, placing second with the fifth fastest
New Mexico time.

 Zane Pedersen had a massive 2.9 second drop in his 100 Freestyle and won the event with a
46.96. Zane has this season’s fastest 100 Freestyle time in New Mexico by more than 0.5
seconds.

 The girls A and B relay squads had state qualifying times in the 200 Medley Relay and in the
400 Freestyle.

“This is rare,” said Coach Brug, “I talked to one of our key district rival coaches and she told me their goal is still trying to get their 400 Freestyle relay to state cut time.”

New State Qualifiers are:
Lena Ronning: Girls 200 Free:
Allie Holland: Girls 50 Free and 100 100 Free
Sonya Pakin: Girls 100 Backstroke
Grace Evans: Girls 100 Breaststroke
Takeshi Shiina: Boys 50 Freestyle

Other highlights of the meet include three swimmers placing in the top 10 in the girls 200 Freestyle (Grace Nowell, Lena Ronning and Catherine Price), and three in the Girls 100 Breastroke (Grace Evans, Lena Ronning, Alma Hurlocker).

“Everyone should be super pumped about their results,” Coach Brug said. “The entire team is going in the right direction and it is so much fun!!! Great job everyone.”

The Tom Casey meet is held every year in honor of Tom Casey, a former Academy swimmer and
US Army captain who was tragically killed serving our county in the line of duty in 2008 at the age of 32 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Next up for the team will be District’s in Santa Fe February 7 and 8