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ALBUQUERQUE — Clovis High’s swimmers are in all but four events in the swimming portion of the state swimming and diving meet, scheduled for today and Saturday at Albuquerque Academy.
The Lady Wildcats qualified at least one entry in 10 of 11 events, while the Wildcats are in eight. Coach Vincent de Maio’s goal is to send someone in each of those events into either Saturday’s consolation or championship finals.
Swimming competition begins at 3 p.m. today. The diving portion of the meet, in which Clovis does not participate, is scheduled for the morning.
“We want to be in the top 10 (in team standings),” de Maio said. “Right now, they just need to believe in their hard work and do their best, and everything else will take care of itself.”
Last year, the Lady Cats finished 11th in team standings while the Cats were 15th, the best state finishes for either program.
The girls have four swimmers in the maximum four events — senior Jill Southard (200 individual medley, 100 butterfly), freshmen Caitlin Dial (100 and 200 freestyle) and Caitlin Myers (50 and 100 freestyle) and eighth-grader Catherine Malone (100 and 500 freestyle). All are in two relays as well.
Two boys are also in two relays and two individual events — senior Kenan Bussen (100 and 200 freestyle) and sophomore Brock Smith (200 and 500 IM).
Coach de Maio said the girls 200 and 400 freestyle relays and a number of individual events are seeded seventh or better going in. Those same relays are seeded at least seventh for the boys, along with Smith in both of his events.
The boys lost a state qualifier this week when freshman Ethan Gallegos came down with appendicitis.
“Certainly the boys have a tougher road (to a top-10 finish),” the coach said. “With (Gallegos) not here, we kind of had to change some of the relays around.”
Still, he’s confident the teams will swim well.
“I think a lot of school records will fall,” de Maio said.
Host Academy is the defending state champion in both divisions.
