SEMINOLE, Texas — Clovis High’s boys came in second in the Hobbs Invite on Dec. 6, trailing only the host Eagles.

The Wildcats were second again in Saturday’s Seminole Invitational. This time, though, they had the satisfaction of beating their rivals from Hobbs.

Pampa, Texas, won the boys team title with 132 points to 98 1/2 for CHS, while Hobbs was third at 95 in the 10-school event. Clovis’ girls, meantime, cruised to the team championship with 138 points to 80 for runnerup Abilene Wylie.

CHS coach Vincent de Maio said the boys program is making progress, starting to become more competitive with more depth.

“It’s good to see our boys team catch up with our girls,” he said. “To get second place two weeks in a row shows we’re coming along.”

The Wildcats got off to a good start, he said, winning the medley relay in a time of 2 minutes, 12.65 seconds, and it had a carryover effect.

“They came back and swam well this week,” de Maio said of the boys team. “They had much better balance over all the events. Winning the medley relay helped them a lot.”

The Cats also won the 200-meter freestyle relay in 1:56.12 while Nick de Maio, the coach’s son who led off both winning relays, added a victory in the 400 freestyle in 5:03.81.

Clovis’ girls, meantime, had a dominant team performance. Jill Southard won the 200 freestyle in 2:25.58, Portia Gibbons was first in the 100 butterfly in 1:16.72 and the Lady Wildcats also captured the 200 and 400 freestyle relays in respective times of 2:09.13 and 5:03.85.

de Maio said the girls have enough depth to fill out competitive quartets in virtually all the relays. He was also impressed with Gibbons’ win in the butterfly, with Gibbons coming in a strong second.

“It was a pretty dominating performance for those girls,” he said. “We went 1-2 and third place was about eight seconds back.”

Clovis returns to action Jan. 10 in an invitational at Andrews, Texas.

Seminole Invitational
Saturday at Seminole, Texas
Boys
Team standings: 1. Pampa 132; 2. Clovis 98 1/2; 3. Hobbs 95; 4. Carlsbad 70 1/2; 5. Abilene Wylie 51 1/2; 6. Big Spring, Texas 45; 7. (tie) Andrews, Artesia 21; 9. Seminole 18; 10. Amarillo Caprock 2.
Clovis top 3 finishes
200 medley relay: 1. Nick de Maio, Ryan Waters, Lucas Brock, Brody Hawes 2:12.65. 200 freestyle: 3. Brock 2:22.52. 200 individual medley: 3. de Maio 2:43.06. 400 freestyle: 1. de Maio 5:03.81. 200 freestyle relay: 3. de Maio, Kenan Bussen, Hawes, Brock 1:56.12. 100 backstroke: 2. (tie) Connor Rose 1:17.58.
Girls
Team standings: 1. Clovis 138; 2. Abilene Wylie 80; 3. Andrews 77; 4. Pampa 64; 5. (tie) Artesia, Hobbs 42; 7. Carlsbad 39 1/2; 8. Big Spring, Texas 32; 9. Seminole 16; 10. Amarillo Caprock 15.
Clovis top 3 finishes
200 medley relay: 2. Martha Chace, Jill Southard, Chelsey Carter, Heather Steinle 2:18.10. 200 freestyle: 1. Southard 2:25.58. 200 individual medley: 2. Augustina Snipes 3:02.96; 3. Carter 3:03.81. 100 butterfly: 1. Portia Gibbons 1:16.72; 2. Southard 1:18.14. 100 freestyle: 3. Chace 1:11.36. 400 freestyle: 2. Steinle 5:50.18. 200 freestyle relay: 1. Southard, Carter, Chace, Steinle 2:09.13. 100 backstroke: 2. Gibbons 1:20.11; 3. Chace 1:21.76. 400 freestyle relay: 1. Gibbons, Amelia Langston, Sarah McCormick, Snipes 5:03.85.