LAHS Swim and Dive champions from left, Neil Barber, Ella Javernick, Nora Johnson, Emily McLaughlin, Nikolai Nelson, Leland Parker, Hayden Sutton, Anna Wetteland and Siena Rolfe. Courtesy photo
SPORTS News:
The Los Alamos High School Hilltopper’s Swim and Dive Team honored this year’s seniors by taking first place in both the boys and girls competitions at the Bill Hudson Memorial Swim meet, the team’s lone home meet.
Nearly 300 swimmers came from as far away as Gallup to participate.
“Our kids swam really tough,” Assistant Coach Heath McLaughlin said. “They’ve had some really hard workouts leading up to this meet to get ready. Knowing they were tired, it was great seeing so many fast early-season swims.”
The is team showed a combination of strong individual performances and depth. Of the 50 Topper athletes who participated, more than 31 contributed points to the overall team scores.
For the girls, depth became apparent in the 100 yard butterfly, the 200 IM and the 500 freestyle. In the 100 fly, the girls took five out of the top 10 spots: Michelle Lo (first), Lena Ronning (fifth), Allie Holland (sixth), Sophia Pieck (eighth), and Debora Brug (ninth).
In the 200 IM, four of the top 10 places went to Lena Ronning (third), Alma Hurlocker (fourth), Sophia Pakin (fifth) and Samantha Clayten (ninth).
Finally, in the 500 free, Sophia Pieck, Grace Nowell, Emma Riede, Hannah Lee and Malin Eldenbenz swept the top five places.
The boys showed strength in the 200 IM, where Takeshi Shiina and Toma Daligault took first and second, followed by Zach Sestric at sixth. Hayden Sutton placed fourth in the 100 yard freestyle followed by Nikolai Nelson at seventh. Nikolai placed fourth in the 100 yard butterfly followed by Neil Barber in eighth.
Competing off the one-meter diving board, Ian Corey placed second followed by Asher Koh (third), Leland Parker (fourth) and Elliot Beveriege (fifth).
Because it’s never too early to look ahead to the State meet coming in February, swimmers need to hit state qualifying times.
- In that category a number of swimmers made state cuts:
- Zane Pederson in the 200 free;
- Thomas Daligault and Takeshi Shiina in both the 200 IM and 100 breast;
- Anna Wetteland in the 50 and 100 free;
- Sophia Pieck in the 50 and 500 free;
- Duncan Henderson in the 50 free and 100 breast;
- Hayden Sutton in the 50 and 100 free;
- Michelle Lo in the 100 fly;
- Nikolai Nelson in the 100 fly and 100 free; and
- Grace Nowell in the 500 free.
- Six relays also qualified for State.
Seniors who swam their last Topper meet at Walkup Aquatic Center are Neil Barber, Ella Javernick, Nora Johnson, Emily McLaughlin, Nikolai Nelson, Hayden Sutton and Anna Wetteland. Senior divers honored were Leland Parker and Siena Rolfe.
McLaughlin also wanted to thank the officials and volunteers who made hosting such a meet possible.
The meet is named after Bill Hudson who among his many community contributions, managed Los Alamos’ first swimming pool and was the Topper’s first swim coach. He died in 2015.
“We appreciate all the help it took to pull off this meet,” McLaughlin said. “We want to give a huge shout out to Morgan White from Los Alamos Aquatomics for getting the new scoreboard up and running.”
