Seniors competing at their last District championship, from left, Nikolai Nelson, Nora Johnson, Anna Wetteland, Emily McLaughlin, Ella Javernick, Neil Barber and Hayden Sutton. Courtesy photo

LAHS SPORTS News:

For some swimmers on the Los Alamos High School Hilltopper Swim/Dive Team, the District championship competition at Farmington Feb. 9 and 10 was their last meet of the season.

For others, Districts gave them a last chance to make it to the State Championships in two weeks. For those who already had State cuts, District offered a competition to show their stuff and they did, setting five District records and one Los Alamos High School record. And for everyone, a good time.

According to Assistant Coach Heath McLaughlin, this was one of the most fun meets he had ever been involved with.

“We saw so many incredible time drops,” he said.

A feature of District competition is the first two places in the finals for each individual swimming event earn an automatic trip to State, even if the swim time doesn’t meet the qualifying standard. Because of this, several of the fastest Toppers swam final events as “exhibition” swims, which meant that swimmers intentionally did not score points despite high places in event finals. This benefited all the teams at the meet who could then send swimmers to State who may not have had State qualifying times.

At the same time, this feature affected team scores in a large way. For instance, in the boys 100 Backstroke, Topper swimmers took the top five places (Duncan Henderson (1), Hayden Sutton (2), William Borovina, (3), Zane Pederson (4) and Ian Corey (5)).  Since all five had state cuts, the choice not to score any of those points allowed other swimmers to take advantage of the automatic State Qualification.

As noted by Coach Heath, it’s an amazing accomplishment for the team to not count exhibition swims and still compete so well. The girls won the District title handily and the boys got third.

At the individual level for swimmers already qualified, Anna Wetteland set District records in the 100 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke. Wetteland’s time in the 100 Backstroke also set a Los Alamos High School record. Duncan Henderson set District records in the 100 Butterfly and 100 Backstroke. Sophia Pieck set a District record in the 200 Freestyle.

Swimmers who earned a trip to the State Championships at this meet are:

• Neil Barber made two state cuts, dropping 4 seconds in the 100 Butterfly to qualify, then dropped 5 seconds in the 100 Breaststroke to qualify an hour or so later. 
• Alma Hurlocker took first place in the 200 Individual Medley (IM) to automatically qualify in that event, as well as making a state cut in the 100 Butterfly.
• Eighth grade swimmer Samantha Clayton swam a State cut in prelims in the 50 free, then bettered her time in finals. 
• Jace Kerstiens swam the 100 Freestyle qualifying time in prelims, then proved it wasn’t a fluke, when he did it again in finals and again leading off the 400 Freestyle relay
• Zach Sestric took 2 seconds off his 100 Freestyle to earn a State cut, capping an astonishing late season improvement of more than 4 seconds
• With a second place finish in the 100 Breaststroke, Emily Mclaughlin added one more event to an already impressive set of State cuts 
• Leland Parker qualified for state in diving, finishing third during the competition.  He joins the rest of the divers, so that all five (4 boys and 1 girl) will go to State, which will provide a huge boost for the team.
• Ian Corey qualified in the 100 Backstroke, adding this event to his previously earned diving qualification, giving him a rare opportunity to compete as a swimmer and diver at the same State meet.

“Ian’s qualifying in a swimming event [along with diving qualification] is a first for the team since I started coaching over 20 years ago,” Diving Coach Carl Cady said.  

For all the impact State cuts had, many swimmers piled up team points during District finals without making State cuts:

• In the girls 500 Freestyle, Deb Brug, Emma Riede, Malin Eidenbenz, and Hannah Lee took five of the top 8 places, adding big point totals to the team.  In the effort, Brug dropped 25 seconds off her best time while Eidenbenz dropped 10 seconds off hers.
• In the girls 200 Freestyle, Topper swimmers took four of the top ten places with big time drops:  Grace Nowell (3rd dropping 2.6 seconds), Eidenbenz (4th dropping 5.6 seconds), Grace Evans (7th dropping 3.2 seconds) and Libby Nolen (10th dropping 2.5 seconds). For the boys 200 Freestyle, Jace Kerstiens came in third, dropping 2.5 seconds.
• In the girls 100 Freestyle, Anna Wetteland took first place with her District-record swim, backed up by Samantha Clayton (4th), Anna Kerstiens (12th), Elizabeth Rosette (13th), and Shilo Bartram (15th).  For the boys, Ammon Lee placed 7th.
• In the girls 200 IM, Ella Javernick came in with a fifth-place finish.  For the boys 200 IM, Zack Sestric took off 5 seconds to place third.
• Finally, a notable improvement came from James Adams, who knocked off 6 seconds in the 100 Freestyle.  He then dropped an impressive 9.7 seconds in the 100 Breaststroke.

Reflecting on the season, Assistant Coach Pat Brug noted how far the team had come, with so many athletes improving so much from the earliest competitions until now.

“It is a testament to the swimmers and divers individually and the team spirit as a whole, as well as the coaching staff that so many had their best efforts at just the right time,” Brug said.

Now the qualifiers turn to the State championships in less than two weeks with both the boys and girls aiming for top 3 team finishes. Competition will be tough since swim/dive is only one of two NMAA sports that competes across all classes from A to 5A.

By all accounts the Toppers will be ready.