Senior Captains entering competition: Takeshi Shiina, Lena Ronning, Jace Kerstiens, Libby Nolen, Ian Corey. Courtesy photo

Topper State Swim/Dive State Team loading bus. Courtesy photo

By SANDY HURLOCKER
Toppers Swim And Dive Team

The Hilltopper Swim and Dive team goes to State: Boys third. Girls Fifth.

Thirty-seven high schools from all corners of New Mexico gathered at Albuquerque Academy to compete in the NMAA State Swim/Dive Championships. By the last splash, Los Alamos boys swam and dove to third place. The girls placed fifth.

Albuquerque Academy continued its aquatic dominance with both the boys and girls taking first place titles. Academy boys tallied 361.5 points ahead of La Cueva (220) and Los Alamos (213).

Academy girls (340 points) were far ahead of La Cueva (237), Clovis (234.5), and Eldorado (203).

The Hilltopper girls finished with 169 points at fifth.

“I am so proud of every single swimmer on this team,” Head Coach Pat Brug said. “Whether the kids swam at Districts or State, everyone trained hard to get us swimming faster. If you earn a top place at state, you didn’t get to an elite level by yourself. The whole team was your training partner and made you faster and better.”

“We knew going in that a key to our success would be the relays,” Coach Brug said. “We needed to be at our best. We focused on relay starts for several weeks in practice and did relay time trials. All that practice paid off. The boys dropped 14 seconds off their best 400 free relay of the season and beat last year’s state time by 2 seconds with an entirely new set of swimmers.”

Coach Brug continued: “We also took a team approach to relays this year where alternates (Ian Corey, Deb Brug and Anna Kerstiens) swam in prelims in order to give other swimmers more rest for individual events.” Coach Brug explained that “all three alternates had their best swims of the season and positioned their respective relays well within the top 8 for finals. In fact Ian (diving captain) swam so fast in prelims, he was also part of the finals boys 200 medley.”

All six relay squads qualified for the medal round (top 8):

The boys finished:

• Third in the 200 Freestyle relay: Takeshi Shiina, Jace Kerstiens, Ammon Lee, Zane Pederson
• Third in the 400 Freestyle relay: William Borovina, Jace Kerstiens, Thomas Daligault, Zane Pederson
• Seventh in the 200 Medley relay: Ian Corey, Thomas Daligault, Takeshi Shiina, Ammon Lee

The girls finished:

• Second in the 200 Freestyle relay: Allie Holland, Samantha Clayton, Lenna Ronning, Sophia Pieck
• Fifth in the 400 Freestyle relay: Michelle Lo, Lena Ronning, Catherine Price, Sophia Pieck
• Eighth in the 200 Medley relay: Allie Holland, Grace Evans, Michelle Lo, Samantha Clayton

In individual events, Zane Pederson led the boys with third place finishes in the 50 and 100 Freestyle. Will Borovina swam to seventh in the 500 Freestyle and eighth in the 200 Free. Thomas Daligault and Takeshi Shiina placed fifth and sixth respectively in the 100 Butterfly, and Daligault added a fifth place in the 100 Breaststroke to boost the team point tally. On the one-meter diving board, Asher Koh brought home the boys fourth place medal.

For the girls, Sophia Pieck led with a second place finish in the 100 Freestyle and third in the 50 Freestyle. Grace Nolen swam to fourth place in the 500 Freestyle as well as nineth in the 200 Freestyle. Michelle Lo swam to eighth in the 100 Butterfly.

Along with the medal-round finishes, placing in the “B Finals” (nineth to sixteenth places) gained points for the team.

In the 200 Freestyle, Lena Ronning placed twelfth and Catherine Price fourteenth. Jace Kerstiens placed sixteenth in the 50 Freestyle, Sam Nowell fourteenth in the Butterfly and Zach Sestric came in fourteenth in the 500 Freestyle.

As important as the team points were, Coach Brug highlighted the way all swimmers showed up with some of the best times of the season.

“We had a whopping 52 best swims of the year where every single swimmer had at least one best swim,” he said. “That was simply phenomenal! Zane improved his 100 Free by nearly 4 seconds (0:46.33) putting him close to the school record. His best coming into state was 0:22.0 and he had a tremendous time drop (0:21.41) that was also close to the school record. Last year Zane swam the distance free events at state (200 free and 500 free) and it was a phenomenal transition to sprinting for his senior year.”

“Every swimmer had at least one best swim time of the season; 12 swimmers had best swims in every event and six more had best swims in every event but one,” he said.

In the good sportsmanship category, the seniors who were not swimming came along as volunteers to help at the meet, which contributed to the team’s spirit both days.

The Toppers state team:

Will Borovina
Deb Brug
Samantha Clayton
Ian Corey
Thomas Daligault
Grace Evans
Allie Holland
Alma Hurlocker
Anna Kerstiens
Jace Kerstiens
Asher Koh
Ammon Lee
Michelle Lo
Grace Nowell
Sam Nowell
Sonya Pakin
Zane Pedersen
Sophia Pieck
Catherine Price
Emma Reide
Lena Ronning
Takeshi Shiina
Zach Sestric
Austin Theye

Topper boys receiving the state Third-place trophy. Courtesy photo