The Hilltoppers girls team won the district meet for the 6th consecutive year. Courtesy photo
Class of 2019 seniors district champs, from left, Evan Ortega, Jillian Bennett, Nick Berndt, Dylan Ma, Isaac Brogan, Sonyia Williams and Meredith McBranch. Courtesy photoSPORTS News:
The Los Alamos Hilltoppers swimming and diving teams rolled to their 6th consecutive District 2 titles Saturday, Feb. 9 at Genoveva Chavez Community Center in Santa Fe.
The girls amassed 643 points to double runner-up Santa Fe Prep’s 289 points in the team standings. The boys scored 564 points, easily topping Santa Fe Prep’s 261 tally.
Hilltopper seniors had a big day in their last regular season appearances for Los Alamos.
Senior co-captain Nick Berndt was a member of two district record breaking relays and stole the 100 breast in a surprise win over fast-improving Topper Takuma Shiina. Berndt blitzed the fly leg of the medley relay to help take down the record of 1:45.24 set in 2017 by Hilltoppers Alex Jaegers, Max Corliss, Dyan Ma, and Kaan Unal. Other members of the record breaking quartet were Orion Henderson (back), Shiina (breast), and Matias Rougier (free). Their new record is 1:44.50.
Senior Dylan Ma scored heavily for the Toppers in the freestyle sprints. Ma had qualified for the state meet in the 100 fly and 200 medley relay in previous competitions.
Senior co-captain Jillian Bennett employed her breaststroke and sprinting talents to power three Topper relays to season-best clockings.
Fellow senior Sonyia Williams delivered quick freestyle legs to join Bennett in lifting Los Alamos to gold in the 200 medley relay, the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay.
Senior Evan Ortgega placed 4th in the 500 free and 7th in the 200 free for Los Alamos.
Senior co-captain Isaac Brogan fought off season-long injuries to anchor the district record setting 200 freestyle relay. The Los Alamos team of Matias Rougier, Ian Jaegers, Nick Berndt and Brogan clocked 1:34.53 to nick the record of 1:34.60 set by the Toppers team of Chris Rohlev, Max Reidys, Mark Torres, and Michael Moore at Walkup pool in 2015.
Meredith McBranch, a senior sidelined by illness, provided critical timing support when the electronic timing systems malfunctioned at Chavez Center.
Juniors Cory Liechty and Sophie Schmidt each won two events for the Toppers, and advanced to the state meet. Liechty took the 200 free over teammate Injie Mourad and prevailed in a narrow win over rookie Savannah Kimball in the 500 free.
Schmidt swam to a personal best in the 100 fly (1:03.13) and also touched first in the 100 back, a new event in her high school repertoire.
Soph Katherine Elton notched a surprise win in the 200 individual medley. She also achieved state meet qualifying with her 100 breast victory in a personal best 1:14.47.
Flexing his freestyle versatility, junior Ian Jaegers sprinted to the 100 free title. Jaegers won the 500 free and 200 free titles at the 2017 and 2018 district championships respectively.
Wayne Williams and Caleb Kerstiens delivered a 1-2 performance for Los Alamos in the 500 freestyle.
The divers, led by soph Daniel Fryer and junior Emme Mooday, swept the top four positions in both the girls and boys one meter.
Several Hilltoppers advanced to the state meet by placing high in the district meet: soph Tavin Brogan (200 free-first; 100 fly-second), soph Konstantin Nelson (200 free-second), soph Gabe Katko (100 back–second) and freshman Sylvia Holesinger (100 free-second).
The Hilltoppers will likely bring the largest team to the state high school championships Feb. 22-23 in Albuquerque, with a squad of about 40.
Hilltoppers Wayne Williams, left, and Caleb Kerstiens went 1-2 in the 500 free at the district meet. Courtesy photo
Los Alamos Backstroke Corps – Sylvia Holesinger (left), Sophie Schmidt, Injie Mourad, Savannah Kimball, and Elizabeth Frost2019 District 1 Championships
Feb. 9, 2019 ― Genoveva Chavez Community Center ― Santa Fe, NM SQ=State Qualifying
Girls
200 Medley Relay: Los Alamos A 1:58.00 (Savannah Kimball, Jillian Bennett, Sophie Schmidt, Sonyia Williams) (SQT), Taos 2:03.34, Santa Fe Prep 2:04.81; also: 4) Los Alamos B 2:05.66 (Sylvia Holesinger, Katherine Elton, Kezia Tripp, Injie Mourad), 5) Los Alamos C 2:15.00 (Kalen Melton, Tina Nisoli, Olivia DeCroix, Ada Tripp), 6) Los Alamos D 2:18.18 (Natalie Aulwes, Anna Clark, Dana Urbatsch, Bella Montoya)
200 Free: Cory Liechty LAHS 2:08.19 (SQ), Injie Mourad LAHS 2:13.12 (SQ), Kalen Melton LAHS 2:14.38; also: 4) Elizabeth Frost LAHS 2:24.16, 5) Bella Montoya LAHS 2:30.02
200 IM: Katherine Elton LAHS 2:25.97 (SQ), C Griscom SFPR 2:26.72, Kezia Tripp LAHS 2:36.22; also: 4) Kalen Melton LAHS 2:38.65, 5) Olivia DeCroix LAHS 2:43.93, 6) Tina Nisoli LAHS 2:44.32
50 Free: Sophia Gossum SFPR 24.97, Grace Goler TAOS 25.22, Ashley McMains TAOS 25.75; also: 4T) Maddie Ovaska and Bailey Yost LAHS 26.75, 6) Natalie Aulwes LAHS 28.37, 10) Dana Urbatsch LAHS 29.59, 11) Anna Clark LAHS 29.75, 13) Laney Newton LAHS 31.56, 18) Sofia Enriquez LAHS 33.12, 20) Charlotte Carr LAHS 34.06, 22) Sara Tompkins LAHS 35.09
1m diving: Emme Mooday LAHS 324.60, Cyra Bishop LAHS 318.05, Annie Beus LAHS 311.05, Addie Richie LAHS 292.45
100 Butterfly: Grace Goler TAOS 1:02.31, Sophie Schmidt LAHS 1:03.13 (SQT), Ashley McMains TAOS 1:04.75; also: 4) Kamaya Ronning LAHS 1:07.28, 5) Kezia Tripp LAHS 1:12.18
100 Free: Sophia Gossum SFPR 54.60, Sylvia Holesinger LAHS 1:00.00 (SQ), Bailey Yost LAHS 1:00.03; also: 5) Natalie Aulwes LAHS 1:03.53, 6) Ada Tripp LAHS 1:05.97, 7) Dana Urbatsch LAHS 1:06.69, 8) Bella Montoya LAHS 1:06.78, 9) Anna Clark LAHS 1:07.66, 12) Sofia Enriquez LAHS 1:15.34, 15) Charlotte Carr LAHS 1:18.88, 17) Laney Newton LAHS 1:19.90, 19) Sara Tompkins LAHS 1:23.22
500 Free: Cory Liechty LAHS 5:51.04 (SQ), Savannah Kimball LAHS 5:53.03 (SQ), Kamaya Ronning LAHS 6:04.16
200 Free Relay: Los Alamos A 1:47.28 (SQT) (Sonyia Williams, Bailey Yost, Maddie Ovaska, Jillian Bennett), Santa Fe Prep 1:48.97, Los Alamos B 1:54.47 (Cory Liechty, Katherine Elton, Bella Montoya, Kamaya Ronning); also: 4) Los Alamos C 1:59.56 (Ada Tripp, Natalie Aulwes, Kezia Tripp, Dana Urbatsch), 5) Los Alamos D 2:03.81 (Sophie Schmidt, Elizabeth Frost, Sofia Enriquez, Tina Nisoli), 8) Los Alamos E 2:16.06 (Anna Clark, Charlotte Carr, Sara Tompkins, Laney Newton)
100 Backstroke: Sophie Schmidt LAHS 1:05.90 (SQ), Savannah Kimball LAHS 1:07.19 (SQ), Arielle Nathan SFPR 1:07.81; also: 4) Sylvia Holesinger LAHS 1:09.79, 5) Injie Mourad LAHS 1:10.15, 6) Ada Tripp LAHS 1:15.03, 9) Elizabeth Frost LAHS LAHS 1:21.97
100 Breaststroke: Katherine Elton LAHS 1:14.47 (SQ), Chelsea Griscom SFPR 1:15.15, Tina Nisoli LAHS 1:21.35
400 Free Relay: Los Alamos A 3:59.91 (SQT) (Sonyia Williams, Kalen Melton, Kamaya Ronning, Jillian Bennett), Taos 4:06.72, Los Alamos C 4:33.19 (Sophie Schmidt, Sofia Enriquez, Olivia DeCroix, Elizabeth Frost); also: (DQ) Los Alamos B 4:03.94 (Cory Liechty, Bailey Yost, Savannah Kimball, Injie Mourad)
Girls Team Scores: 1) Los Alamos 643, 2) Santa Fe Prep 289, 3) Taos 186, 4) Miyamura 168, 5) Desert Academy 141, 6) St Michael’s 126, 7) Gallup 33, 8) SF Waldorf 19
Boys
200 Medley Relay: Los Alamos A 1:44.50 (Orion Henderson, Takuma Shiina, Nick Berndt, Matias Rougier) (SQT) (new district record, old 1:45.24 Los Alamos 2017), Los Alamos B 1:49.16 (Ming Lo, Wayne Williams, Konstantin Nelson, Ian Jaegers), Santa Fe Prep 1:52.66; also: 4) Los Alamos C 2:03.00 (Max Berndt, Gabe Katko, Andrew Watson, Evan Ortega)
200 Free: Tavin Brogan LAHS 1:59.31 (SQ), Konstantin Nelson LAHS 1:59.88 (SQ), Wayne Williams LAHS 2:08.15; also: 5) Caleb Kerstiens LAHS 2:15.97, 7) Evan Ortega LAHS 2:26.85
200 IM: Hunter Griego TAOS 2:19.13, Nico Roth SFPR 2:20.66, Vineet Narayanan SFPR 2:29.81
50 Free: Matias Rougier LAHS 23.47, Diego Griego TAOS 23.75, Dylan Ma LAHS 23.97; also: 4) Isaac Brogan LAHS 24.06, 12) Max Berndt LAHS 27.38, Gabe Katko LAHS 25.90 (DQ)
1m diving: Daniel Fryer LAHS 377.55, Kyle Hatler LAHS 364.05, Griffin Stidham LAHS 355.45, Chris Koh LAHS 348.05
100 Butterfly: Takuma Shiina LAHS 58.47 (SQ), Tavin Brogan LAHS 59.03 (SQ), Konstantin Nelson LAHS 59.22; also: 5) Andrew Watson LAHS 1:04.82
100 Free: Ian Jaegers LAHS 50.22 (SQT), Jordan Kinlaw SFPR 52.07, Estevan Salazar TAOS 52.91; also: 4) Dylan Ma LAHS 53.06
500 Free: Wayne Williams LAHS 5:42.97 (SQ), Caleb Kerstiens LAHS 6:01.09 (SQ), Adam Witt STMI 6:07.15; also: 4) Evan Ortega LAHS 6:49.55, 6) Logan Black LAHS 7:13.09
200 Free Relay: Los Alamos A 1:34.53 (Matias Rougier, Ian Jaegers, Nick Berndt, Isaac Brogan) (new district record, old 1:34.60 Los Alamos 2015) (SQT), Los Alamos B 1:34.97 (Tavin Brogan, Orion Henderson, Ming Lo, Dylan Ma), Taos 1:39.82; also: Los Alamos C 1:48.78 DQ (Andrew Watson, Gabe Katko, Max Berndt, Caleb Kerstiens)
100 Backstroke: Vincent Narayanan SFPR 1:03.50, Gabe Katko LAHS 1:07.84 (SQ), Andrew Watson LAHS 1:08.87; also: 4) Max Berndt LAHS 1:14.28
100 Breast: Nick Berndt LAHS 1:03.28 (SQT), Takuma Shiina LAHS 1:05.59 (SQ), Jordan Kinlaw SFPR 1:06.41
400 Free Relay: Los Alamos A 3:29.72 (Isaac Brogan, Dylan Ma, Ian Jaegers, Nick Berndt), Taos 3:45.72, St Michael’s 4:05.34; also: (exhibition) Los Alamos B 3:27.03 (Matias Rougier, Ming Lo, Konstantin Nelson, Orion Henderson), (exhibition) Los Alamos C 3:50.10 (Caleb Kerstiens, Tavin Brogan, Wayne Williams, Takuma Shiina)
Boys Team Scores: 1) Los Alamos 564, 2) Santa Fe Prep 261, 3) Taos 222, 4) St Michael’s 199, 5) Miyamura 172, 6) Gallup 109, 7) Desert Academy 12
