LAHS News:

The New Mexico High School State Swimming Championship is being held this weekend at Albuquerque Academy, with teams from all over the state sending their best to represent their schools. 

Each swimmer must qualify for the event they are competing in prior to the state meet, and are allowed to swim in only two individual events and two relays. 

The top 16 swimmers from the qualifying round go on to compete for team points during the finals – which is happening today.

The Los Alamos High School Swim Team looked great Friday during prelims, putting in some great swims and getting a number of swimmers qualified for finals. 

Sarah Lott was the highest qualifier for the girls, finishing 2^nd in the 200 Free and 4^th in the 500 Free. Trey Pereya was the highest qualifier for the boys, finishing 7^th in the 500 Free.

It is possible that some LAHS swimming records may be broken today, Feb. 23, by both Maria Venneri (a junior) and Sarah Lott (a freshman.)

Venneri’s 100 Backstroke time of 1:00.11, is less than a second from the current record of 59.56 – held by Lisa Fry since 2002. Lott’s 200 Freestyle time of 1:56.48 is also less than a second off the current record of 1:55.72, held by both Bridget O’Hare (2003) and tied with Katie Schmitt (2004.)

We wish these girls and all of the rest of the Los Alamos High School Swim Team good luck today! Go Hilltoppers!!

Below is a list of the qualifiers from Friday’s round that will be competing today in finals:

Girls 200 Free – Sarah Lott 2^nd seed (1:56.48)
Girls 200 IM – Ashlynn Bennett 14^th seed (2:20.02), Isabelle Runde 16^th seed (2:20.93)
Girls 50 Free – Sydney Schoonover 16^th seed (26.21)
Girls 100 Fly – Ashlynn Bennett 16^th seed (1:04.06)
Girls 100 Free – Maria Venneri 11^th seed (56.28)
Girls 500 Free – Sarah Lott 4^th seed (5:22.27), Justine Yang 16^th seed (5:42.06)
Girls 100 Back – Maria Venneri 6^th seed (1:00.11)

Boys 200 Free – Trey Pereya 12^th seed (1:51.87)
Boys 200 IM – Connor Schultz 8^th seed (2:03.76), Sam Harris 14^th seed (2:09.32), Max Reidys 15^th seed (2:09.87)
Boys 100 Fly – Sam Harris 8^th seed (56.65)
Boys 500 Free – Trey Pereya 7^th seed (5:01.57), Connor Schultz 9^th seed (5:13.02), Max Reidys 10^th seed (5:13.37)

Live, streaming video of today’s competition can be seen here: http://www.proviewnetworks.com/?q=node/35