LAHS SPORTS News:
The Los Alamos High School Swim and Dive team finished out its regular season with a strong showing at the nine-team District 2 meet in Santa Fe, Feb. 4.
The girls took first place, while the boys placed second. Teams came to compete not only for top District team honors, but also to let individual swimmers who place high earn a spot at the State Championships coming up later in February.
“We saw great swims all around,” coach Chris Wetteland said. “It’s good to see everyone swim so hard, whether or not they’re moving on to State, and whether or not they’ve already made State cuts. The team should be proud of how well it did.”
The girls brought home first place with the help of record setting swims by Anna Wetteland, who beat the District record in both the 50 Freestyle and the 100 Fly. Catherine Price added the 500 Freestyle to her line up of State events and Allie Holland swam a qualifying time in the 100 Fly to earn a place on the State squad. Diver Marian Stradling —already heading to State—contributed to the team with a fifth-place finish.
As part of the boys second place effort, Duncan Henderson set a District record in the 100 Back and Ming Lo set a District record in the 100 Fly. Isaac Gao made the State team with a qualifying time in the 100 Back and Elliot Beveriege dove his way to a place onto the State squad. Takeshi Shiina added the 100 Breast to his qualified State events and Daniel Borovina added the 50 Freestyle to his.
As impressive as these results were, the team’s deep list of competitors in many of the events and a strong showing by the relay teams contributed to the overall team scores.
“I want to give credit to the swimmers who make us successful as a team,” Coach Wetteland said, adding, “they don’t get the spotlight very often, but they work hard in practice and compete hard, which makes us that much better.”
A few of the girls who gave outstanding finale swims were Grace Evens who dropped her best time in the 200 Freestyle by more than 15 seconds. Others who shaved time off their bests were Deborah Brug (200 Individual Medley) and Sophie Bathrick-Price (100 Breast). Boys who made similar gains were Jace Kerstiens (500 Freestyle), Jin Kim and Austin Theye (both in 100 Freestyle).
Next up will be the State Championships, to be held at Albuquerque Academy Feb. 17 for preliminary swimming with hopes of returning Feb. 18 when the top 16 placers in each event compete for the State Championship title.
The State swim and dive team will consist of 12 boys and 10 girls:
Girls state team:
- Hannah Bishop;
- Allie Holland;
- Alma Hurlocker;
- Ella Javernick;
- Emily McLaughlin;
- Sophia Pieck;
- Catherine Price;
- Lena Ronning;
- Marian Stradling;
- Anna Wetteland.
Boys state team:
- Elliott Beveriege;
- Daniel Borovina;
- William Borovina;
- Isaac Gao;
- Duncan Henderson;
- Asher Koh;
- Ming Lo;
- Aiden Manzaneres;
- Nikolai Nelson;
- Takeshi Shiina;
- Hayden Sutton;
- Gavin Shrader.