Seniors from left, Sam Nowell, Austin Theye, Catherine Price, Deborah Brug, Emma Riede and Malin Eidenbenz. Seniors not pictured include Madalyn Baily and Hannah Lee. Courtesy photo
By SANDY HURLOCKER
The Los Alamos High School Hilltopper Swim and Dive Team honored seniors while hosting the Hudson Memorial Invitational swim/dive meet Dec. 5-6 at the Aquatics Center. Fourteen teams with more than 250 swimmers competed. The girls took first place ahead of Farmington and St. Pius X. The boys squad came in fifth.
The girls powered their first-place finish by sweeping all three of the relay events. The 200 Free Relay squad (Michelle Lo, Lyla Lo, Alma Hurlocker and Samatha Clayton) won with a state qualifying time of 1:49.46. Lo also made a state cut with her 200 FR Relay lead off.
In the 400 Free Relay (Michelle Lo, Grace Nowell, Catherine Price and Samantha Clayton) also clocked a state qualifying time (4:02.41) on their way to first place.
The 200 Medley Relay (Deb Brug, Alma Hurlocker, Emma Riede and Sonya Pakin) out touched the Farmington squad by less than 0.1 of a second, with a time of 206.67, missing a state cut by a little more than a second.
In the individual events, the top girl performances came from Grace Nowell and Michelle Lo. Nowell took first place in the 500 Free in a meet record and state qualifying time of 5:33.67. She also took second place in the 200 Free with a state qualifying time (2:06.26). Michelle Lo took first place in the 100 Butterfly (1:04.13) and second place in the 200 Individual Medley (2:25.22). In both events she made state qualifying times
Other girl swimmers had top five finishes in the individual events.
- 200 Free: Catherine Price (3rd), Samantha Clayton (4th)
- 200 IM: Alma Hurlocker (4th)
- 50 Free: Samantha Clayton (2nd), Sonya Pakin (5th)
- 100 Free: Catherine Price (3rd)
- 100 Back: Deb Brug (4th)
- 100 Breast: Sonya Pakin (2nd), Anna Kerstiens (3rd), Alma Hurlocker (5th)
- Diving: Teagan Brown placed fourth.
In the boys’ individual events:
- 100 Free: Sam Nowell placed second
- 200 Free: Peter Maginot placed second
- 500 Free: Liam Corey placed third
- Diving: Steven Yeamans placed second
“When we have top-five finishes in almost every event, it shows the team depth and willingness to push themselves against some very solid competition,” Head Coach Pat Brug said.
The boys’ highlights included second place finishes in the 400 Free relay (Peter Maginot, Sam Nowell, Gus Marchand, Austin Theye) with a time of 3:46.83, just two seconds off a State cut.
Senior team members who swam their last Topper meet at Walkup Aquatic Center are Sam Nowell, Austin Theye, Malin Eidenbenz, Deb Brug, Catherine Price and Emma Riede. Seniors Madalyn Bailey and Hannah Lee didn’t compete but were honored as well.
“I want to thank the swimmers, officials and volunteers,” Brug said. “We need the community behind the effort to make a swim meet happen. We had compliments from every visiting team, including some saying this is their favorite meet of the year.”
The meet is named after Bill Hudson, a PE teacher in the local public schools beginning in 1949. He started the high school swim team in 1955. Hudson had a passion for the outdoors and exemplified the New Mexico outdoor lifestyle. He was also the Los Alamos cross-country coach. He came up with the idea for the Los Alamos triathlon while running the Pike’s Peak Marathon in 1974 as a way to have the cross-country and swim teams cross-train with each other.
Coach Brug said, “I personally competed with Bill at the Los Alamos triathlon for over 12 years. “He was always sporting the latest and greatest pair of running shoes and a huge smile. There is no better way to honor Bill than by having a great swim meet where we all work hard, push each other to our physical limits and have great fun doing it.”
Bill Hudson died in 2015.