LAHS News:
Strong individual performances combined with team depth in relay events led the Topper swimmers and divers to a first-place finish at the Hobbs Reid Eagle Invitational meet Jan. 20-21.
“We saw great efforts by the entire team,” Coach Chris Wetteland said. “I’m happy that we had everyone compete so well. This shows the last month of hard work is paying off.”
The Topper swimmers placed swimmers in the top five in 22 of the 24 events.
Sophia Pieck, Ming Lo and Anna Wetteland swam to first place finishes in their individual events. William Borovina, Nikolai Nelson and Hayden Sutton took first or second places in their individual events, with second place showings by Lena Ronning and Duncan Henderson.
Other swimmers finishing in top five spots included Isaac Gao, Daniel Borovina, Emily McLaughlin, Allie Holland and Catherine Price.
Diver Marian Stradling placed first, with fellow divers Asher Koh, Leland Parker and Aiden Manzaneres having strong performances as well.
In the closing event of the day—the 400 free relay—Topper girls fielded four relay squads, placing first, fifth, seventh and eighth. The boys fielded three squads, placing first, seventh and eighth.
In addition to this meet’s success, getting ready for the State meet in February was on the Coach’s mind. “The more swimmers we have with State qualifying times, the more competitive we’ll be and so it’s great that we had swimmers push themselves to get better times.”
The boys had nine individual swims under state qualifying times. The girls had four. Daniel Borovina was a new state qualifier this weekend in the 100-yard freestyle, while other swimmers who already had state times from earlier in the season qualified for additional events. Catherine Price, Isaac Gao and Allie Holland chipped away at their times as they get closer to state cuts.
The girls picked up the 200-freestyle relay state qualifying time, which means all of the girls’ team relays and two of the boy’s relays qualify under state time standards.
Up next, the team travels to Albuquerque Academy for the Tom Casey Memorial Jan. 28.