Lady Cats post win at Artesia Invitational; boys finish third

Jan. 16—ARTESIA — Junior Julia Spears and freshman Molly Kidd each posted an individual win and both swam on two relays to help Clovis High's girls capture the team championship in Saturday's Artesia Invitational swimming meet.

Clovis finished with 157 team points to 134 for Artesia in the 11-school competition. Meantime, the Clovis boys were third with 111 points, trailing Hobbs (154) and Artesia (112).

"It was a good meet," CHS co-coach Vincent de Mayo said, noting that the upcoming district meet is scheduled for Artesia. "This was basically a district meet — all the district teams were there, so it gives us an idea of what's going on."

Spears won the 100 butterfly in a season-best time of 1 minute, 3.86 seconds — leading a 1-3-4 CHS finish with sophomores Isabel Abril (1:11.06) and Niamh McWilliams (1:14.31) — while Kidd took first place in the 200 freestyle in 2:06.24.

Both Spears and Kidd swam a leg on the Lady Wildcats' first-place 400 freestyle relay team (4:01.97), while Kidd led off the first-place 200 freestyle relay team (1:50.00) and Spears was on the second-place 200 medley relay (2:01.81). The Lady Cats' second team finished fourth in the 200 medley relay in 2:11.48.

Spears was second (1:04.85), Kidd third (1:05.64) and junior Brynn Longley fourth (1:07.08) in the 100 backstroke. Freshman Reagan Cornish added a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:32.08), while freshman Krissa Buck was third (5:59.52) and Cornish fourth (6:01.34) in the 500 freestyle.

For the boys, senior Porter Kidd took wins in the 100 butterfly (54.27) and 100 backstroke (56.27) while senior David Reeb (5:23.90) went 1-2 with freshman Isaac Forsyth (5:47.23) in the 500 freestyle and senior Kriday Andiboina placed first in the 200 IM (2:13.65). Kidd, Reeb and Andiboina each swam a leg on the Wildcats' second-place 200 medley (1:47.07) and 200 freestyle (1:37.37) relays.

Reeb's time in the 500 freestyle was a new state qualifying mark. He's now qualified every event for state this season except for the 50 freestyle and the 100 backstroke.

The Cats and Lady Cats are back in action on Saturday in the Albuquerque Academy Invitational.