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Socorro swimmers notch personal bests in Belen
Published
The Socorro swim teams traveled to the Belen High School Natatorium on Saturday, Jan. 17, for their eighth meet of the season. The SHS finished the day with many great performances, including multiple personal bests for times in events.
“We are two thirds of the way through the swim season, which started the first week of November, officially. The team has been working consistently and making improvements in many areas,” assistant coach Denise Gilson said.
Warriors
The Socorro Warriors finished second out of 10 teams with 233 points. They have strength in numbers in addition to a few top swimmers who consistently earn gold, silver or bronze finishes.
“Boys swim team has two new swimmers and many returning swimmers. We have both an A and a B boys relay that compete at swim meets,” Gilson said.
The boys had nine personal bests on the day, one season best, one gold finish, seven silver finishes and four bronze finishes.
Notable results for the boys:
100 yard freestyle: Riley Sewell, first, 51.31.
50 yard freestyle: Ben Watkins, second, 24.17.
100 yard backstroke: Riley Sewell, second, 1:01.71; Dymek Arendt, ninth, 1:32.23.
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100 yard breaststroke: Ben Watkins, second, 1:10.52.
200 yard freestyle: Sebastian Aafloy, third, 2:43.38.
200 yard IM: Rylan Hicks, second, 2:49.18.
500 yard freestyle: Rylan Hicks, second, 6:54.64; Lincoln Wilkinson, fourth, 7:52.55.
200 yard medley relay: Socorro B team was second, 1:55.43.
200 yard free relay: Socorro A was third, 1:44.78.
Lady Warriors
The girls team finished eighth out of 10 teams with 55 points. There are only four girls on this year’s team, and one swimmer wasn’t able to make it to the Belen meet. The three swimmers could only compete in so many events, and didn’t have the four needed to make any relay teams. They still came away with a couple of fourth place finishes and two personal bests in Belen.
“Our girls team is much smaller than it was last year, with only four girls swimming this season. That is a challenge, sharing athletes with other extracurricular activities, but we encourage and support all the students who are interested and show up,” Gilson said.
Still, the girls performed well in the events that they were able to enter. They finished eighth out of 10 teams with 55 points. Breanne Lucero and Stella Candelaria said they were excited to compete in the 500 yard freestyle for their first time ever.
Notable results for the girls:
50 yard freestyle: Abby Cadol, fourth place, 29:45.
500 yard free: Abby Cadol, fourth, 7:19.11; Breanne Lucero, fifth, 8:20.62; Stella Candelaria, sixth, 9:34.64.
See complete Belen meet results here:
https://www.swimcloud.com/results/372977/
Looking forward to district and state
“Results for the Belen invite were very encouraging--we had many swimmers at or very near their personal record times for their events,” Gilson said. “We had one swimmer achieve a state qualifying time in the hundred freestyle and get within a second of a qualifying time in the 100 backstroke. We have another swimmer who is less than a second away from qualifying for 50 free. Our boys A relay is three seconds away from qualifying for state in the 200 freestyle & medley relays.”
Riley Sewell earned his second qualification for state at the Belen meet, in the 100 yard freestyle event. He had previously qualified for state in the 50 yard freestyle.
The Socorro swimmers get a break from meets before heading into their final regular season meet in Albuquerque on Jan. 31. Then they head right into the district meet the following weekend. They’ll be working on trying to find those small details and breaths to save the precious split seconds to earn those coveted qualifying times, and enjoying the time with their teammates.
“This season our coaching staff has been focusing on shorter races, with technique and speed work as our top priorities. In swimming, a very technical sport, we work on starts and finishes, fast flip turns, how an athlete goes into/comes off the walls, and team culture to support each other as they’re working extremely hard,” Gilson said. “Heading into district our athletes will peak and then begin a taper so that they are full of energy for that final meet.”
The district meet might be the final meet for many on the team, but Socorro already has the one state qualifier. With the A relay team and another swimmer right on the cusp of qualifying, some others might be competing alongside Riley Sewell at the state meet in February.
Upcoming swim meets:
1/31 APS Invite at West Mesa, times TBA.
2/7 District Meet at Albuquerque Academy Natatorium, times TBA.
2/21-22 State Meet at Albuquerque Academy Natatorium, times TBA.
