State records tumble at meet
Swimmers set seven new marks, including two by Cibola’s Harlan
The state records went down in a flurry at the New Mexico Activities Association Swimming Championships at Albuquerque Academy on Saturday afternoon.
Swimmers broke records in three of the first four events, and four more new records came later in the day.
Cibola senior Joshua Harlan notched two records in the 200yard individual medley (1 minute, 48.04 seconds) and the 100 breaststroke (56.29). He broke his own mark in the 200 IM of 1:51.24 set last year, while blowing past the time of 57.19 in the 100 breast that former Cougar Dorian Holler set back in 2012.
“It’s a great day,” Harlan said. “This was my master plan. This was what I wanted to do.”
Academy senior Sara Vianco got the day started with a record time of 1:48.45 in the 200 freestyle. She also won the 100 free (50.69).
“(The key) was going out fast from the beginning,” Vianco said of the 200 free. “If I had hung back I would have sunk myself.”
La Cueva junior Jack Hoagland set the mark in the 200 free (1:38.07), while setting a record (4:28.19) in the 500 free in Friday’s preliminaries. He also won the 500 free (4:32.18) on Saturday.
“It was a good race, I knew that I didn’t have to do too much to win,” Hoagland said.
Three relay teams also broke records. Eldorado took the boys 200 medley relay (1:34.34) and the 400 free relay (3:09.39). The Sandia boys snagged the 200 free
relay (1:25.95).
“It feels great, we actually lost in that relay in my freshman year by three onehundredths of a second,” Matadors junior Maxwell Hawton said.
Overall, Academy repeated as girls champion with 419 points, followed by La Cueva (320) and Eldorado (232).
Eldorado reclaimed the boys team title with 300 points, closely followed by Academy (272.5) and La Cueva (272).
Cottonwood Classical Prep (90) claimed the girls small school title. Santa Fe Prep (71) earned the boys small school title.
Other two-time individual winners included Sandia’s Hawton in the 50 free (20.74) and 100 backstroke (49.71). Eldorado senior Lauren Burckel won the 200 IM (2:05.00) and 100 breast (1:02.20), leaving her emotional after her final race.
“It’s been a long journey and I’m just so thankful that I’ve been able to do what I’ve done with the people that I’ve been with,” Burckel said, fighting back tears.
The other girls champions were La Cueva junior Natalie Jones in the 50 free (23.69) and junior Chrysten Pacheco in the 100 butterfly (56.70), Academy freshman Allison Bernier in the 500 free (5:05.85), Sandia sophomore Fiona Trotz-Chavez in the 100 back (57.39) and Academy senior Lillie Guo in diving (471.45 points).
The other boys winners were Eldorado senior Ben Waterman in the 100 fly (48.64), Cibola junior Keelan Hart in the 100 free (45.19) and Eldorado sophomore Isaac Newman in diving (555.95 points).