Several northern teams reach finals

The Swimming and Diving State Championships will have a slight northern connection in Saturday’s finals.

The two-day meet got underway Friday with qualifying events at the Albuquerque Academy Natatorium. Saturday’s finals begin at 11:30 a.m. with team awards presentations scheduled for the afternoon.

St. Michael’s junior Raylee Hunt qualified for the finals in her two individual events, the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200 individual medley.

She was second in the breaststroke with a qualifying time of 1 minute, 5.21 seconds. She was about half a second off the pace of top seed Mackenzie Rivera of La Cueva. Hunt was third in individual medley behind Chloe Shaw of Eldorado and second-place Rivera.

Los Alamos’ Anna Wetteland was dominant in the 200 freestyle preliminaries, posting a qualifying time of 1:54.16. It’s nearly three seconds slower than her fastest time of the season but was still more than enough to get the top seed in Saturday’s finals. It was the same story in the 100 butterfly where her time of 57.69 seconds was nearly a second faster than anyone else.

Both Hunt and Wetteland qualified in a pair of relay events, making for a busy Saturday schedule for the two best female swimmers in the area.

Wetteland’s teammates fared well in other events Friday. Hilltoppers sprinter Sophia Pieck was second in qualifying for the 50 freestyle finals, shaving nearly half a second off her best time during the regular season. She was also second in the 100 free.

Duncan Henderson of the Los Alamos boys qualified second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 49.91. He posted the top overall time in the 100 backstroke, winning the event by nearly three full seconds.

Jacob Duran of St. Michael’s and Henry Lyons of Santa Fe High showed they have what it takes to contend for a spot on the podium. Duran qualified for Saturday’s 100 breaststroke finals with the fourth-best mark on Friday. Lyons was second in the 200 IM and fifth in the marathon 500 free.

Santa Fe High’s Sallah Rubiatou was fourth in the 50 free, two spots behind Pieck.