Tigers swim team improves on times at states
Both the girls and boys swim teams from Taos High School put on strong performances in the pool at the NMAA Swimming Championships held on Saturday (Feb. 19).
In the first heat of two, in the Girls 100 Yard Butterfly race, Gracie Goler beat the competition with a couple of seconds to spare, with a time of 1:05.13. Without the context of the information provided by the giant jumbotron, one could for a brief moment in time believe she had won it all, and did it with ease.
There was another set of state-worthy swimmers, 10 of them, ready to overtake the time established in the first heat. The aptly named Anna Wetteland of Los Alamos would finish in first place. Goler finished ninth. She did improve from her previous seed time of 1:07.39.
The Girls Relay team — consisting of Sierra Griego, Angelina Griego, Aricela Chavez and Gracie Goler — improved on their seed time as well, dropping from 4:06.9 to 4:04.65 in the 400 Yard Free Relay. Griego broke a minute for the first time ever in her 100 free as lead-off in the relay.
As a team, the girls of Taos finished 25th, topping Piedra Vista, Rio Grande, Nmmi, and Hobbs. Albuquerque Academy (308.5), Eldorado (246), and Los Alamos (238), finished first, second, and third, respectively.
On the boys side
The Taos boys relay team, which includes Estevan Salazar, Juan Romo, Lorenzo Cordova and Dillon Brown, placed 15th out of 20th in the 200 Yard Medley Relay. 1:50.8. They finished 13th out of 20th in the Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:36.46. They finished 14th out 20th in the Boys 400 Yard Freestyle relay with a time of 3.33.58.
Brown finished 13th out of 20th in the Boys 200 Yard Freestyle with a time of 1:53.23.
Salazar finished last in the Boys 50 Yard Freestyle with a time of 23.71.
As a team the Taos boys finished in 21st place. They topped Volcano Vista, Santa Fe Prep, and Belen. Los Alamos (338 points), Eldorado (237), and Albuquerque Academy (227), got first, second, and third, respectively.