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Thursday, January 18, 2007

Monarchs Win West Mesa Quad

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
    A win's a win.
    The Manzano High boys and girls swimming teams handily won the West Mesa Quad, hosted by the Mustangs at the West Mesa Aquatic Center on Monday.
    The Lady Monarchs amassed 492 points, with the top 16 places scoring, to beat Valley (309), West Mesa (297) and Rio Grande (237). The boys, with 411, beat Valley (246), Rio (219) and WMHS (160).
    The Ravens and Mustangs have been perennial cellar-dwellers. The West Mesa meet was recently inserted in order to make up for the Jan. 6 Los Alamos competition, which was canceled due to the weather.
    "We did OK," Manzano coach Tammy Wilson said. "But we had a lot of kids who were out, had other commitments, like dental appointments. It was the first time the boys had won this season."
    Taylor Busby paced the Manzano boys with individual victories in the 100-yard backstroke (59.45 seconds) and the 50 freestyle (23.42). Matt Jackson won the 100 butterfly (1 minute, 8.48 seconds), and Manzano was first in the 200 medley (1:57.37) and 400 free (4:26.02) relays.
    The girls' gold medalists included Terisse Brocato (200 individual medley, 2:37.31), Hannah Mercier (100 free, 1:01.89) and Marissa Campbell (500 free, 5:29.64). The Monarchs also took the 200 medley (2:07.12) and 200 free (1:51.71) relays.
    "The most important thing is just improving, getting ready for city and qualifying for state," Wilson said.
    OTHER MEETS:
    The Manzano boys took second at the Monarchs-hosted quadrangular at the Valley Pool on Saturday.
    Busby earned 20 points and Eric Lunsford and Sean Albarran tallied 14 apiece for 60 percent of Manzano's total of 80 points. Cibola had 149 for the team victory.
    Busby, the bronze medalist in the 200 IM at the 2006 state championships, took first in the 200 free (1:55.67) and 100 breaststroke (1:08.46) Saturday.
    "My club coach and I are trying to get me where I can get an All-American automatic (qualifying) time in the 200 IM, a 1:55(.00) or better," said Busby, a 6-foot-2 senior.
    Lunsford, Albarran, Busby and Jackson took first as a 200 medley relay quartet. In addition, Lunsford, a Tijeras resident, was second in 1-meter diving and fourth in the 50 free.
    Manzano's other placers from the East Mountains included:
   

Tijeras' Phillip Atencio: swam a leg of the second-place 400 relay quartet and was sixth in the 200 free;
   

Cedar Crest's Ian Kerstetter, part of the 400 relay;
   

and Chris Del Barga of Sandia Knolls, sixth in the 100 free.
    "It's been going OK," said Del Barga, a 5-10 junior who sports a 4.4 grade-point average. "A lot of my times are down since last year. My 100 back time dropped 12 seconds."
    Manzano placed third with 55 points at the Albuquerque Academy quadrangular on Jan. 10. The host Chargers won with 1861/2 points.
    Busby won the IM (2:01.51) and the 100 fly (56.47).
    The Monarchs are trying to get back into the swim of things after an unplanned furlough from practices.
    "We missed some days because of all the kids that live in the East Mountains," Wilson said. "We were out of the water 10 full days... Some of them were snowed in."
    The Lady Monarchs took third with 59 points in a triangular at Valley on Saturday. Cibola earned the team crown with 147 points, and Highland was second with 79.
    Five Manzano girls, three from the East Mountains, led their team in scoring with seven points each.
    The quintet included:
   

Lauren Jaramillo of Tijeras— first in diving (142.50 points);
   

Jennifer Wylie of Sandia Park— second in diving, fifth in 100 free;
   

Tiva North— first in 200 free (2:17.66);
   

Campbell— first in 200 IM (2:18.05);
   

and Brocato— first in 100 fly (1:18.06).
    "I was out of state for a while over the winter break, and I was sick," said Brocato, a 5-5 East Mountain High sophomore who is allowed to compete for the Monarchs. "I'm trying to get back to normal strength."
    Also for the Monarchs, Megan Baker was third in the 200 free. Baker is an EMHS sophomore, too.
    Mercier, who hails from Sandia Park, placed third in the 500 free.
    "I did real bad," said Mercier, a 5-81/2 sophomore. "I had been swimming the 100 breast and 100 free. I qualified for state in the 100 free (Jan. 10). That was good."
    The girls also finished third with 65 points at the Academy meet. La Cueva won with 163. Campbell took the 200 free (1:58.98) and 100 fly (59.73).
    Swimming
    Next Up:
   

Manzano girls in APS All-City Championships: diving at Valley Pool, Friday, 1 p.m.; swimming at West Mesa Aquatic Center, Saturday, 9 a.m.
   

Manzano boys in All-City meet: diving at Valley, Jan. 26, 1 p.m.; swimming at West Mesa, Jan. 27, 9 a.m.