Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Swimming: Candelaria qualifies for state in backstroke

Chavez close to qualifying in 100-yard freestyle

Jason W. Brooks News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jbrooks@news-bulletin.com

Saturday at the Horsemen Swimming Invite in Santa Fe, Marissa Candelaria didn't have the second-fastest seed time for the 100 backstroke. But when the race was over, she had a second-place finish and a state-qualifying time.

The Los Lunas eighth-grader became only Los Lunas' third female individual state qualifier in the past four seasons. Candelaria placed second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:08.81 to qualify for the state meet, set for Feb. 20-21 at Albuquerque Academy.

"She listened," said Lin Onsae, the coach for LLHS and Valencia. "She saved up enough for a strong kick over the last 25 yards."

Candelaria joined the Lady Tigers' medley team as 2008-09 state qualifiers, already making the season an improvement over last year. The medley team qualified for state last month, and several other Los Lunas and Valencia swimmers are close to qualifying as well.

The Lady Tigers finished sixth at the Horsemen Invite, which was hosted by St. Michael's High. The Los Lunas boys were eighth, just ahead of their traveling partner, Valencia, as the Jaguars were ninth. Los Alamos won the team title on both sides.

"It was an exciting meet, because now, we have a good idea of where we're at," said Lin Onsae. "The Los Lunas boys were one swimmer short, and the Valencia boys now have one more."

Brandon Morgan didn't make the trip for the LLHS boys after missing considerable practice time, while eighth-grader Kelen Mahan made his debut for the Valencia boys team.

Mahan competed alongside the four Valencia boys who have made some progress as a relay team. The VHS foursome of Chris Galemore, Paul Wolf, Jesse Moya and Jacob Larson was seventh in the medley relay in Santa Fe.

Galemore was ninth in the 100 freestyle and seventh in the backstroke, and Moya was sixth in the 100 breaststroke.

For the Tiger boys, William Kessler was fifth in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:05.41. He needs to improve that by about seven seconds to qualify for state. He was also fourth in the 100 butterfly and needs to shave off four seconds in that event.

In the 200 individual medley, Brian Van Theemsche was sixth, and the 400 freestyle relay team of Kessler, Van Theemsche, Luis Vera and Jonathan Burden was fifth.

Candelaria and her LLHS relay partners, Kaitlyn Chavez, Kaitlin Jaramillo and Lana Ellis, were third in the medley and sixth in the 200 freestyle relay. She also needs to improve by only 6.67 seconds in the 200 individual medley to qualify for state; she placed fourth in that event at the Horsemen Invite.

Jaramillo was fifth in the 200 freestyle, out of 24 finishers. Chavez is a little more than one second off the qualifying time in the 100 freestyle, placing sixth in that event on Saturday.

Jaramillo and 2008 LLHS graduate Nicole Esquibel have been the only female individual state qualifiers for the Lady Tigers in recent years.

The Tigers and Jaguars are set to travel to the West Mesa Aquatic Center on Wednesday for a 4 p.m. quad meet hosted by Volcano Vista.

That's followed by a Saturday trip to the Albuquerque Academy Swimming Invitational, which begins at approximately 9 a.m.

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