Diego Vigil leads Eagles at Belen Invite swim meet

BELEN — In the pool on Saturday at the Belen Invitational, St. Pius swimmers captured the team title, with BHS second and Los Lunas third.

Boys and girls results were combined to get the final standings. Valencia was eighth among the 10 teams.

According to BHS coach Liz Jones, 14 of 17 swimmers set personal records for this season. On the boys side, the Eagles won the 200 freestyle relay and the 200 medley relay, with Cole Rodriguez, Arbin Apodaca, Nehemiah Sanchez and Diego Vigil.

Individually, Vigil won the 200 freestyle and the 100 butterfly, while Rodriguez took the 100 backstroke and Sanchez was first in the 50 freestyle.

The LLHS boys were led by Oen Martinez, winner of the 100 breaststroke. Marissa Candelaria, LLHS/VHS coach, said Martinez, Luke Hetes and the 200 free relay team lowered times significantly and are getting closer to qualifying for the state championships.

Ava Casaus-Carrasco had a stellar meet for the Valencia girls, winning the 100 and 200 freestyle. She was also a member of the VHS team, along with Ava Marie Burkhard, Angeline Batista and Lillyana Wheeler, that won the 400 freestyle relay.