By Eric Butler
MaxPreps.com
Academy senior Marcus Guttmann held himself back a little bit in the finals of the 200-yard butterfly on Saturday.
At the New Mexico state swimming and diving championships, Guttmann after all had already set a state record in the event in prelims on Friday. So he figured he'd save his strength to get another state mark in another event.
That happened, but not in the race Guttmann thought.
Thanks to Guttmann and a few other sterling Academy seniors, the Chargers boys rolled to another state team championship – their fourth straight crown.
On the final day of the meet, held at Albuquerque Academy, they put an exclamation mark on the event by setting new state records in both the 200- and 400-freestyle relays. Guttmann was the anchor leg on both.
Earlier in the day, he had won both the 200-fly and the 500-freestyle distance race in easy fashion. However, the Chargers' standout had not gained a state record in the longer event – despite holding back in the butterfly.
Only one event later, though, Guttmann was back in the pool with teammates Kalani Kaula, Max Walla and Elliot Feng for the 200-free relay. With a finishing time of 1:26.67, the quartet beat the mark set by Sandia Prep (1:27.46) in 2005.
But the Chargers weren't done. In the last race of the day, the same four swimmers took down the oldest existing state record.
When Guttmann touched the wall at 3:12.44, the mark of 3:12.90 set in 1982 by Los Alamos finally went down.
"It was always a possibility. Coach Dave Barney has high expectations for us; he wanted us to break them. I don't know if we thought we could," Guttmann said of the relay records. "But he knew. He was right."
It was a sparkling day for Kaula and Feng individually as well. Kaula entered both the 50- and 100-freestyle races not necessarily as the favorite – based upon prelim times.
But Kaula was the defending state champ in the 100 and, although entering with only the fifth-best time, he swept to victory again. In the 50-freestyle sprint, Kaula had the third-best preliminary mark before out-touching Cibola's Richard Melchor and Rio Rancho's Tim Zoltowski in the finals.
As for Feng, he was the 100-breaststroke for a third consecutive year by edging longtime rivals Seth Lemon of Bosque School and La Cueva's Ethan Fine.
"I thought it was a good race. We put on a good show, I think," Lemon said. "I guess I'm more upset that the state record (58.29 seconds) didn't fall."
Farmington senior Chris Riley also finished his high school career with a third straight title. In the 100-backstroke, UNLV-bound Riley beat Albuquerque High's Jake Mortenson – who had earlier won the 200-individual medley.
"This was the last race. It feels great. I was wanting to go for a state record, but I just missed it – even though it was a long shot," said Riley, who finished the 100-back with a time of 51.70 seconds, just under a second off the record set in 2002.
Asked if this championship felt any different than his previous two, Riley said yes.
"Kind of, yeah. Since I'm going to Las Vegas next year, I was trying to get onto one of their relays," Riley said. "That should have gotten me on."
Other boys winners were Sandia junior Drew Sacoman and Academy sophomore Kyle Lang – both first-time state champs. Sacoman raced to victory in the 200-freestyle while Lang grabbed the state diving championship.
Girls State Swimming Meet: Youth rules over experience in finals
At last year's state championships, Albuquerque High eighth-grader Madison Bridges was merely performing a function. On Saturday, the freshman was one of several very young competitors stealing the spotlight.
Bridges raced to fairly commanding victories in both the 200-individual medley and the 100-backstroke – with a winning margin of over two seconds in both cases.
In the Albuquerque Public Schools system, students are only allowed to compete beginning with their ninth-grade year. At the 2008 state meet, Bridges dutifully collected items from the competitors before races.
"Last year, I was a basket-carrier. Now I'm actually swimming at it and it's just crazy to think about where I was," Bridges said. "I couldn't see the other girls out of the corner of my eye (during the IM), so I just went all out."
Another phenom making her state debut was an eighth-grader. Academy's Anika Apostalon emerged with convincing wins in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle sprints. Apostalon edged Farmington's April Chee – another youngster who won the 500-free last year as an eighth-grader - to the wall in the 50-freestyle before nipping La Cueva junior Brenna St. John in the 100.
"I was really nervous, but I'm glad I did it," Apostalon said. "It's pretty crazy. I've never had something like this before. I can't wait for the years to come."
St. John did come away with a victory herself by taking the 200-freestyle over Volcano Vista sophomore Kassandra Cleto and Las Cruces High's Samantha Harding.
Harding, only a freshman, was also another case where youth was served. She later swept to victory in the 500-freestyle, winning the race by over seven seconds over Chee.
"I got third in the 200 by two-tenths of a second. I was kind of disappointed, but I tried really, really hard," Harding said. "I just remembered that, no matter what you do, you always have something else to look forward to.
"I felt like I could either win it (the 500-freestyle) or finish second," she added. "But I really wanted to win."
Other winners did have a little more seasoning. Eldorado senior Kaitlan Walker capped her high school career with a win in the girls one-meter diving competition while a pair of juniors, Los Alamos' Victoria Maqueda and Las Cruces' Jorgi Hobson, grabbed victories respectively in the 100-breast and the 100-butterfly.
Many of the Las Cruces swimmers, like Hobson, were also in the middle of the club swimming season and didn't take any extra rest specifically for the state's top high school meet.
"I'm pretty much in the middle of training. I feel like I could have broken the state record in the 100-fly; I was a second off of it," said Hobson, who finished her state-winning race in 57.85 seconds to beat Academy's Michelle Howell.
Hobson also finished third in the 200-individual medley.
"I'm happy with it (the 100-butterfly) though. It's a good time and just off my best time," she added.
Academy, after slumping to second in the team standings last year, grabbed yet another title. The girls state championship was the Chargers' fourth in the last five years.
