Warriors hit pool for first meet of the season

The 2021-22 Warriors swim team came out to take place in the Rio Grande Invitational. Swimmers included Christin Armijo, Eryn Esquibel, Cody Johnston, Sky Sessions, Rio Sessions, Shay Vanlandingham, Tig Baker, Qorban Lewark, Kaden Dow, Warren Chewiwi, Colton Dow and Jacob Breitha.
Greg Byrd | El Defensor Chieftain photos

The 2020-21 series of high school state swim meets were abbreviated, as only four took place and instead of taking place in the winter months, the meets took place in the spring with a smaller pool of teams and contestants.  For 2021-22 the full line up of regular season nine meets heading into the State Championships are underway. Socorro participated in its first invite of the season on December 11.

Taking place at the West Mesa Aquatic center, seven schools came out for the early 8 a.m. Saturday event. Participating in seven different team and individual races were: Los Lunas, Socorro, Sandia Prep, Rio Grande, Belem, Los Lunas, Highland and home team West Mesa. With the Rio Grande Ravens serving as hosts, head coach Dustin Lamar was in charge of coordinating the event, including registering teams, setting up scorer’s tables and answering coach’s questions. He also coached a team of 12 Ravens swimmers.

“There’s a lot of things logistically to deal with for these meets,” he said. “But the great thing about Rio Grande is that we have a lot of people in our community willing to help for a big event like this. It’s so awesome to have these full meets back for everyone involved.”

Led by Head Coach Kirsten Dow, the Warriors arrived early to get situated, suit up and hit the designated west side pool for practice laps. This was the first meet of the season for them.

The Warriors boys team took home first place in the 200 yard medley at 1:56.83.

“This team is swimming strong,” Dow said. “Our boys’ relay should qualify this year. The girls are improving. We’re a small team but these kids do all the strokes well. Breast stroke is what our team does most often this year.”

A total of 12 players from Socorro, four girls and eight boys, competed in the various events. Freshman Sky Session had the best individual performance for Socorro in the 50 yard freestyle, which happens to be her favorite stroke, finishing 12th with a time of 34.10. She has been swimming since she was 7, competing in the Socorro summer youth team.

“I really like being in the waters,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun and also good exercise for me. We do have a small team but I think this is going to be alright. All we can do is try our best when facing some of these bigger teams.”

The coaching personalities were varied from school to school. One of the more enthusiastic coaches at the meet was West Mesa’s Theresa Illgen. She has been the swim coach for five years, also teaching social studies.

“I’m not a big fan of hosting meets because it’s kinda stressful,” she said. “But Dustin is doing a great job today. I prefer to just be with my team at these events. My team has a lot of all new swimmers so I need to work with them, but they are definitely working hard.”

On the other end of the coaching spectrum Belen’s head coach Mary Batista has been coaching her team for less than a month. The Eagles came in with 18 swimmers.

“The previous coach for years got a promotion recently, so we were scrambling for a coach,” she said. “I stepped through a quick process so that way we could have a team compete. It’s been fun for me with this group early on because they have real initiative.”

No swimmers were able to achieve automatic State Championship qualifying times in any of the seven events. The Warriors did win one event as Rio Sessions, Colton Dow, Cody Johnston and Kaden Dow came in first in the Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay. Socorro has one last meet in 2021 on December 12, once again at West Mesa.

Socorro Times:

Sixth place Girls 200 yard medley, Shay Vanlandingham, Sky Sessions, Cristin Armijo, Eryn Esquibel at 2:39.27. First place Boys 200 yard medley, Rio Sessions, Colton Dow, Cody Johnston, Kaden Dow at 1:56.83. Sixth place Girls 50 yard freestyle, Sky Sessions at 31.32. Eleventh place 50 yard freestyle, Shay Vanlandingham at 33.29.