By Glen Rosales / for the Journal
No individual records fell during Saturday’s high school state swimming and diving meet.
But host Albuquerque Academy smacked the record its girls team set in winning last year, totaling 335 points. And the Chargers girls won for the eighth straight time — also a record, breaking a tie with Los Alamos. It was the 24th team championship for the program, which pads its own state-best mark.
On the boys side, everyone was chasing defending champ Eldorado and all challengers came up short as the Eagles went back to back by holding off Los Alamos and Academy.
In the small school competition, Cottonwood Classical won both the boys and girls events.
Last year’s Chargers girls put up 290 points without winning a single event, displaying amazing depth.
The Chargers padded their total this year by winning the 200 freestyle relay and senior Maya Van Atta took gold in the 50 free.
“We’ve got a really great group of girls and they continue to surprise us and step up in big moments,” said Academy coach John Butcher. “We were in a great position this year to have our biggest roster qualify. And that depth is just huge for us. Our quality at the top in addition to our depth was a big part of why I think that margin grew this year for us.”
