Rio honors seniors at Invite, earn second-place finish ahead of Districts

RIO RANCHO — A week after the Storm honored their seniors, it was the Rams' time for the spotlight.

In the final meet before districts and states, the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center held the Rio Rancho Invite to close out January.

“It was a really fun meet,” Rio Rancho head coach Jeremiah Stanton said. “We still had swimmers out due to illness, which hurt us a little. Those that were there were on fire, and turned out amazing swims.”

One of those amazing swims came from Charlie Scott, who was able to lock down a qualifying time for state in the 500-yard freestyle.

Even battling illness, the Rams came ready to swim, hanging around with some of the best in the pool to finish second overall.

“We came really close to beating La Cueva, which is really saying something,” Stanton said. “I was really proud of our swimmers who swam hard even though they weren't feeling the best.”

Behind La Cueva’s 1048 score, the Rams posted a 974.5, including a neck-and-neck finish in the girls' field, 492-479.

Avinash Kalaga and Ewan Mason took the top spots in the boys' 100-yard butterfly, with Kalaga taking first with a 1:01:38.

On the girls' side of the 100-yard butterfly, Elli Garcia took the top spot with the only sub-one-minute time in the event. 

Rio would double up in the breaststroke as well. Kendal Moody added another victory with first place in the 100-yard breaststroke, while Sean Bogue and Caleb Solis took first and second on the boys' side.

In the relays, the Rams took four victories: the girls and boys 200-yard medley, girls 200-yard freestyle and girls 400-yard freestyle.

Moody, Elli Garcia, Chloe Bagley, Shannon Baiardo and Julia Hodges all were a part of two winning relay teams on the big Saturday afternoon.

During a break at the end of the meet, the Ram seniors took a celebratory dive (or cannonball) into the pool at the RRAC in what was the last home meet of the season.

“I have to give a huge thank you to Todd Resch for coming out and supporting our team at the past three meets,” Stanton said. “He has really been there to support us all the way.”

Next: the 5A district championship at Albuquerque Academy Aquatic Center on Feb. 7.

“We are pumped for districts,” Stanton said. “We haven't had many chances to race at Academy, so we really need to lock in this meet so we are prepared for State.”