Scott Kretzmann
ASC Sports
Information Director
The Adams State College men’s and women’s swimming kicked off their 2011 season on Friday, Sept. 30, facing off against each other in a Green & Black Pentathlon where seven pool or program records were set.
Pitting the Grizzly swimmers against each other, the intrasquad meet was held two weeks before the teams’ first competition of the season, the Oct. 15 Rocky Mountain Invitational which will be hosted by Colorado Mines in Golden, Colo.
Three records were broken on the men’s side, while four went down on the women’s on Friday in the Plachy Hall Pool.
The new-look men’s team, which includes nine freshman, swam new team record times in the 100 yard butterfly, the 100 yard backstroke and the 100 yard freestyle.
Nick Mankus (Keller, Texas) set a new 100 fly record with a time of 56.08 seconds, while Luis Solis (El Paso, Texas) also came in under the prior ASC record with a mark of 59.01 seconds.
In the 100 back, all nine new Grizzlies came in under or at the prior mark on the ASC record charts. Stephen Powers (Lyman, Wyo.) led the way with a time of 1 minute, 0.28 seconds. Powers was followed by Mankus in 1:02.25, Avery Saxton (Windsor, Colo.) in 1:03.88, Solis in 1:03.99 and Kenan Bussen (Clovis, New Mexico) rounded out the first five swimmers in the event. Logan Morrison (Anacortes, Wash.), Benjamin Laxson (Wheat Ridge, Colo.), Trey Griffith (Evanston, Wyo.) and Chance Mena (New Caney, Texas) each matched or beat the existing mark as well.
The Grizzly men also saw four swimmers dip under the 100 free record. That quartet was led by Powers with a time of 52.16. Mankus and Saxton joined him with sub-53 times, touching the wall in 52.41 and 52.44, respectively. The final swimmer under the prior mark was Solis in 53.56.
The Grizzly women, who boast one returner from last year’s team in sophomore Jennell Higgs (Socorro, N.M.), as well as sophomore Jessica Palacio (Albuquerque, N.M.) who swam during the ASC women’s inaugural 2009-10 season, saw records fall in the 100 fly, 100 back, 100 yard breaststroke and 100 yard individual medley.
Higgs recorded a new pool record in the 100 fly, edging out freshman Lucia Avila (El Paso, Texas) with a time of 1:01.19. Avila also beat the old mark with a time of 1:01.98.
Avila was also under the existing ASC top marks in the 100 back and 100 breast. In the 100 back, Avila claimed a new record for herself, as the only Adams State swimmer under the old mark with a time of 1:04.24.
Four amphibious Grizzlies accomplished the feat in the 100 breast. Freshman April Cunningham (Leander, Texas) led the way with a new program and pool record, finishing over a second ahead of her closest competitor with a time of 1:10.30. Freshman Maggie Morris (Colorado Springs, Colo.) finished as runner-up, also under both previous marks, with a time of 1:11.91.
Both Avila and Higgs bested the prior team best in the 100 breast, swimming times of 1:15.81 and 1:16.49, respectively.
Higgs then went on to end the day by re-setting her own team record in the 200 IM. She clipped more than a second off her mark from last season, clocking a time of 2:19.46.
Also in action at Friday’s team affair were Grizzly newcomers Samantha Green (Brighton, Colo.), Michelle Hutchins (Houston, Texas), Jordan Shomaker (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Sasha Vigil (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Erica Wright (Kent, Wash.), all part of a freshman class of 10 for Adams State.
The Grizzlies will be in action three times in the month of October, beginning with the CSM-hosted Rocky Mountain Invitational, and will also travel to Nebraska where the women will swim a dual against Nebraska-Kearney and both squads will swim against Morningside (Iowa), and then a trip to the Air Force Duals.
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