'A great day for the team:' Scorpions swim team captures eighth place in state championships

Farmington Daily Times

Farmington divers Eddie Durphy (left) and Mosiah Seavey (right) display their 2nd and 1st place medals won at the 2021 NMAA Swimming & Diving Championship on May 15, 2021. Seavey finished with 470.15 points and Durphy finished with 449.85.

FARMINGTON — The Farmington High School girls swim & dive team wrapped up the season with an eighth place finish in the 2022 state championships, held Saturday at the Albuquerque Academy Natatorium.

The eighth-place result for the girls swim team comes three days after the Scorpions boys swim team wrapped up its season with a fourth place finish in the state tournament.

The state championship finals were held over the course of different dates this year for the first time after the New Mexico Activities Association announced last month modifications needed to be implemented in regards to the attendance and fan participation restrictions that were in place at the time at many New Mexico high schools.

Farmington High School's Aili Talcott, set to compete for a state swimming championship next month, has signed a letter of intent to attend Stony Brook University in New York City.

The Albuquerque Academy girls swim team won the state team championship with a combined score of 308.5 points, topping Eldorado, Los Alamos and La Cueva.

The highlight of the day for the Scorpions girls team were individual performances in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke by senior Aili Talcott, who won a second place medal in the breaststroke and third in the individual medley.

Farmington High School's Jessi Curry, Jenica Finlayson, Aili Talcott, and Morgan Deale pose for pictures after finishing seventh in the 200-yard medley relay championship race at the 2022 state tournament, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022 at Albuquerque Academy

Talcott's second place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke came just 1.2 seconds behind state champion Kelly Wetteland from Los Alamos.

See photos:Farmington boys dominate the 1-meter dive at 5A state swimming and diving championships

Talcott, who recently signed a letter of intent to attend college this fall at Stony Brook University in New York, is one of the top-ranked high school girl swimmers in the state, according to Swimcloud.com. Last year, at the 2021 state championships, Talcott finished second and third, respectively in these same events.

In other highlights, Farmington earned a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, as the team of Talcott, Jenica Finlayson, Morgan Deale and Jessi Curry earned a school-record time of 1 minute, 54.59 seconds.

The team of Coralie Norenberg, Asiana Lee, Cindy Fan and Maya Van Atta from Albuquerque Academy won the event in a final time of 1:48.21.

More:Scorpions swim team bring home individual and team qualifying marks

"It was a great day for the team," said Scorpions coach Erin McGinley.

Farmington High School junior Morgan Deale battles to the finish line in the 200-yard individual medley finals during the District 2 swimming and diving tournament, Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022 at the Farmington Aquatic Center.

In other competition, the relay team of Deale, Talcott, Finlayson and Preslie West took home a fourth-place medal in the 400-yard freestyle relay, losing to the Los Alamos squad of Anna and Kelly Wetteland along with Sylvia Holesinger and Sophia Pieck.

For complete tournament recaps and scores, check out the official results page from the New Mexico Activities Association website.

Steve Bortstein can be reached via email at SBortstein@Gannett.com, via Twitter @DTSBortstein or on the phone at (505) 635-2680.

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