State swimming and diving: Albuquerque Academy, Cottonwood Classical awash in blue trophies

Divers don’t often steal the spotlight at the state swimming and diving championships, but they did this year with noteworthy performances on the 1-meter board Saturday at the Albuquerque Academy Natatorium.

La Cueva’s Chloe Ashe capped her three-year reign as champion with a record-setting performance and Albuquerque Academy’s Oliver Mattox not only shared the top rung of the leaderboard with Alfredo Hernandez of Hobbs, but he also helped the Chargers win both the 4x100- and 4x50-meter relays.

The Academy boys also put an end to Eldorado’s bid for a threepeat as the Chargers won their first title since 2017, while the Academy girls won a ninth straight championship and 25th overall.

In the small-schools division, all teams were again chasing Cottonwood Classical, which won both the boys and girls blue trophies for the third straight season.

On her final competitive dive, an inward one and a half pike, Ashe finished with 542.40 points to surpass the high mark Natasha Dark of St. Pius set in 2015 by nearly two points.

“I’ve just kind of been working on that all year, just leading up to it,” Ashe said. “I actually know the previous state record holder, she coached us at club for a year. So it’s pretty awesome. Yeah, she texted me today and said congrats. So that’s cool, super exciting.”

Mattox pulled off a rare feat in gaining blue medals in both the pool and diving.

“I’ve swam longer than I’ve dived and I feel like that’s what’s allowed me to really up my game,” he said. “I was really surprised. I expected to beat my score from last year and stay on the podium, but I didn’t expect first.”

The Chargers, who finished with 356½ points to dominate La Cueva (220) and Los Alamos (213) on the boys side, had several other athletes win multiple events, which is something that had to happen since they only qualified 10 swimmers, said first-year head coach Jim Van Atta.

“So really impressive,” Van Atta said. “Really, just every kid that made it was contributing, and then we had some really tough, overall performances.”

Soren Carlson won the 50 and 100 freestyles, setting Academy records in both, while Shep Camp won the 200 medley and the 100 breaststroke.

“I put a lot of hard work into it, and it’s finally showing the results,” Carlson said. “It’s amazing. I’m a little disappointed because I thought I would go a little faster, but it’s still a win, so I’ll take it.”

And ending the long team championship drought was gratifying, Mattox said.

“It’s been great,” he said. “I feel like the team’s just been more connected this year in general.”

The Chargers girls also left little doubt about the outcome with 340 points to 234.50 for Clovis and 230 for La Cueva.

“My predecessor really set things up nice with a great team, and I have a great staff, the same staff we had before that supported me and it’s just a tradition here,” Van Atta said. “So definitely felt a little bit of pressure, but the kids came through. We asked them to win the meet (Friday) in prelims and get ourselves in position. And they swam way beyond our expectations. And so, yeah, sometimes I just feel fortunate to get to coach these girls.”

Cindy Fan put in a big effort for the Chargers, winning the 100 freestyle and anchoring the 4x50 and 4x100 freestyle relays.

“I’ve been pretty happy with all my results. I think there are some things I can still work on, but overall, I’m really proud of my team,” she said. “Our coach always talked about trust and confidence, and I really believed that we could win. I’m really happy for the team.”

Saaya Bhatka led the way for Cottonwood, winning the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke.

“It helps when you have Saaya,” Coyotes coach Adrian Gonzales said with a chuckle. “She’s an amazing athlete. She comes every day. Pushes herself to be better. And then it helps when you have just a group of girls that are constantly building each other up. I always preach to this team that we may be a small school, but we’re trying to build a family on this team. So no matter what, we’re trying to build each other up, push each other to be better.”

The Cottonwood boys got a strong performance from Roman Rodriguez, who won the 100 backstroke.

“This was really cool because it’s three years in a row, wonderful,” he said.

And there could more to come, Gonzales said.

“This is still a young, hungry group,” he said. “They just want to be coming out here and keep surprising everybody. I tell these kids, we may be a small school, but we can beat out some of these bigger schools.”

Dive in and take a look at these photos from the 2025 state swimming and diving championships