State Swimming: Santa Fe Prep’s Sophia Gossum shows signs of things to come

Santa Fe Prep 8th grader Sophia Gossum shows signs of things to come by finishing fourth and fifth at the state swimming championships held at the Albuquerque Academy Natatorium Griffin senior Riley Kinlaw had his best state by placing fifth and sixth, and Santa Fe High senior Luke Shankin
did the same with a ninth and 11th, while the Prep relay quartets did well

By Arnie Leshin 

If you want proof of how special 14-year-old Sophia Gossum is, just take a look at the results from the state swimming-diving championships that were held this past weekend at the Albuquerque Academy Natatorium.

An 8th grader from Santa Fe Prep, she qualified for the state tournament in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles. It was her first time at state, and with her inexperience, you figure she’s along for the ride.

Expect that her qualifying time in these two races were right up there with that of the better swimmers. Now that’s not saying she was one of the favorites to win this event, just that she figured to finish among the frontrunners.

She showed up as one of the Griffin girls, a program that hadn’t competed at the state meet in about a decade. While the Prep boy’s team have been there several times, the girls were managers, friends and supporters. This time they were able to put together relay teams, and rely on Gossum and freshman Chelsea Griscom in the individual races.

Griscom didn’t score in the 100-yard breaststroke or the 200-yard individual medley, but at least she got her feet wet in an event that includes all classes.

And so as a freshman, Griscom found herself against the state’s best. So she finished 16th in the medley in 2:24.11 and 13th in the breaststroke in 1:11.56.

Not Gossum. She was out to make the podium, which she did. In the 50 freestyle, her time of 24.78 earned her fourth place. In the 100 free, she placed fifth in 54.16 with laps of 25.96 and 28.20.

In both races, she was right up there with the leaders. In the 50, the winner clocked 23.69. In the 100, the winning time was 52.37.

Asked about the feeling of being at state, to be part of a young Prep girl’s team with a sophomore, a junior and a senior. And an 8th grader and freshman, Gossum didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Oh yes, this has been great,” she said, “and maybe we can win state next year, then again I’m sure we will.”

That’s optimism for a young lady who might be winning medals for the next four years. In each relay, she had the fastest time in whatever lap she swam.

On the boy’s side, it was the finale for senior Riley Kinlaw. He had qualified for state since he an 8th grader, but this time it was his best finishes in the 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke.

In the fly, he turned in a 53.50 for fifth place. His laps were 24.70 and 28.80. In the breast, he was timed in 59.94, good for sixth place on laps of 28:18 and 31:76. His brother, Jordan, a junior, came in 16th in the breaststroke in 1:04.18.

Santa Fe High senior Luke Shankin finished 11th in the 100 butterfly in the time of 54.30 with laps of 25.31 and 28.99. In the 200 freestyle, he was timed in 1:48.08 and placed ninth. Senior teammate Bradley Moffett swam 50:48 in the 100 free and came in 14th.

In the relays, the Prep boys took 10th in the 200 medley, fifth in the 200 freestyle. The Griffin girls finished ninth in the 200 freestyle relay, and were disqualified in the 400 freestyle relay when one of their runners took an illegal early take-off. Nathan and Colfax were on all three relays.

Also swimming legs for the Prep girls were Griscom, senior Kate Schililaro, junior Arielle Nathan, and sophomore Hayden Colfax. For the boys, it was the Kinlaw brothers, and juniors Cypress Hayunga and Reed Kellam.

In the team scoring, the boy’s title went to Albuquerque Eldorado with 300 points and host Academy scored 272.5 for second place. Prep was 10th with 71 points and Santa Fe High scored 18 points for 23rd. The girl’s winner was Academy with 419 points, with Prep taking 11th with 66.

Counting the schools under 5A and 6A, the Griffin boys from 3A captured the small-school title for the second-straight year. The girls placed second.