Reigning CIF State medalist swimmers head Clovis West Invitational field

Buchanan High’s Stephanie Bartel and Clovis’ Graham Hauss, who each reached the podium twice individually at last year’s CIF State Swimming and Diving Championships, headline the field for this weekend’s 31st annual Clovis West Invitational.

Bartel, who placed sixth in the 200 individual medley and eighth in the 100 backstroke at state last season, is entered in the 500 free and 100 breaststroke this weekend. Bartel, who has committed to Pittsburgh, was The Bee’s 2016 Co-Girls Swimmer of the Year.

Hauss, who was fifth in the 500 free and sixth in the 200 free, is entered in the 100 free and 200 free. Hauss, a member of The Bee’s Boys Relay Team of the Year last season, is committed to Arizona State.

Bartell and Hauss are among nearly 1,400 competitors – both varsity and junior varsity – representing 41 schools entered in the two-day event at the Clovis Olympic Swim Complex, which will play host to the state meet for the third time May 19-20.

The meet begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday with diving, then moves to swimming prelims. It continues at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with swimming finals.

One of the marquee events will be the girls 50 free, where Clovis West’s Abby Samansky and Caitlyn Snyder are in position to break the meet record of 23.84 set by former Golden Eagle Mariah Tharp in 2010. Samansky’s seed time is 24.04, while Snyder’s is 24.06. That race is scheduled for 10:42 a.m.

Several returning state individual qualifiers from the Fresno area are entered, including Samansky, Snyder, Skylar Elkington, Tom Schad and Hunter Lane of Clovis West, and Averee Preble and Adie Collard of Clovis.

Top individual girls seeds include Frontier’s Kassidy Lemmin (200 free), Central’s Alyssa Montgomery (200 IM), Samansky (50 free and 100 free), Collard (100 fly), Clovis West’s Hannah Lambert (500 free), Redwood’s Alex Roberts (100 back) and Redwood’s Megan Ridenour (100 breaststroke).

Top-seeded boys include Hauss (200 free), Lane (200 IM), Clovis North’s Michael Jia (50 free), Bellarmine Prep-San Jose’s Nathan Yates (100 fly, 100 back), Frontier’s Colin Rabanal (100 free), Schad (500 free) and Bellarmine’s Michael Brannan (100 breast).

This story was originally published April 20, 2017 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Reigning CIF State medalist swimmers head Clovis West Invitational field."