1225 Athletes from 40 Teams Descend on Clovis West High for Massive Invite

2024 Clovis West Invite

• April 5-6, 2024
• Clovis West High School, Clovis, California
• Short Course Yards, Prelims/Finals (25 yards)
• Psych Sheets

Clovis West High School, site of the 2024 California High School Swimming & Diving Championships in May, will host its massive annual invite this weekend, featuring 1225 athletes from 40 teams from across the state of California.

The meet, which has been running since 1987, will be a prelims/finals event for the first time after traditionally being a one day timed finals event. Adam Reid, the head coach of Clovis West High, says that the new format has helped draw several top teams to the meet.

Among the participating teams are the girls from Carondelet High School in the Bay Area, who placed 5th at last year’s state meet, and the host Clovis West girls, who were 7th at that meet. Also in attendance are the boys teams from Northwood High (4th at state) and De La Salle (6th at state).

The meet also will see the boys from Smoky Hill High School in Colorado, one of the few states besides California that swims this late into the season, make the meet a federal affair. Smoky Hill finished 5th at the Colorado Class 5A (big school) state championship meet last year.

Other notable teams in attendance:

• Clovis West
• Clovis North
• Carondelet
• De La Salle
• Northwood
• Granite Bay
• Smoky Hill (CO) boys
• Liberty Bakersfield
• San Luis Obispo
• Arroyo Grande

Among the biggest matchups of the meet will be Northwood sophomore Andrew Maksymowski against Northwood junior Will Chen in an intrasquad battle that is a state preview of sorts. At last year’s State Championship meet, Maksymowski was 12th in 1:39.97, making him the highest-placing freshman in the field, while Chen was 14th in 1:40.23.

With the graduations of the top two finishers from last year’s state meet, both swimmers are looking for more this season. Maksymowski swam 1:36.86 at a Closed Invitational in early March, while Chen has been as fast as 1:38.74.

Maksymowski is also the top seed in the 100 back (50.51) while Chen is the top seed in the 100 free (45.28).

A strong boys’ 100 breaststroke field is led by top seed Ryan Connole of Northwood, but lurking as the 5th seed is Smoky Hill senior Daniel Yi. While he is seeded with a 57.51, he was the Colorado state runner-up last season with a 54.86. He is committed to Utah for the fall.

On the girls’ side, Clovis West senior Hannah Marinovich and her sophomore sister Hailey Marinovich will headline the meet. Hannah, a Tennessee commit, was the California runner-up in the 100 breast last season and is seeded first at this meet in the 100 breast. She was already close to her best time this season, going 1:01.43 at the Mt. SAC Winterfest Invite in mid-March.

Hannah is the #2 seed in the 200 IM (2:07.04) behind her sister Hailey, who is the top seed with a 2:06.42.

Other Notable Entrants:

• Clovis West sophomore Audrey Hill is the top seed in the 100 fly (54.29) and 50 free (23.82). She has been dropping time in the 100 fly by the fistful already this season: she entered the calendar year with a best time of 58.30 from December 2022.
• Clovis North freshman Rowyn Wilber is the top seed in both the 500 free (4:54.48) and 100 back (55.92).
• Carondalet senior Natalie Aiken is the top seed in the 100 free in 53.00. She leads the squad into this meet in the absence of her fellow senior Maddie O’Connell, who isn’t on the psych sheets for Carondelet but who would likely be the top seed in both individual events.
• Ethan Linville, a sophomore from Clovis North, is the top seed in the 500 free in 4:29.04 – a time he did at the Mt. SAC Winterfest meet two weeks ago. That was a three-second drop on his previous best time.
• Jacob Zimmerman, a junior from Bakersfield – Liberty, is the top seed in the 50 free in 21.22.