Henry Lyons has jumped in headfirst for Santa Fe High swimming as state meet approaches

Feb. 4—Of all the things Ty Levis had to concern himself with when taking on the Santa Fe High swimming and diving program, getting Henry Lyons on board with his vision wasn't one of them.

Levis stepped into his role as head coach of the program just two weeks before the start of practice in November, but he already had developed a good relationship with Lyons, one of the Demons' top returning swimmers. It helped that Lyons worked with Levis as a lifeguard at Genoveva Chavez Community Center during the summer, and he watched him practice with the Chargers Aquatics Santa Fe.

What Levis, a 1988 Santa Fe High graduate, brought to the program was exactly what Lyons desired.

"He's very structured, very on time," Lyons said. "I would say is one of the most important things for swimming, so I think that's been really good."

And time is everything for Lyons. The junior established himself as one of the top swimmers in the city when he was just a freshman at Santa Fe Prep in 2021. He continued that trend when he transferred to Santa Fe High as a sophomore.

A year ago, Lyons finished eighth in the 500-yard freestyle and the 100 backstroke at the State Swimming and Diving Championships as the Demons took fifth-place as a team. This season holds even more promise for him, as he holds the realistic goal of perhaps bringing home a individual title to Santa Fe High.

Lyons has the fourth-best time in the 500 free (4 minutes, 59.97 seconds, which he recorded at the Albuquerque Academy Invitational in January) and sits fifth in the 200 individual medley (2:01.09) after Saturday's District 2 meet in Genoveva Chavez. He also will be counted on as a part of the Demons' 400 freestyle relay, which has the third-best time in the state at 3:23.45.

In the district 100 freestyle Saturday, Lyons finished second in 49.55, which is the fifth-best time in the event. He also helped the 200 medley relay team improve its time with a second-place finish in 1:44.34, as Santa Fe High took third place in the team standings with 254 points.

Lyons said he would enjoy winning a state title and helping Santa Fe High possibly collect some hardware with a top-three finish but he just simply wants to improve as a swimmer.

"I don't really have too high of expectations, but that would be awesome," Lyons said. "I know there's definitely going to be tough competition in all my events, a lot of fast swimmers out there."

Lyons is also focused on using the state swim meet to help prepare for the club season's state and regional championships, which come in the weeks after the high school meet on Feb. 17 and 18 at Albuquerque Academy. It's one of the rare sports in the state in which club and high-school seasons overlap, and the New Mexico Activities Association bylaws allow swimmers to compete in both.

It's a balancing act for Lyons and several of his teammates who compete in both leagues. While they are in the pool five days a week, Levis said those swimmers are required to two days of practice with the varsity team. About half of the 22 boys and girls swimmers at Santa Fe compete at the club level, but Levis said it is important for all of his swimmers to practice together to help develop team chemistry and relationships with each other.

Lyons was on board with that, and even became a team captain — earning it through an application process Levis set up to determine his selections. Levis said it was important to get the team to cheer and support each other at meets.

"He just really wants to share the passion that he has for his swimming," Levis said. "He feels like he's a good candidate to help smooth things over between swimmers and coaches and school. In his couple of years, that he's been here, he's really established himself as a as a leader. I'm sure he knows a lot of these kids, because they have always swam together since they were little."

One thing Levis doesn't have to worry about is Lyons' work ethic. He spends at least a couple of hours every day practicing, and that total almost doubles on the days he practices with Santa Fe High.

Lyons said he is more of a distance swimmer, which shows in the 1,650 and 1,800 races at the club level. The longest distance in high school meets is the 500 freestyle, so he uses the race as a balance between developing speed and endurance.

"It's always fun to try to race those shorter events and try to get different cuts that I've never gotten in those events beforehand," Lyons said. "Also, it's just fun. And we've had big goals on the team, especially for our relays. We definitely want to be top three in the state."

One of the more versatile swimmers on the team, Lyons also qualified for state in the breaststroke with a sixth-best time of 1:03.45. Lyons sits 11th in the backstroke with a time of 57.60.

Levis said his transformation in the breaststroke has been impressive.

"I was talking to his mom, and she said he was a really bad breaststroker for a really long time," Levis said. "He worked really hard on it and now he's one of the top in the state. He's really improved on everything, and all his techniques in every stroke that he's done."