The ability to make like a fish came naturally to Seth Montgomery.

The one thing he never liked about the water, however, was that nagging physiological need to breathe. Dating back to his days as a swimming novice in grade school, he always took issue with the idea of holding his breath in order to make headway.

That's perhaps the biggest reason the Santa Fe Preparatory senior has found his calling in the one event that doesn't require much face time below the surface.

Montgomery is one of the state's top competitors in the backstroke.

"I can breathe, which explains why I was drawn to it," he said. "There's no going under water if you do it right."

Montgomery's state meet qualifying time in the 100-yard backstroke came earlier this month with a time of 53.32 seconds, the second-fastest of any boys swimmer this season. He nearly equaled it in Saturday morning's Griffin Invitational at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center.

As usual, he started quickly by opening a six-second lead at the first turn en route to a time of 53.72 -- nearly 12 full seconds ahead of second-place finisher Keith Pacheco of St. Michael's. It came on the heels of Montgomery's equally dominant swim in the 100 butterfly.

He led the field in that event by two seconds at the wall, then sprinted home to beat Sandia Prep's Kevin Benavidez by nearly five seconds.

The only other swimmer with a better time than Montgomery in the backstroke this season is Jack Feely of St. Pius X. Feely was in the pool for Saturday's meet but elected to try his hand at other events. He wound up winning the 200 individual medley and 100 freestyle, making himself and Montgomery the only two-event winners on the boys' side.

Alamogordo's Franny Larson and St. Pius' Lauren Atkins also swept a pair of events while Ashlynn Bennett of Los Alamos took the 100 breaststroke and Crista Palermo of St. Michael's earned the 1-meter diving title.

Desert Academy's Stuart Sproul cruised to a win in the boys' diving competition, winning by more than 110 points. Sproul is another local considered a strong favorite to reach the medal podium at state.

He drew the largest cheer of the day when he took to the board during the later stages of Saturday's meet.

"It's because we don't get to see him compete all that much," said Wildcats head coach Rob Lochner. "He's usually done or we're competing somewhere else when he's out there."

Lochner's club was hamstrung to a certain degree this weekend. A couple of swimmers were fighting colds while his daughter, Hannah, was fighting fatigue. She still managed to claim third-place finishes in the 100 and 200 freestyle events, barely missing qualifying standards in each race by a fraction of a second.

Another local getting a win was St. Michael's sophomore Matt Smallwood. He coasted to a seven-second win in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:05.87. It's an event he feels he can shave at least two seconds off before the state meet in February.

"I can get it down to about 1:02 or 1:03; it's possible," he said. "It might not be enough [to win state] but at least it would be enough to beat my brother's record. Maybe."

Smallwood's efforts helped the Horsemen take third place in the team competition behind overall winner St. Pius and runner-up Alamogordo. Santa Fe Prep was fourth, followed by Los Alamos and Taos. Santa Fe High was eighth and Desert Academy 11th.

Alamogordo won the girls championship with 153 points, easily outdistancing second place St. Pius' 112 points. Los Alamos and Taos tied for fourth with 33 points. Desert Academy, Santa Fe High and St. Michael's finished 8-10, respectively.

Most area teams will return to the Chavez Center Feb. 4 for the Capital City Invitational. A week later are the district championships, then the state meet Feb. 17-18 in Albuquerque.