Newport relay qualifies fifth

FRESNO — The Newport Harbor High boys’ 400-yard freestyle relay team qualified fifth Friday at the CIF State Swimming Championships preliminaries at Clovis West High.

Sawyer Farmer, Jason Grew, Reece Hemmens and Nick Halphide touched in a time of 3 minutes, 7.73 seconds to advance to the championship final. Newport Harbor had come into the meet seeded 15th in the event.

Individually, Farmer qualified for the consolation finals in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle. He qualified 10th in the 50 free, in 21.03 seconds. He then qualified 14th in the 100 free, in 46.42 seconds.

Both times were off his school-record times of 20.80 and 45.80, respectively, set at last week’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 meet at Riverside City College. At that meet, Farmer was third in the 50 free and seventh in the 100 free.

The CIF State Championships continue on Saturday, with finals beginning at 2:30 p.m.

— From staff reports