Four Verde Valley High Performance swimmers came out of their final meet of the year with new personal best times, as sisters Renae and Zoe Porteous prepare to travel together to the Western Nationals meet in March.

“We’re just going into Christmas training really hard,” said their head coach, Sean Emery. “I’m looking forward to them coming out ahead of the game. They’ll be noticeably faster in March.”

That is when Zoe Porteous, 14, and 10-year-old sister Renae will be swimming in up to seven events at state and national meets, depending on their times Friday through Sunday, Jan. 29 through 31, at the Scottsdale Aquatic Center Winter Invitational.

“Zoe’s only a couple of seconds off in the 100- and 200-[yard] breast[stroke], and four seconds away in the 200-[yard] individual medley,” Emery said. “She’ll be able to get those times at State, which will be a big deal for both of them.”

Zoe Porteous had the highest overall finish with second place in the 200-yard individual medley preliminary heat, prior to finishing sixth in the finals. Renae placed third in the 50-yard breaststroke and 100-yard IM.

Renae Porteous has already qualified for Western Nationals in the breaststroke and is “about a second away in pretty much everything” else, Emery added — namely, the 100-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard IM and the 1,500-yard freestyle.

“The kids’ performance was incredible,” he said. “Their technique, strength and endurance are quickly making all of them good athletes dropping massive amounts of time.

“Within two years, they’ll be the fastest to come out of the Verde Valley, ever.”

Williams, who lifts weights with Zoe Porteous as part of her training at the Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock, dropped time in four events, placing ninth in the 50-yard breaststroke for her highest finish.

“They were already hitting personal best times in practice on the long course pool a couple of weeks before the meet,” Emery said. “In fact, Zoe just went 2:55 in the 200-meter breast — her best time.”

For Ingram, who had just aged up into the 11- to 12-year-old girls age group, “everything was her best time,” Emery said, “because she hadn’t swam those events before.”

Ingram’s top finish in seven events was 00:45.55 in the 50-yard butterfly, for 26th place.

For full time drops from the Verde Valley High Performance winter meet, please see the Friday, Dec. 18, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.