New Mexico State vs North Texas (W)
- Friday, October 7, 2022
- Las Cruces, New Mexico
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
- Final Score: New Mexico State 150, North Texas 88
Courtesy: New Mexico State Athletics
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Despite some resistance from some Southwest rain, the Aggies officially began their 2022-23 campaign as they hosted North Texas on Friday afternoon.
NM State opened the season on a strong note – defeating the Mean Green, 150-88, in the home-opening meet at the NM State Swimming and Diving Complex.
SWIMMING
- The Aggies kicked off the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay as the team of Maude Boily-Dufour, Aimee Burton, Rachel Ponte and Kira Brownell combined to finish at 1:47.15.
- Noami Slee, Zoey Dodson and Millie Sicko then continued the Aggies’ winning ways as they finished 1-2-3 in the 1000 yard freestyle following the opening relay. Slee turned in the top time as she finished at 10:31.66.
- Katie Rink came in as the first-place finisher in the 200 free – reaching the wall at 1:56.42 in her debut as an Aggie.
- Aimee Burton then followed Rink with a win in the 50 free (23.85) while Kira Brownell also finished among the top three in the sprint.
- The podium was full of Aggies again in the 400 IM as Lindsay Puhalski led the way with a time of 4:36.83 while Estel Galo and Molly Hill finished in second and third, respectively.
- Following her second-place finish in the 400 IM, freshman Estel Galo turned in a first-place finish in the 200 fly – finishing in 2:08.34.
- Aimee Burton then picked up her second win of the day as she came in ahead of the competition in the 100 free (52.55).
- Thea Masselink began her NM State career with a win in the 200 back – finishing with a time of 2:06.01.
- Naomi Slee then flexed her long-distance muscles for the second time of the meet as she was the fastest swimmer in the 500 free (5:06.18) after claiming first in the 1000.
- To conclude the meet, the quartet of Lindsay Puhalski, Naomi Slee and Elizabeth Cervantes-Vanderlugt raced to the win in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:33.35.
DIVING
- Italia Aranzabal recorded the top-scoring dive at the one-meter height as she notched a final score of 228.08.
- Aranzabal was also the Aggies’ top scorer in the three-meter event as she posted a total score of 211.28.
QUOTABLE | HEAD COACH RICK PRATT
“Really proud of our team with today’s win. Our freshmen were fun to watch, and we had great energy despite the rain and adversity we faced. We’ve still got a lot of work to do but it was a great start and I’m excited to watch our group continue to grow.”
Courtesy: North Texas Athletics
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – After dropping a dual meet against New Mexico State to open the season, the North Texas women’s swimming and diving team bounced back to grab a victory over New Mexico to start off the 2022-23 season with a split.
The Mean Green fell to NMSU 150-88 but were able to take home a 125-118 victory over the Lobos thanks to a solid effort in the pool.
In the 13 total events against UNM, the Mean Green secured first place in seven including a pair of 1-2-3 sweeps in both the 200-IM and the 100-butterfly.
First in the 200-IM, Diana Kolb led the way with a final time of 2:12.93 to secure nine points for the Mean Green. She was closely followed by Laura Mazzotta who finished in 2:15.24 for second place with junior Tram Nguyen right behind in third with a time of 2:16.07.
One race later, the Mean Green against swept the podium as Shaena McCloud took home gold in the 100-fly in under a minute at 58.74. Cierra Scully narrowly missed touching in under a minute as well, grabbing second in 1:00.04 while Nguyen earned her second straight third place finish in 1:01.32.
The first win of the day for UNT was by London Farris in the 50-free as she narrowly out touched Katy McCarter from UNM by just over .1 of a second to take first in a time of 24.42.
Farris was not done there, however, securing another win in the 100-free with a blazing time of 52.58 to finish nearly three seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
Kolb also had a pair of victories for the Mean Green as she won gold in the 100-back with a final time of 57.99.
The final individual race of the meet was a key race in the dual as well as Mazzotta was able to out touch four different UNM swimmers to win the 100-breast in a time of 1:07.55 and secure nine points.
With only the final event of the day left, UNT needed to secure a victory in the 200-free relay to lock down the overall win in the dual. The team delivered in a big way as McCloud, Farris, Scully and Allison Scott swam a time of 1:36.80 to take home the victory and secure a huge 11 points.
The win for the Mean Green was the first dual meet win since UNT took down Arkansas Little Rock on Dec. 15, 2021.
In the matchup against New Mexico State, the Mean Green were able to secure a pair of victories, one in diving and the other on the swimming side.
The strongest event for UNT against the Lobos came in the 200-yard breast when the Mean Green went 1-2-3, led by a first place finish by Mazzotta in 2:27.43. Right behind Mazzotta, teammates Nguyen and Paige Walsh finished in second and third in 2:27.96 and 2:36.94, respectively.
The other victory against NMSU came in the 3-meter diving as Brigid Krbec put up an impressive final score of 230.33 to win the event. Just behind her, Saylor Hawkins took home third place after putting up 206.55 points.
The Mean Green also were able to grab runner-up finishes in eight other events on the day, including both relays.
The combination of Kolb, Mazzotta, Scully and McCloud opened the meet by touching in 1:47.80 in the 200-medley relay to take second. Later in the meet, UNT took second once again as McCloud, Scott, Scully and Farris finished in 3:35.69 in the 400-free relay.
In individual races against NMSU, the Mean Green finished in second place in the 200-free, the 50-free, the 200-fly, the 100-free and the 100-back. UNT also got a runner-up finish from Krbec on the 1-meter diving platform.
