The New Mexico Lobos edged out NAU this weekend, 154-145. After trailing up to the final two events, the Lobos came up with 27 points in the final two events to clench the win.
New Mexico:
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The University of New Mexico swimming and diving team returned to action Saturday with a dual meet at Northern Arizona, and the Lobos managed to eke out a 154-145 win after claiming 27 points in the final two events of the day. It was a gutty win for the Lobos in their first team competition since November, especially considering the Lumberjacks’ pool is in meters and not yards like UNM is used to swimming.
“Our girls did a great job today,” UNM head coach Kunio Kono said. “It’s always tough to swim here at 7,000 feet. Plus Northern Arizona is very talented. But our girls stepped up, especially in the last two events. The 200 IM win was a game-changer. It gave us hope to win.”
The 200 meter IM was the second-to-last race of the day, and Emily McGill, Mareike Foester and Carol De Groote Tavares finished in that order to put UNM in front. ThenShayla King, Amelie Braul, Adriana Palomino and Morgan Ginnis won the 400 meter freestyle relay with a time of 3:54.03 to give the Lobos the victory.
“I’m very proud of the girls,” said Kono. “They all swam very well.”
Kaela McKee, Kristin Walker, Madi Burns and Ginnis got the Lobos off to a good start with a victory in the first event, the 200 meter medley relay, with a time of 1:56.46.Emily Huffer, Foester, Abigail Wheeler and King claimed second with a time of 1:59.03. Palomino kept UNM’s hot start going by winning the 800 meter freestyle in 9:11.39. She also later won the 400 meter freestyle with a time of 4:29.45.
McKee won the 100 meter backstroke by nearly two full seconds, touching the wall in 1:03.64, before the Lobos swept the top three spots in the 50 meter freestyle: Ginnis (26.42), King (27.06) and Madi Burns (27.11).
In addition to her 200 IM win, McGill also claimed the fastest time in the 200 breaststroke (2:39.96).
“We had a good all-around meet, but there are still lessons we can learn and use to improve as we tune up for the conference championship,” Kono said. “I think we’re moving in the right direction, though.”
UNM’s final dual meet of the season will be next Saturday at the Seidler Natatorium. The Lobos will celebrate their three seniors, King, Walker and Lauren Tininenko, on Senior Day when it hosts New Mexico State at noon.
“We have a big weekend next week against New Mexico State,” said Kono. “It’s the final dual meet for our seniors in their college careers. We’ll be ready and New Mexico State will be ready. We’re looking forward to it.”
NAU:
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Déjà vu is not always a good thing, as the Northern Arizona swimming & diving saw last week’s loss to Colorado State play out again on Saturday versus New Mexico, as the Lobos stole a 154-145 victory late. The two teams traded leads throughout the meet, but an impressive performance by the NAU divers was spoiled by the Lobos in the Lumberjacks’ second-to-final meet of the regular season.
“I’m proud of our efforts and results,” said head coach Andy Johns. “We swam faster than we did last week in a lot of places and unfortunately it was the same story with the IM and the relays. Our divers certainly helped us stay in the meet by going one-two-three twice. We’re just focused on the end of the season and today does nothing but help us get better.”
The Lumberjack divers were the stars of the day led by senior Chelsea Jackson‘s record-setting day on 1-meter. Jackson broke her own Wall Aquatic Center pool record with a career-best score of 315.68 and paced the first of two one-two-three finishes by NAU on the day. Jackson also won the 3-meter event with another career-high score of 331.88. All seven NAU divers set at least one new lifetime-best score while freshman Raquel Gonzales and sophomore Emma Simmonds each earned their first career NCAA Zone Qualifying scores.
“It’s all finally coming together and we’ve been seeing this in training the last three or four weeks,” said diving coach Nikki Huffman. “They all looked strong and consistent and there is still room for improvement. I’m really excited for our group moving forward to Idaho in a couple of weeks and then conference.”
After New Mexico started the meet with a one-two finish in the 200m medley relay, senior Kendall Brown was deadlocked in a tight swim in the 800m freestyle before losing a little separation at the end to finish second with a time of 9:12.66. With the Lobos recording wins in the first two events, NAU received a shot on the scoreboard by sweeping the top two spots in the 200m free. Sophomore Claire Hammond posted a winning time of 2:07.47 with sophomore Kimmy Richter not far behind with a time of 2:07.65.
New Mexico then won the 100m backstroke with junior Hayley Edmond placing runner-up with a time of 1:05.32, but NAU answered with win in the 100m breaststroke courtesy of junior Urte Kazakeviciute‘s time of 1:12.92.
The Lumberjacks appeared to seize the momentum with a dynamic group of swims by sophomore Alina Staffeldt and freshmen Andrea Schmidt and Amanda Sumrow in the 200m butterfly. The trio swept the top three spots with Staffeldt collecting her first of two wins with a time of 2:19.24. Schmidt followed with a time of 2:23.92 and Sumrow completed the NAU sweep with a time of 2:25.04. The momentum was short lived though with UNM returning the one-two-three favor in the 50m free.
Signifying the back-and-forth nature of the meet, Jackson’s record 1-meter performance brought NAU within three points, 76-73, halfway through the meet. Junior Alexa Geiger placed second with a career-high score of 294.30 and senior Carlye Townsend followed with her own best score of 285.98. Although NAU was only able to score its top three divers, the team placed all seven of their divers in the top eight of the event with Gonzales and Simmonds recording NCAA Zone qualifying marks of 275.93 and 266.48 respectively. Freshman Christina Torrente(281.70) and sophomore Alyssa Loeffelman (262.58) each notched career-high scores as well.
After the divers flexed their muscles, NAU regained the lead with Hammond posting her second win of the day in the 100m free with a time of 58.92 and Edmond winning the 200m back with a time of 2:20.54. New Mexico quickly regained the lead with wins in the 200m breast and 400m free, but Staffeldt collected the 100m fly victory with a time of 1:02.46 to once again close the UNM lead to 124-120 going into the final break.
Jackson, Geiger and Gonzales then put the ‘Jacks back on top, 136-127, with yet another one-two-three finish for the NAU divers on 3-meter. Aside from Jackson’s first-place score, Geiger set a new season-high with a score of 301.35 and Gonzales notched her second Zone qualifying score of 280.35. As it did on 1-meter, NAU placed all seven of its divers in the top eight with Townsend setting a new season-high score and Simmonds and Loeffelman putting up their best 3-meter performances of their careers.
Holding a nine-point lead going into the 200m individual medley, Brown was narrowly out-touched at the wall by .03 seconds for third as New Mexico strung together a one-two-three finish. It was the second consecutive week that NAU lost the lead on the scoreboard due to its opponent snagging a three-spot sweep in the IM. The Lumberjacks, needing a victory in the 400m freestyle relay, only managed to finish the meet with a two-three finish with their ‘A’ team narrowly finishing runner-up with a time of 3:55.17.
With Gonzales and Simmonds punching their tickets to the NCAA Zone E Championships, NAU has now tied a school-record, set in 2011, with six zone diving qualifiers. Jackson and Geiger also notched Zone qualifying scores on both boards, while Townsend posted a 1-meter qualifying score. All three NAU upperclassmen had already previously qualified.
“To be honest we’ve been very fortunate with our recruiting and how well this group has gelled together,” Huffman said. “They’ve really come together as an impressive team. They push each other and bring each other up. Other teams would love to have any one of them and from one-through-seven I don’t think we’ve ever been this strong or this deep.”
NAU’s Senior Day on Saturday, Feb. 6 versus Idaho at 11 a.m. in the Wall Aquatic Center will be the team’s final meet before the WAC Championships. The Lumberjacks’ Senior Class of Brooke Brittain, Brown, Trinity Frazee, Jackson, Eva Pold, Monica Pruett, Cassie Ronai and Townsend will be honored during the meet.
Swimming news courtesy of NMU and NAU Swimming & Diving.
