North Texas vs New Mexico (W)
- Saturday, October 8, 2022
- Albuquerque, N.M.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
- Final Score: North Texas 125, New Mexico 118
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.
Courtesy: New Mexico Athletics
Albuquerque, N.M. – The University of New Mexico Lobos swimming and diving team fell to the University of North Texas Mean Green in their first meet of the season on Saturday. The Lobos came up short in their late comeback attempt and lost by a score of 125-118.
At the second break of the meet, with two swimming events remaining, the Lobos trailed 97-91 to the Mean Green, but came back to lead 114-112 heading into the final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay. Junior Jordan Foster anchored the relay for the Lobos and got out-touched by North Texas’s final swimmer by just over six tenths of a second, which proved to be the difference in the meet.
The Lobos won each of the first three swimming events of the day, starting with strong swims from Foster, senior Maddie Deucher, senior Mariana Olmstead, and sophomore Katy McCarter in the 200-yard medley relay. The ensuing event was the 1000-yard freestyle in which sophomore Paige Lyons came in first place and senior Josie Carpenter finished just behind her in second place. Freshman Maya Clise and sophomore Brynn Quintana kept the good things going with another one-two finish in the 200-yard freestyle for New Mexico.
New Mexico only won one other swimming event courtesy of a dominant swim from Clise in the 500-yard freestyle. Lyons finished second, making it the third event of the day in which the Lobos came in both first and second places.
The Lobos won both of the diving events of the day as well, finishing in first and second place on the 1-meter board and first and third place on the 3-meter board. Sophomore Alex Robertson won both events, coming just eight points shy of qualifying for zones on the 3-meter. Junior Kristen Hepfer also had a good day, taking second in the 1-meter and third on the 3-meter.
Up next on the schedule for the Lobos is a two-day trip this weekend up to Laramie, Wyoming, to face the Wyoming Cowboys on October 14th and 15th.
