New Mexico State vs Grand Canyon vs Idaho (Women)
- Saturday, January 7, 2023
- Las Cruces, N.M.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
- Team Scores
- NM State 171, Idaho 93
- NM State 162, GCU 138
- GCU 200.5, Idaho 87.5
Courtesy: NM State Athletics
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – NM State has consistently been improving throughout the season and that was evident on Saturday as the Aggies defeated Idaho, 171-93, while earning the program’s first-ever win over Grand Canyon, 162-138.
The day started with a second-place finish from the quartet of Maude Boily-Dufour, Aimee Burton, Rachel Ponte and Lindsay Puhalski in the 200-yard medley relay as they combined to post a time of 1:47.72.
Next, freshman phenom Naomi Slee did what she’s been doing all season: dominate a long-distance race. Slee went 10:30.97 to take the top spot in the 1000 free. Slee also paced the field in the 500 free later in the day as she finished the race with a time of 5:07.70.
Lindsay Puhalski’s performance in the 200 free gave the Aggies wins in back-to-back events as she posted a time of 1:54.44 to finish more than two seconds ahead of the next closest competitor. Puhalski also turned in a win in the 200 back as she posted a time of 2:07.48. Puhalski’s strong day continued in the day’s penultimate race as she took gold in the 200 IM with a time of 2:07.62.
Thea Masselink then made it three wins in a row for NM State as she reached the wall one-tenth of a second before the second-place finisher in the 100 backstroke.
The speedy Aimee Burton also picked up a win on Senior Day as she posted a time of 23.52 in the 50 free. Later, Burton snagged a first-place finish in the 100 free – posting a time of 51.92.
NM State landed two divers on the podium in the 3-meter dive as Lily Ellis finished second with a score of 233.93 and Casey Schmidt secured third by racking up 230.18 points. Meanwhile, in the 1-meter event, Kate Malinowski’s score of 248.25 was the top score for all divers in the event.
The Aggies then wrapped up the morning with a win in the 400 free relay as the team of Aimee Burton, Naomi Slee, Elizabeth Cervantes-Vanderlugt and Lina Khiyara posted a time of 3:32.46.
QUOTABLE | HEAD COACH RICK PRATT
“Today was special for our team in many ways. Celebrating our seniors who have sacrificed so much was important. Our team’s mission was to compete for them and the results speak for themselves.
“Our first races were a little stiff with the weather, but when things warmed up, we got better and better as the meet went on. Overall, we showed a lot of determination, poise and grit today and these wins should give us much confidence heading into the final stretch of our season. Our seniors all had some great moments and really lead us. Today was fun!”
UP NEXT
The Aggies will be back in action three weeks from today when they travel to Albuquerque, N.M., to duel with rival New Mexico on Jan. 28.
Courtesy: GCU Athletics
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The Grand Canyon women’s swimming and diving team wrapped up Saturday’s conference dual meets with a 200.5-87.5 win against Idaho, while falling to New Mexico State 162-138.
Despite splitting the duals, the Lopes had good performances in multiple events. The first race of the day was the 200-yard medley relay, where the GCU team of senior Briana Rittenbach, junior Raphaela Nakashima, freshman Paula Martinez Moreno and graduate Emily Muteti took first place with a time of 1 minutes, 45.71 seconds, finishing two seconds ahead of the second-place team.
In the 100 breaststroke, Nakashima placed first and Lopes sophomore Maria Chatzi took second with times of 1:05.59 and 1:06.37. Chatzi, who is from Greece, also placed first in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:24.25.
Martinez Moreno won the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:07.10 as well as the 100 butterfly with a time of 56.76.
GCU freshman Krisalyn Henderson swam a great race in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:15.94.
In diving, Lope senior Abigail Erickson won the 3-meter event with a score of 245.55.
Next on the schedule, the men’s and women’s diving teams will travel to UCLA to compete Thursday through Saturday. The swimming teams will face California Baptist and Arizona Christian at home on Jan. 21.
Saturday’s full results can be found here.
Courtesy: Idaho Athletics
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Idaho swimming and diving team dropped a pair of conference dual meets on Saturday, falling to New Mexico State 171-93 and Grand Canyon 200.5-87.5 at the NM State Swimming and Diving Complex.
Despite falling in both meets, the Vandals delivered solid performances in multiple events. In the second race of the day, Zoe Froh swam her way to a second-place finish in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:44.48. She also posted another runner-up finish in the 500-yard freestyle later in the day, clocking in at 5:15.82.
Kaling Phung followed with another top-3 finish in the 100-yard backstroke. She finished at 58.82, just .56 seconds behind first-place swimmer from New Mexico State Thea Masselink.
The 200-yard butterfly featured a third-place finish from Ani Husaby. She clocked in at 2:10.29.
Junior Ella Haskins posted a strong performance in the 100-yard free for the Vandals with a time of 53.55 to place third.
The Vandal relay team led by Kaling Phung, Bethany Rahn, Sarah Shaffer and Haskins closed out Saturday’s dual with a third-place performance in the 400-yard free relay with a time of 3:37.54.
Next up, the Vandals will round out its home schedule with a conference matchup against Utah Tech on Jan. 21. Idaho will honor 12 Vandal student-athletes for Senior Day.
