Jan. 13, 2009
Lobo Swimming/Diving
Who: Lobos vs. Utah Utes
Swim Meet: 11 a.m., Saturday, Rio Rancho Aquatic Center
Diving Meet: 11 a.m., Saturday, Sandia High
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
It`s not that Lobo Marissa Campbell hasn`t been challenged before or hasn’t had to come from behind to notch a few wins in the pool.
But on Saturday there is a chance that this talented Lobo freshman, already the owner of one UNM swim mark, will be battling through the wake of more than one Utah swimmer.
“She definitely won’t be favored in either of her events,” said Lobos swim coach Tracy Ljone. “But that will be good for her. She needs to be challenged and pushed and with conference coming up, it will be good for her to see where she stands.”
The Mountain West Conference Championships, oddly enough, are set for Feb. 25-28 in Oklahoma City. The Lobos and other swim teams are pushing their bodies to extremes this time of the season trying to improve conditioning and times prior to tapering off for the league championships.
The Lobos should be pushed to the extreme Saturday in a dual meet vs. the Utah Utes, who were picked to finish tied for second with UNLV in the MWC race. Brigham Young, the seven-time defending MWC champs, were picked to grab title No. 8.
“Utah has a great team,” said Ljone. “They have a (second-year) coach (Greg Winslow), who came from Arizona State and a bunch of his swimmers followed him. He’s done a good job and has some top swimmers.”
One top swimmer from Utah who should give Campbell a challenge is Ute sophomore Natalie Edge, the 2008 MWC champ in the 100-yard freestyle and the MWC No. 5 finisher in the 50-free. Edge’s fastest times in those events this season are faster than Campbell’s best times. The Ute’s Kristina Evans also has a faster time than Campbell in the 100-free as does Ute Hannah Caron. Utah’s Annie VanLeeuwen has a faster time than Campbell in both the 50-free and 100-free, so Campbell could be challenged by several Utes, depending on which swimmers Utah enters in which events.
Ljone said Campbell will compete in the 50-free, the 100-free and the 400-relay on Saturday. “Marissa is a competitor,” said Ljone. “When she is behind in a race, she really turns it on and she’ll have some tough competition on Saturday.'”
The Lobo divers = Aubrey Bush, Sasha Evangulova, Ashlee Erickson and Alexandra Lusk — also will be challenged at Sandia High by a talented Utah crew, led by Anna Braskiewicz on the 3-meter board.
The Utes will compete at Colorado State on Thursday and coach Winslow said his team will face a “challenge to keep our concentration” for the meet with UNM.
The Lobos competed in some open water swims on Jan. 3 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and were last in a pool on Dec. 4-7 at the U.S. Short Course Nationals in Atlanta. The divers’ last meet was Dec. 4-6 in Austin, Texas.
“We haven’t competed in a while because of finals and Christmas break,” said Ljone. “We’ve been training really hard and it will be excited to get back on the blocks and back on the boards, but it also will be a little nervous for us.
“We’re a little tired right now because of all the training, but every team is going through the same thing. We’ll be tired for the next three or four weeks for duals and then we’ll taper off before we go to the conference meet.”
The Lobos are competing at Rio Rancho and Sandia High because the UNM pool is being renovated and won’t be ready until the 2009-10 season.
Ljone said Utah should have at least two strong swimmers in each event. The Utes return eight All-MWC swimmers from last season, including Edge and senior Shannon McQueen in the backstroke.
The top times in swim events for UNM so far this season have been turned in by Campbell, Jennifer Patterson, Jennifer Burgess, Jocelyn Colella, Tesse Maciejko, Nanette Wittenberg, Tonya Gramstad and Sally Bellinger.
Ljone said UNM will be hard pressed to beat Utah’s team total, but “we can still excel individually and it will be interesting to see where we are with our times.”
Editor’s Note: Richard Stevens is a former Associate Sports Editor and sports columnist for The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net. Previous articles are available at The Richard Stevens Corner