Jan. 26, 2009
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
New Mexico Coach Tracy Ljone has two goals Wednesday in her Lobos’ dual meet with the New Mexico State Aggies in Las Cruces.
Ljone wants to continue to push her swimmers hard prior to the tapering that comes before the Mountain West Conference Championships. She also wants to beat the Aggies. And there are a trio of reasons the Lobos want to beat the Aggies.
Because they are Aggies, UNM’s downstate rival.
Because a Lobo win would pad the points in the annual Lobos vs. Aggies Rio Grande rivalry.
Because last year the Aggies snapped a UNM win streak over NMSU that dated back to the Aggies’ last win over the Lobos in 1997.
“We’re definitely putting our best lineup forward for this meet,” said Ljone. “We had a great meet last weekend against TCU and we want to continue to drop our times.
“For this meet, we are definitely putting the girls in their best events. It’s always a great meet between us. They have a good team and we’ll have to swim our best to beat them. Lobos always want to beat Aggies and they’ll want to beat us.”
A sidebar battle in the pool war with the Aggies is the Lobos’ battle within themselves. There are spots still undecided for the MWC championships, so they will be Lobos vs. Lobos battling to fill those holes.
“The girls are competing with each other to make the conference team,” said Ljone. “You always want to swim at conference. These last two meets are very critical, not just winning them, but deciding who is going to swim at conference.”
The Lobos lead the Rio Grande Rivalry with 13.5 points to three for the Aggies and that contest already has been won by UNM. “But we’d still like to add our points,” said Ljone, whose Lobos can pick up 1.5 Rivalry points with a win. “I think our biggest rivalries are within the conference, but this is still an important one for us.”
The competition begins a 4 p.m. Wednesday (Jan. 28) at the NMSU Natatorium in Las Cruces. UNM is 2-6 on the season and 1-5 in MWC meets.
The Lobos are looking for freshmen Marissa Campbell, Maria Dudley and Ashlee Erickson to score points in the pool. At the meet against TCU this past Friday in Albuquerque, Erickson posted a season-high mark of 295.87 on the 1-meter board, Campbell captured two first-place finishes in freestyle events, and Dudley showed good potential in the distance freestyle events.
Last season, the Lobos fell to the Aggies in Albuquerque 159-140. It was UNM’s first loss to NMSU since 1997. The Lobos are 18-5 overall against the Aggies.
The UNM diving team will compete Jan. 30-31 at the Air Force Diving Invitational in Colorado Springs. The Lobos’ final dual meet of the season will be Feb. 7 in Albuquerque against UNLV.
The Mountain West Conference Championships will be Feb. 25-28 in Oklahoma City.