Oct. 27, 2009
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
There are a lot of variables when it comes to forming a swim team that can produce points in the water and points in diving, while establishing that all-important team chemistry on the pool deck.
Lobo swimming and diving coach Tracy Ljone, in her fifth season at the University of New Mexico, appears to have all those elements covered for the 2009-10 season.
She has an All-Mountain West Conference swimmer in the lanes. She has two All-MWC divers.
She has three times the senior leadership outside the racing lanes in Ashley Grisdale, Jennifer Patterson and Bridget O’Hara. On the boards, she has two seniors in Alexandra Lusk and Sasha Evangulova.
Ljone enters the season expecting her young Lobos to show marked improvement this season behind sophomore sensation Marissa Campbell, who already is establishing herself as one of UNM`s best swimmers ever.
Campbell showed both upper-class power and technique last season in setting school records in the 100-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke. She also was named to the All-Mountain West team in the 100-yard back, 100-yard free and 50-yard free. Campbell finished in the Top Ten at the 2009 MWC Championships in those three events.
Ljone expects even more from her sophomore star in 2009-10 and has even added another event to Campbell’s workload – the butterfly.
“Marissa had an outstanding freshman season and reached several of her goals,” said Ljone. “We are going to push her harder this year. She is our top returnee and she looks good for conference points in the freestyle, backstroke and butterfly.
“We didn’t use her that much in the butterfly last year because her backstroke was so good that we stuck with that. We’ll swim her in the butterfly this season and then see where she wants to go.”
The Lobos also return two All-MWC divers in Aubrey Bush (1 meter) and Evangulova (1-meter). The Lobos had four divers qualify for NCAA zone competition last season.
Ljone expects her Lobos to show progress in the pool because the team lost only one senior and have added a handful of talented freshmen.
“Our core is basically the same,” said Ljone. “The girls had a great summer of training and competing and the majority of them came back in a lot better shape.”
There was a lot of pressure on the Lobo senior leadership in 2008-09 because there was only one: Katrina McLoughlin, a leader in both effort and humility. That upper class is still small for 2009-10 with three senior swimmers: Grisdale, Patterson and O’Hara.
Ljone says she expects Grisdale to place at the MWC Championships in the 200-yard butterfly and 400 IM, and be competitive in the 200 backstroke. Patterson will compete on several strong Lobo relay teams.
“Jennifer (Patterson) is our most versatile swimmer,” said Ljone. “She’ll be on every relay, but she’ll also swim the back, the butterfly, and freestyle sprints. Bridget (O’Hara) is one of our top distance swimmers, but she also is looking good in the breaststroke.
“These three seniors are fantastic leaders. They have three distinct personalities and they are doing a great job of bringing the team together.”
The Lobos are expecting to have solid depth in the 1,650 free this season as Maria Dudley, Jennifer Burgess, Tonya Gramstad and O’Hara made the MWC finals in 2009.
The Lobo relays are strong, too. UNM’s 400-yard freestyle relay returns Sally Bellinger, Patterson and Campbell. The 200-yard freestyle relay returns Campbell, Bellinger and Tesse Maciejko. The 800-yard relay returns O’Hara, Dudley, Burgess and Patterson.
Those veterans just might get pushed by some of the younger Lobo swimmers, too.
One of the strengths of Ljone`s program in 2008-09 was the diving team that placed four divers into the NCAA zones. UNM returns all four of those divers – Bush, Evangulova, Lusk and Ashlee Erickson.
“The girls trained hard and improved over the summer,” said Abel Sanchez, Ljone’s diving coach. “We expect to have a really good season. We also added Stephanie DeLang. She is a young, promising diver. It’s nice to have her on the team.”
Sanchez said reaching the NCAA zone competition was a goal last season, but his divers are looking to push even further this season.
“We want to dominate conference meets,” he said. “Last year was a learning experience for them. They know what it’s all about now.
“We think they have the ability to reach the finals (in NCAA zones) and advance at least one diver to nationals. It’s tough to get out of zones, but we think we can do it.”
Ljone expects improvement from her swimmers because her Lobos have more depth in talent. Some of that depth also comes from Jocelyn Colella, Nanette Wittenberg, Erica Stuart, Nicole Peirce and a handful of talented freshmen: Ashleigh Coon, Alyssa Keill, Hayley Martin, Hannah Mercier and Lindsey Morris.
“I’m excited about his season,” said Ljone. “We have a lot of motivated swimmers returning. We have great senior leadership and we have some young talent coming up. We can`t wait to get into the pool.”
Ljone, who completed two Ironman/triathlon competitions this summer, said she challenged her swimmers to report to the pool this year in better shape.
“I hope the girls see that we practice what we preach about conditioning and we can do what we ask them to do,” said Ljone. “I hope they see it as kind of a challenge for them.”
The “we” in Ljone`s comment also refers to a fresh face in the UNM swimming & diving program. The Lobos have a new assistant in Crystal Forbes, a former New Mexico State standout and record-setter, who still competes on the national level.
Senior Alex Lusk |
“Crystal is an exciting addition to our team,” said Ljone. “She brings a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge to our program plus a great work ethic.
“Crystal is still training at the national level and it will be good for our women to see her discipline and commitment to training.”
Education also is a huge emphasis in this Lobo program. The Lobos are one of the top academic programs in the conference and Ljone returns 15 Lobos, who were named to the 2009 Academic All-Mountain West Conference Team: Brittany Anderson, Sally Bellinger, Aubrey Bush, Jocelyn Colella, Maria Dudley, Sasha Evangulova, Tonya Gramstad, Ashley Grisdale, Alexandra Lusk, Tesse Maciejko, Bridget O’Hara, Jennifer Patterson, Nicole Peirce, Erica Stuart and Nanette Wittenberg.
Maybe the 2009-10 swim season for the University of New Mexico should begin with Ljone wrapping up the Lobo pool in bows and ribbons and letting her girls unwrap the facility like a long-awaited gift. That’s kind of what it is.
The Lobos’ pool was under renovation during the past two seasons and the Lobos had to use city pools for both practice and events. It was a grind on an already-tough schedule for her student-athletes.
“It’s fantastic to have our own pool again,” said Ljone. “We really appreciate all the people who helped us over the past two years when we didn’t have a pool, but it’s nice that we no longer have to drive around town. It’s easier to get the girls in the pool and that makes training a lot more convenient and a lot more fun.
“Now, when we have a home meet, it`s really a home meet.”