Oct. 29, 2009
Lobos Swimming & Diving
Thursday: Lobos 244, Northern Colorado 180
Up Next: Vs BYU/Seattle/Boise, Nov. 6 in Provo, Utah
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
It ended like it began: Lobos touching first. Heck, it was that way for every race in between, too. The Lobos returned to their home-sweet-home pool for the first time in two seasons and rolled Northern Colorado out of the water, 244-180.
In the lanes, it was an all-relay event and the Lobos dominated by winning every event, although some UNM teams that touched first were entered under “exhibition” status and did not earn points. UNM also dominated on the boards with a 1-2-3-4 sweep at three meters and a 1-2-3 finish at one meter.
“This is my last year and I’m done with diving after this because I have to get after school more,” said Sasha Evangulova, a senior. “I plan to work so hard this season – push, push, push – so I don’t look back with any regrets.”
Evangulova won the 3-meter competition with a 298.88 score followed by Aubrey Bush at 293.48, Alexandra Lusk at 280.80 and Ashlee Erickson at 272.03. Erickson came back with a win off the 1-meter board with 298.95 points followed by Evangulova at 278.03 and Bush at 275.10.
“The girls did very well and I was happy with what I saw out there,” said Abel Sanchez, UNM’s diving coach. “I think they looked better technically, mechanically. We have the four girls returning and this year they have a different attitude. They are just more confident and willing to push the envelope.”
Lobo head coach Tracy Ljone said the all-relay event held at UNM’s Seidler Natatorium Thursday distorts her swimmers’ times a bit, but she still saw improved swimming.
“We had a hard week of training, but I could see some improvement and saw a lot of times drop from our first week,” said Ljone. “We go up to Utah next week and we’ll see what we can do as individuals.”
The first race of the day, the 300-yard butterfly, set the tone for the next nine events in the pool. The Lobos’ A team of Marissa Campbell, Ashley Grisdale and Nanette Wittenberg raced to a 2:55.90 to put points on the Lobos’ side of the board first.
The 300-yard backstroke was next and Jennifer Patterson, Jocelyn Colella and Campbell touched first. The third event was the 300-yard breaststroke relay and UNM’s trio of Tesse Maciejko, Lindsey Morris and Nicole Peirce finished first.
UNM’s 800-yard freestyle featured the winning team of Bridget O’Hara, Sally Bellinger, Maria Dudley and Patterson. It didn’t look like it mattered which Lobos were packaged by Ljone. This was an evening when Lobos couldn’t lose.
O’Hara also teamed with Patterson, Grisdale and Morris to win the 400-yard medley.
Probably the best race of the meet, was when UNM’s team of Peirce, Campbell, Colella and Maciejko nipped the team of Grisdale, Wittenberg, Morris and O’Hara – 4:07.37 to 4:09.15. Those teams were competing with exhibition status and their 1-2 finish did not push any Lobo points on the board.
It was a big deal for the Lobos to finally return to Seidler after two years of bouncing around Albuquerque to find water. The UNM pool was dormant for two seasons while the pool underwent refurbishing to fix a leak.
“You always feel more comfortable and confident at home,” said Evangulova.
Said O’Hara: “We had so many people come out here to watch us. It’s so nice to be back in our pool.”