Feb. 27, 2010
In the final day of competition at the Mountain West Conference swimming and diving championships, Jocelyn Colella shattered a 17-year-old school record in the 200-yard backstroke when she secured a preliminary time of 2:03.05. The previous record of 2:03.35 was set in 1993 by Kelly Spandolini. In the finals, Colella recorded a time of 2:03.31 to finish 14th.
The University of New Mexico tallied 214 points to finish eighth at the championships for the second year in a row. BYU captured the team conference championship with 703 points in Oklahoma City, Okla. Wyoming followed the Cougars with 674 points. San Diego State was next at 589, followed by UNLV (386), Utah (377), Colorado State (366), TCU (233), New Mexico, and Air Force (150).
Aubrey Bush claimed first place for New Mexico in the platform dive when she secured a final mark of 234.80. She was followed teammate by Alexandra Lusk in 13th with a score of 203.90.
The Lobos had five swimmers place in the 1,650-yard freestyle, with Jennifer Burgess capturing tenth with a time of 17:00.01. The time ranks second on New Mexico’s all-time top-times list. She was followed by Maria Dudley in 16th (17:18.79), Bridget O’Hara in 20th (17:29.88), Tonya Gramstad in 21st (17:34.41) and Alyssa Keill in 24th (17:50.83). Marissa Campbell finished 13th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.55.
Campbell led the Lobos on the third day of competition with a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke touching the wall in 55.31. In the B – finals, Jennifer Patterson placed 16th with a time of 57.20. Campbell, Colella, Ashley Grisdale and Patterson finished seventh in the 400-yard medley relay, breaking a school record with a time of 3:50.97.
In the 400-yard individual medley, Colella captured an A – finals time of 4:31.77 to finish in eighth place. She was followed in 12th by Ashlee Grisdale with a time of 4:27.50. Grisdale finished 14th in the 100-yard butterfly, touching the wall in 56.81. In 16th place, was Patterson with a time of 57.20.During day two of competition, Bush captured third on the 3-meter dive with a mark of 330.90. In the B – finals Alexandra Evangulova placed 11th (284.90), Ashlee Erickson in 13th (267.40), and Lusk in 14th (245.80).
In the first day of competition, the Lobos smashed a five-year-old school record in the 200-yard medley relay. The relay team consisting of Patterson, Nicole Peirce, Grisdale and Campbell shaved more than a full second off the previous school record, set in 2005, by recording a time of 1:45.21 to finish in eighth place.
In the 800-yard freestyle relay, Patterson, Jennifer Burgess, Gramstad and O’Hara finished seventh, touching the wall in 7:37.17. The time ranked fifth on the all-time record list for the Lobos.
On the 1-meter board, Erickson led the way for New Mexico with a ninth-place finish. Her preliminary score of 264.44 kept her out of the A-finals and pushed herdown into the B-finals, where she would not be able to make the top eight list. However, Erickson came through big time in the finals and posted a score of 300.70,which was one of five final marks to break the previous MWC championship record of 294.85. UNM’s Evangulova finished 12th (268.15) and Bush placed 14th (258.30).