Nov. 23, 2010
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico swimming and diving team arrived in Albuquerque pleased with the performances it had last week at their respective invites.
The swim team was in Houston, Texas for the Phill Hansel Cougar Classic Fall Invitational hosted by the University of Houston. The divers were in Tucson, Arizona for the Arizona Diving Invite hosted by the University of Arizona. Both teams enjoyed a tremendous amount of success.
In the pool, Lobo freshmen Jorgi Hobson and Monica Dudley broke school records in the 100-yard butterfly and 1,650- and 1,000-yard freestyle.
Hobson had a final time of 56.58 placing her second in the consolation swim and 10th overall in the 100-yard butterfly. Her time broke the record previously set in 2001 by Amanda C arson.
Monica Dudley broke both the 1,650- and 1,000-yard freestyle records. Her final time of 16:56.83 in the 1650-yard free placed her third overall in the championship swim and bested the record previously set by Nicole Overeem in 2002. Her time in the 1,000-yard free of 10:12.99 also bested Overeem’s record set in 2002.
The Lobos had a fantastic meet with various swimmers placing in the top ten in eight events.
The 200-yard medley relay team composed of Stelicia Flores, Hayley Martin, Jorgi Hobson, and Heidi Zeiger finished eighth in the in the championship race with a final time of 1:46.83. Their teammates Julia Carroll, Ashley Blanchette, Nicole Peirce, and Tesse Maciejko finished ninth in the same event with a final time of 1:47.33.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, Blanchette and Martin finished sixth and seventh in the championship swim with times of 1:05.27 and 1:06.43.
Stelicia Flores placed eighth in the 100-yard backstroke with a final of 57.59, and the 800-yard freestyle relay featuring Tonya Gramstad, Sally Bellinger, Heidi Zeiger, and Tesse Maciejko finished seventh with a time of 7:39.81.
Head Coach Tracy Ljone was extremely pleased with the teams overall performance.
“This was one of the best swim meets we have ever had,” she said. “We had over 50 personal best times and three school records broken. The atmosphere was exciting and the ladies did well against some strong swimmers from other conferences.”
Monica Dudley also placed fourth in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:57.12.
In the 400-yard medley relay, Carroll, Blanchette, Nanette Wittenberg, and Sally Bellinger finished 10th in 3:57.51 and teammates Erica Stuart, Lindsey Morris, Ashleigh Coon, and Zeiger placing 13th in 4:01.08.
Maria Dudley and Jennifer Burgess finished sixth and seventh in the 1,650-yard freestyle with times of 17:05.66 and 17:09.09 respectively.
“I am thrilled with the results,” said Ljone, “and they set us up nicely with seed times at our conference meet in February.” “We had great performances from everyone at this meet.”
In Tucson the divers were enjoying success of their own.
Junior diver Aubrey Bush took first place in the 3-meter springboard besting sixty-one other opponents. Her final score of 313.05 is a personal best. She is also the first Mountain West Conference diver to ever win this event. The field for this event included two NCAA All-Americans and one Olympian.
Bush has now qualified for NCAA Zones in both the 1- and 3-meter springboard.
Freshman teammate Megan Harper took third place in the consolation which placed her eleventh overall in the 3-meter. Harper has placed first on both boards this season during dual meets and she too has qualified for NCAA Zones.
Harper also placed sixth in the 1-meter with a score of 261.90 while teammate Melissa Bollig finished seventh in the consolation with score of 226.80 making her 13th overall in the event.
“I am absolutely thrilled with the performance we had this past week,” said diving coach Abel Sanchez. “To have Aubrey win the 3-meter really shows us and other divers out there that she is one of the top in the West.”
The Lobo swimming and diving team is finished with competition for the fall semester, but will return to action Jan. 15, 2011 when swimming heads to Grand Junction, Colo. for the Maverick Meet. Diving will resume action Jan. 28 when the team heads to Ft. Worth, Texas to take on MWC opponents BYU and TCU.