Feb. 24, 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Lobos picked up 46 points off the 1-meter board Thursday during the second day of competition at the Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving championships. However, the Lobos dropped from second place to fifth place in the meet.
Lobo Aubrey Bush finished fifth off that board to pull in 14 points for the University of New Mexico. Melissa Bollig came in seventh, Ashley Erickson finished eight and UNM’s Megan Harper came in ninth. UNM was the only school to have at least three divers finish in the top ten of that event.
San Diego State’s Kristen Meier won the dive with a score of 311.90. Bush, the MWC’s defending champion off the platform, had a 255.90 score.
The Lobos also got a good effort from the team of Stelicia Flores, Hayley Martin, Jorgi Hobson and Tesse Maciejko, which finish seventh in the 400-medley relay with a time of 3:47.90. That finish pulled 24 points onto New Mexico’s team total.
Jennifer Burgess clocked in at 4:57.70 in the B Finals of the 500-yard freestyle. She cut about a second off her time from the prelims and produced three UNM points.
San Diego State leads the women’s race after two days of the four-day meet. The Aztecs total 252 followed by Brigham Young at 207, Wyoming at 206, Utah at 190, UNM at 170, TCU at 149, UNLV at 141, Colorado State at 123 and Air Force is in last place with 64 points.
The Lobos were in second place after the first day competition on Thursday, only two points behind SDSU. UNM placed all four divers Thursday off the 3-meter board. The Lobos finished fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth, making this only the second time that a school has placed four divers in a final.
Ashlee Erickson was the highest finish for UNM Thursday with a score of 282.60, Aubrey Bush followed with a final of 277.05. Melissa Bollig was fifth with 268.50 points, and Megan Harper rounded out the top eight with a score of 244.55.
Also on Thursday, the Lobos 200-yard medley team consisting of Jorgi Hobson, Ashley Blanchette, Stelicia Flores, and Heidi Zeiger broke a school record.Their final time of 1:44.10, which placed them eighth in the event, bested the previous top time of 1:45.21 set in 2010.
New Mexico also on Thursday placed eighth in the 800-yard free relay with a final time of 7:35.40. Senior Sally Bellinger, juniors Tesse Maciejko and Tonya Gramstad, and Zeiger composed the relay team.