July 5, 2011
TEN LOBO MOMENTS: The New Mexico Lobos had plenty of highlights in the season of 2010-11, but GoLobos.com has selected ten special Lobo moments to throw at Lobo fans over the next few weeks. On Wednesday: A Soccer Season To Remember.
New Mexico Lobos Athletics — 2010-11 Season Review
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The 2010-11 season of academic and athletic success was typical for the University of New Mexico athletic department headed by Paul Krebs, UNM’s Vice President of Athletics.
It was a season of Mountain West championships and Coaches of the Year. It was a season of record breaking and program firsts.
It was a season the renovated Pit was unveiled bringing New Mexico basketball to the forefront of high-tech basketball presentation.
It was a season of excellence both on the field of competition and in the classroom where New Mexico paced the league by having 126 Lobos named Mountain West Scholar-Athletes. UNM had 19 athletes posting a 4.0 GPA or better. The rest of the league had 24.
UNM had four Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. Tor-Hakon Hellebostad of skiing and Travis Ross of men’s golf were placed on the First Team while Amanda Best of women’s basketball and Kelly Williamson of volleyball made the Third Team.
“An athletic department should be measured by its success both athletically and academically,” said Krebs. “Those measurements are important to this administration, our coaches and our student-athletes. The success we had in both those areas makes me extremely proud to be a Lobo.”
Arguably, the top two events of 2010-11 were the welcoming in of the renovated Pit and saying goodbye to an old friend – Don Flanagan.
Flanagan shocked a nation of Lobos when he announced his retirement in April. He left behind a 16-year UNM career (340-168) that brought UNM women’s basketball eight NCAA trips, five WNIT visits, and five league tournament titles.
But the numbers never were what defined this special coach.
Flanagan made his Lobo women special on the court by also making their game a special place for Lobo fans to be. Flanagan’s Lobos made The Pit one of the more hostile home-court environments in women’s basketball as the Lobos climbed into the Top Ten in attendance for 13 consecutive years.
Flanagan’s surprise departure also brought UNM it’s only coaching change in 2010-11 as Yvonne Sanchez, an 11-year assistant was named the program’s fifth head coach on April 22.
Sanchez not only inherits a dynamic program, but she also inherits the new-look, high-tech Pit. The long-awaiting opening of the renovated Pit welcomed the loyal fans of Lobo men’s and women’s basketball and presented those fans with one of the finest basketball facilities in America.
Travis Ross — Academic All-American First Team |
The Pit has long been a symbol for New Mexico, UNM and college basketball and the aging legend’s $60 million facelift pulled this storied arena into the 21st century. Already the changes have paid dividends as UNM is attracting NCAA events to University Arena and Albuquerque.
The Lobos once again finished in the Top 75 in the Learfield Sports Director’s Cup standings, grabbing the No. 57th spot. The Lobos were No. 47 in 2009-10 and No. 62 in 2008-09. This season UNM finished ahead of numerous BCS-conference schools including Kansas State, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, Syracuse, Colorado and Utah.
“We strive to give our student-athletes a chance to compete and be successful at a high level. We also stress achievement in all our programs,” said Krebs. “I think our ranking in the Director’s Cup reflects another type of balance that is important at the University of New Mexico.”
Firsts are always a neat thing for an athletic department and a program. There were several “statement” firsts this season and a good place to start is the statement made by the Lobo women’s soccer team.
Actually, Kit Vela’s surging program had several program firsts: a Mountain West regular-season title earned with a win over Brigham Young, and the program’s first-ever trip into NCAA postseason play which came on an at-large bid for the 12-2-5 Lobos.
These blue-collar Lobos also pulled in two Mountain West Player of the Year awards with forward Jennifer Williams taking the offensive honor and keeper Kelli Cornell grabbing the defensive award. Coach Vela was the league’s Coach of the Year.
Another remarkable “first” was posted by Joe Franklin’s cross country program which swept NCAA regional crowns for the first time ever. Those wins also were the first NCAA regional titles for both teams. That sweep came on the heels of the program’s first back-to-back sweep of MWC titles. The Lobo women went on to post a program-record fifth-place finish at nationals.
If Franklin is placing his trophies on a mantle at home, he might need to do some remodeling. He was named the MWC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year and the NCAA Mountain Region Coach of the Year. Lobo Natalie Gray was named UNM’s first-ever MWC Female Athlete of the Year after her 6K win in the league finals.
Lobo Diver Aubrey Bush |
Surely the most dramatic “first” of the 2010-11 season was the amazing finish thrown out by Ray Birmingham’s Lobos on the baseball diamond.
The Lobos went into the MWC championships with the worst seed (No. 6) and rocked the league by roaring to UNM’s first MWC tourney title – a crown that included two wins over the No. 7 ranked TCU Horned Frogs.Birmingham’s Lobos also threw out another first by giving this program back-to-back trips into the NCAA postseason.
A back-to-back trip into NCAA play also was a highlight for Jeff Nelson’s volleyball program. UNM cracked the NCAA guest list in 2009 for the first time since 1994 and did it again in 2010. UNM’s Kelly Williamson was a Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American and Nelson was MWC Coach of the Year. Lisa Meeter and Jade Michaelsen were named AVCA Honorable Mention All-America. Michaelsen set the school’s all-time career assist mark.
Vela’s, Franklin’s, Birmingham’s and Nelson’s Lobos were joined in the NCAA postseason playoffs by women’s golf, skiing and men’s soccer. UNM also advanced Lobos in the men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor NCAA track championships. UNM’s Keith Gerrard, Natalie Gray, and Ruth Senior earned All-America honors outdoors.
The UNM ski team coached by Fredrick Landstedt finished fourth at the NCAA Ski Championships. The Lobos had nine NCAA All-Americans. Petter Brenna won the NCAA West Region championship in the men’s slalom. Tor-Hakon Hellebostad was a Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American.
The Lobo women’s golf program, under Coach Jill Trujillo, went to the NCAA postseason for the 19th consecutive year. The Lobo men’s golf team was paced by Travis Ross, the MWC runner-up and First Team Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American.
The Lobo men opened the new-look Pit and threw out another 20-win season (22-13) and advanced to Round 16 of the National Invitation Tournament. Steve Alford’s team also had a First Team All-MWC player in senior Dairese Gary while Kendall Williams was the league’s Freshman of the Year and Drew Gordon was Newcomer of the Year.
The Lobo women’s basketball team threw out a couple of impressive wins to advance to the MWC tourney semis and that program also was distinguished by Amanda Best being placed on the Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team.
DJ Peterson — Freshman All-American |
Carmen Messina of Lobo football continued to distinguish himself as one of the top tacklers in the nation. The UNM linebacker, who led the MWC and the nation in tackles in 2009, topped the MWC again with a 9.6 average in 2010. Lobo tight end Lucas Reed was First Team All-MWC.
Jeremy Fishbein’s Lobos also advanced to the NCAA College Cup for the second straight year. Michael Reed and Lance Rozeboom were Third Team All-Region. The Lobos set a school record with a shutout streak of 652 minutes and 44 seconds. The team also earned its eighth straight National Soccer Coaches Association of America Team Academic award (3.0 GPA or higher).
The Lobo softball program didn’t advance to NCAA play, but there was dramatic improvement in this program under first-year head coach Erica Beach. This senior-less squad won nine more games than it did in 2010 and beat Brigham Young for the first time since 2003. Lobo Cassandra Kalapsa earned Second Team Capital One/CoSIDA All-District honors. Jessica Garcia was second in the MWC in batting average at .418 and tied the school mark with 13 home runs.
The UNM swimming and diving program placed four divers in the 3-meter springboard finals at the Mountain West championships, which is only the third time in conference history a team accomplished that feat. All four divers advanced to the NCAA Zones and Abel Sanchez was the MWC Diving Coach of the Year.
The Lobo tennis teams got All-MWC honors from Jadon Phillips and Ben Dunbar while on the women’s side of the net Michaela Bezdickova was named to the All-MWC team.
In indoor track, Richard York won the heptathlon and was named for the meet’s outstanding male performance at the MWC Championships. Ruth Senior was the top NCAA indoor finisher with her fifth-place run t 5,000 meters. In outdoor track, UNM powered to runner-up honors at the MWC Championships and 29 Lobos advanced to the NCAA Regional qualifying meet and 10 went on to the NCAA Championships. Lobo Rory Fraser was a First Team All-American outdoors at 5,000 meters.
“Our challenge for next season is the same every year,” said Krebs. “The expectations are to improve, to take the next step, and to bring to New Mexico and Albuquerque teams and student-athletes they can be proud of.”