Oct. 5,
New Mexico Lobos Swimming & Diving – 2011-12 Season Preview
Saturday: Air Force at New Mexico Lobos, noon, Sadler Natatorium
GoLobos.com: Recap, Results.
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Is it possible that the four returning Lobos on the 400-yard medley team which set a school record last year might not have a spot on that relay team this season?
Yeah.
Ditto for the four returning UNM swimmers on the record-setting 200-yard medley team. There are no locks on Coach Tracy Ljone’s roster as the University of New Mexico returns one of its deepest swim teams ever.
“Those (relay) swimmers are all back, but there are no guarantees,” said Ljone. “We have a lot of talent and depth on this year’s team and there will be competition for all our spots.”
Ljone lost only three seniors from last season — Jennifer Burgess, Sally Bellinger and Nanette Wittenberg — and lost only three seniors in 2009-10, so there is a pool full of hungry Lobos looking for pool time this season.
“We have a huge team and we have a big senior class,” said Ljone. “My senior class is fantastic. They are great leaders. They lead by example and work ethic and they also lead by enthusiasm. They work well together and are really pushing the underclassmen to do things the right way.”
Ljone’s 400-yard medley team which set a UNM program record of 3:50.97 in 2010 returns intact behind the swimming talents of Stelicia Flores, Hayley Martin, Jorgi Hobson, and Tesse Maciejko.
The Lobos also return the school record-setting 200-yard medley team of Hobson, Ashley Blanchette, Stelicia Flores and Heidi Zeiger.
“It was an all-freshman team last year, so that was exciting,” said Ljone. “They go into the season as the top candidates for that relay, but we’ll see what happens.”
The Lobos’ 800-yard relay team returns three members: Maciejko, Tonya Gramstad and Zeiger.
Abel Sanchez, UNM’s diving coach, has no reason not to expect another stellar season off the boards, but his group did take a major hit. Aubrey Bush, who missed the NCAA postseason in 2011 while recovering from a concussion, is taking the 2011-12 season off due to that injury.
“Yeah, it hurts,” said Sanchez. “Aubrey is special. But I have three other All-MWC divers back and all three have improved tremendously.
“They trained hard over the summer and they are ahead of where they were at the end of last year. We expect to have another great year.”
Those three All-MWC divers are Ashlee Erickson, Megan Harper and Melissa Bollig. Sanchez, the reigning Mountain West Diving Coach of The Year, also signed a freshman sensation out of Minnesota, Michole Timm, and has a walk-on freshman out of St. Michaels High (Santa Fe) in Laura Thomas.
Timm comes to the Lobos after an undefeated 2010-2011 prep season and back-to-back Minnesota State Class A diving championships. Timm also lettered in gymnastics and track and field.
Bush was the Mountain West 2010 platform champion and runner-up in 2011 as a junior. She has been an All-MWC diver in all three of her seasons as a Lobo. Sanchez knows what he is getting from Erickson, Harper and Bollig and is hoping the two first-year Lobos also can bring some points to the UNM total.
“Michole is green, but we expect her to come along quickly and contribute,” said Sanchez. “I think Laura is going to surprise some people.”
The potential for points out of freshmen materialized last season when Harper and Bollig competed as rookies. Bollig finished sixth off the 3-meter board and seventh off the 1-meter board at the Mountain West championships. Harper finished eighth off the 3-meter board. They both made the all-conference team as freshmen.
Diver Ashlee Erickson |
UNM placed four divers in the 3-meter finals at the MWC meet which is the first time a MWC program turned that feat since 2000.
“Gabby (Erickson), Melissa and Megan are really looking strong,” said Sanchez. “We have a shot of qualifying two divers to the NCAA finals.”
The Lobos open their 2011-12 season Saturday when Air Force visits UNM’s Sadler Natatorium for a noon duel.
“We have beaten Air Force the past three years, but they have added some good freshmen and return most of their people,” said Ljone. “It should be a good meet.
“We still have to develop some swimmers in a few events like the butterfly and distance free, but in every other event we have six, eight girls who can swim them. I’m excited about our depth. There is a lot of competition on the teams, but it’s healthy to get pushed.”
Ljone might need to develop depth in the distance free, but Monica Dudley made a preseason statement that she is out to break the UNM record in the 1,650-yard freestyle that she set last season as a freshman.
Dudley finished eighth in the elite division of an open water swim held in September in the San Francisco Bay area.
“It’s a tough swim,” said Ljone, a 2009 Ironman Triathlon competitor, who knows a tough swim. “She had never made an open-water swim like that before and it’s exciting that she finished that high. She is an example of a whole team that has come back in great shape and has allowed us to jump right into tougher workouts.”
Some of the other top returning swimmers for 2011-12 include: Lindsey Morris, Maria Dudley, Nicole Peirce, Erica Stuart, Maureen Abeita, Brittany Anderson, Megan Gugerty, Ashleigh Coon, Alyssa Keill, Hannah Mercier, Ashley Blanchette, Julia Carroll and Jessica Montoya.
Ljone also is expecting her returning letter-winners to be pushed by her first-year Lobos: Samantha Moss, Amber Amr, Amy Peters, Taylor McGregor, Carlie McGregor, Anna Lillistrom, Lyndsay Stapleton, Sarah Weihe, Anastasia Welchert and Kristal Summers.
Another thing these Lobo pups will learn is that academics is highly stressed in Ljone’s program. She had had 19 swimmers on the 2011 All-Mountain West Academic team and 17 the year before.