Nov. 16, 2011
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico swimming and diving teams hit the road separately today but with very similar goals: have strong showings amongst tough competition.
Tracy Ljone and her swimmers are traveling to Houston for the second straight year to participate in the Phil Hansel Cougar Classic Invitational while Abel Sanchez and his squad will be in Tucson for the Wildcat Diving Invitational.
Both the swimmers and divers are coming off a two and a half week period free of competition; the team last competed Oct. 29 against Wyoming at Seidler Natatorium with the Lobos falling 190-110.
Last year at the Cougar Classic the Lobos had a strong showing which included three school records being broken. Jorgi Hobson broke a 9 year school record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.92 and Monica Dudley broke two 8 year records in the 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle with times of 10:12.99 and 16:56.83, respectively.
“We’re going into this meet hoping to swim some of the best times of the season,” said Ljone. “Last year we had a lot of success and we’re hoping to repeat that, but it may be tougher because the field this year is about five or six teams deeper than it was last year.”
The teams at last year’s Invitational included: LSU, Tulane, Houston, SMU and the Lobos.
Preliminaries for the Invitational will be held in the morning with finals coming in the evening.
The divers will be in Tucson for the second straight year at the Wildcat Diving Invitational. Last year UNM had a strong showing, and an even stronger performance from Aubrey Bush who placed first in the 3-meter springboard beating out 61 competitors from schools such as USC, Arizona State, University of Arizona and Stanford. Megan Harper also had a solid showing at the Invitational.
This year, however has been tough on Sanchez and his squad. Aubrey Bush is out for the year and Melissa Bollig and Megan Harper have also been nursing injuries all year.
“It’s been a little tough, but Ashlee Erickson has been diving phenomenally and Michole Timm and Laura Lee Thomas have really stepped it up for us,” said Sanchez.
Preliminaries for the Wildcat Diving Invitational will be in the morning with finals held in the evening. Check Golobos.com for recap and results of the day’s events.