New Mexico Lobos at Mountain West Swimming/Diving Championships
When/Where: Feb. 19-22 — Palo Alto Aquatic Center — San Antonio, Texas
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The goal for the New Mexico Lobos at the Mountain West Swimming and Diving Championships is familiar enough because it is a theme identical to 2013’s goal: peak at the right time, surprise some people.
New Mexico has another goal, too: score more points in 2014 just like the Lobos scored more points in 2013 (575) than they did in 2012 (285). That was a big jump in scoring. Can the Lobos do it again? New Mexico has finished sixth in the past two MW championships meets and would like to take a jump in the team standings, too.
Of course, the basic goal for any team and swimmer is to swim your best at the conference meet. The Lobos have been tapering down their workouts to be fresh for the MW swim, but the Lobos also should take to the water with some confidence.
They won the Florida International Invite in the first week of January and are coming off a dual meet win over New Mexico State.
However, there are bigger fish to out swim at the MW Championships.
The favorites in this event have been cast. Boise State and defending MW champion San Diego State are expected to splash it out for the 2014 title. Wyoming and San Jose State are good enough to make some noise in San Antonio at the Palo Alto Aquatic Center.
In a pre-meet vote of the 10 MW coaches, New Mexico was picked to finish in the seventh spot ,ahead of Air Force, Fresno State and Colorado State.
The meet begins Wednesday with 1-meter springboard prelims and runs through Saturday. The competition each day will begin with preliminary heats in the morning, followed by finals sessions at 530 p.m. (MT). Saturday’s finals session will begin at 5 p.m. (MT)
It’s no surprise that the Broncos of Boise and the Aztecs of San Diego have been picked to battle for the 2014 MW throne. Boise won the MW crown in 2012 with a win in the final event. The Aztecs charged to the 2013 crown with five individual wins and four wins out of the five relay races.
Of course, New Mexico is looking for some wins, but a goal of every team is to escape the prelims, make the finals, and grab some points.
The Lobos will be hoping for some points from senior diver Megan Harper, who has the ninth best point total in the conference off the 1-meter board and the eighth best total off the 3-meter board. Harper is in the No. 6 spot off the platform.
Monica Dudley has a good shot at points in the 1,650 freestyle, Kaela McKee could score in the backstroke events, and Ashley Blanchette has solid times in the 100-yard breaststroke race. Lobos Jorgi Hobson and Anna Lengyel are looking for points in the butterfly events. UNM’s top relay team could be the 200-yard medley where the Lobos have the No. 5 time in the conference.
Here is a look at the top performances in each event and New Mexico’s best effort:
50-yard free: Top Time: SDSU Anika Apostalon, 22.39. Top Lobo:Shayla King, 23.86.
100-yard free: Top Time: SDSU Anika Apostalon, 48.40. Top Lobo: April Chee, 52.88
200-yard free: Top Time: Boise State Felicity Cann 1:48.42. Top Lobo: Caitlin Gardiner, 1:52.37
500-yard free: Top Time: Air Force Genevieve Miller, 4:47.43. Top Lobo: Monica Dudley, 5:02.68
1,650-yard free: Top Time (1,000): Air Force Genevieve Miller, 9:54.25. Top Lobo: Monica Dudley, 10:17.30
100-yard backstroke: Top Time: Wyoming Morgan Hartigan, 52.98. Top Lobo: Kaela McKee, 56.17
200-yard backstroke: Top Time: SDSU Natilee Ruiz, 1:58.45. Top Lobo: Kaela McKee, 2:03.87
100-yard breaststroke: Top Time: Boise State Sydney Johansen, 1:02.61. Top Lobo: Ashley Blanchette, 1:04.67
200-yard breaststroke: Top Time: Boise State Heather Harper, 2:14.46. Top Lobo: Lindsey Englestead, 2:22.43
100-yard butterfly: Top Time: UNLV Katelyne Herrington, 52.71. Top Lobo: Jorgi Hobson, 56.77
200-yard butterfly: Top Time: Boise State Rachel Heaney, 1:58.74. Top Lobo: Anna Lengyel, 2:05.83
200-yard individual medley: Top Time: Wyoming Morgan Hartigan, 1:59.34. Top Lobo: Anna Lilliestrom, 2:08.94
400-yard individual medley: Top Time: Air Force Kimberly Davis, 4:13.84. Top Lobo: Carlie McGregor, 4:38.97
200-yard freestyle relay: Top Time: Boise State, 1:31.64. Top Lobo Time: 1:36.23
400-yard freestyle relay: Top Time: San Diego State, 3:19.98, Top Lobo Time: 3:30.83.
800-yard freestyle relay: Top Time: Boise State, 7:17.85; Top Lobo Time: 7:34.19.
200-yard medley relay: Top Time: Boise State, 1:40.53. Top Lobo Time: 1:43.16
400-yard medley relay: Top Time: Boise State, 3:41.72; Top Lobo Time: 3:50.38
1-meter diving: Top Points: Wyoming Amanda Fay, 325.95. Top Lobo: Megan Harper, 292.72
3-meter diving: Top Points: Nevada En-tien Huang, 367.20. Top Lobo: Megan Harper, 308.40
Platform diving: Top Points: Boise State Jordan Marthens, 291.85; Top Lobo: Megan Harper, 222.35
New Mexico Lobos Swimming & Diving 2013-14 Season Roster
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Hometown (Prev School) | ||||||
| Amber Amr | Jr. | 2L | Spokane, Wash. (Shadle Park HS) | ||||||
| Ashley Blanchette | Sr. | 3L | San Antonio, Texas (Winston Churchill HS) | ||||||
| Julia Carroll | Sr. | 3L | Aurora, Illi. (Waubonsie Valley HS) | ||||||
| April Chee | So. | 1L | Farmington, NM (Farmington HS) | ||||||
| Lucile Chevalier | Fr. | HS | Bordeaux, France | ||||||
| Ally Davis | So. | 1L | Ottawa, Canada (John McCraess) | ||||||
| Monica Dudley | Sr. | 3L | Overland Park, Kan. (Saint Thomas Aquinas HS) | ||||||
| Lindsey Englestead | Fr. | HS | Las Vegas, Nev. (Bishop Gorman) | ||||||
| Caitlin Gardiner | Jr. | 2L | Cape Town, Western Cape (Rustenberg GHS) | ||||||
| Megan Harper | Sr. | 3L | Phoenix, Ariz. (Xavier College Preparatory) | ||||||
| Jorgi Hobson | Sr. | 3L | Las Cruces, N.M. (Las Cruces HS) | ||||||
| Shayla King | So. | 1L | Atlanta, Ga. (Mt. Vernon Presbyterian HS) | ||||||
| Anna Lengyel | Fr. | HS | Lovászi, Hungary (Pte Deákferenc ) | ||||||
| Anna Lilliestrom | Jr. | 2L | Huddigne, Sweden (Sjodalsgymnasiet) | ||||||
| Carlie McGregor | Jr. | 2L | Spokane, Wash. (Mt. Spokane HS) | ||||||
| Taylor McGregor | Jr. | 2L | Spokane, Wash. (Mt. Spokane HS) | ||||||
| Kaela McKee | Fr. | HS | Mill Creek, Wash. (Henry M. Jackson) | ||||||
| Jessica Montoya | Sr. | 3L | Albuquerque, N.M. (Rio Grande HS) | ||||||
| Samantha Moss | Jr. | 2L | Loveland, Colo. (Thompson Valley HS) | ||||||
| Fanni Pataki | Fr. | HS | Kaposvár, Hungary | ||||||
| Lyndsay Stapleton | Jr. | 2L | Spokane, Wash. (Mead High School) | ||||||
| Lauren Tininenko | So. | 1L | Bentonville, Ark. (Bentonville HS) | ||||||
| Kristin Walker | So. | 1L | Colorado Springs, Colo. (Air Academy HS) | ||||||
| Sarah Weihe | Jr. | 2L | Coralville, Iowa (West HS) | ||||||
| Anastasia Welchert | Jr. | 2L | Tucson, Ariz. (Salpointe Catholic) | ||||||
| Abigail Wheeler | Fr. | HS | Butte, Mont. (Butte) | ||||||
| Heidi Zeiger | Sr. | 3L | Sylmar, Calif. (Bishop Alemany HS) |
