LAS VEGAS, Nev. – After fighting through a three-day and 129 event long UNLV Winter Invite, New Mexico’s Swimming and Diving team will come home with 636 points for a final team ranking of second place.
UNLV remained at the top of the podium everyday and ultimately took the invite with 877.50 points for first place. NAU held third place until the end with 616.50 points, NMSU finished for fourth place with 554 points, Pacific took fifth place with 522 points, Cal State East Bay followed for sixth place with 239 points, Fresno Pacific for seventh place with 152 points, and Whittier College completed the meet with 74 points for eighth place.
The Lobos started back up with event number 25, the 1,650 yard freestyle. Anna Lengyel and Taylor McGregor finished for sixth and 11th place after racing a time of 17:24.30 and 17:43.58, respectively.
Lengyel was seen again in the 200-yard fly as she took fourth place after touching the wall for a preliminary time of 2:06.77 and final time of 2:04.98.
Moss came in with a 2:07.07 preliminary time and 2:06.51 final time for sixth place in the same event.
New Mexico showed both their perseverance and ability to leave everything out in the pool as they racked up even more A-final finishes in the final day of competition.
Amber Amr raced a preliminary time of 2:05.08 and final time of 2:04.41 to take sixth place in the 200-yard backstroke. Emily McGill took eighth place in the same event after racing a preliminary time of 2:05.46 and a final time of 2:06.21.
April Chee brought in another eighth place for the Lobos in the 100-yard freestyle with a 52.15 preliminary and 52.26 final time.
The 200-yard breaststroke marked event number 31. Lindsey Englestead carried her strength in the water over to the final day of contests as she placed fifth with a preliminary time of 2:19.34 and final time of 2:18.43. McGill took eighth place with a preliminary and final time of 2:23.05 and 2:23.15, respectively.
Upperclassmen April Chee, Shayla King, Caitlin Gardiner and second year swimmer Fanni Pataki competed for the Lobos to the very end in the last event of the invite.
The team finished off just 00:04.21 seconds behind UNLV for the Lobos highest finish of the day in the 400-yard free relay recording a combined time of 3:26.17 for second place.
Diving
Aundrea Scott and Kayla Taylor represented the Lobos this weekend in the diving events.
Both divers competed in the 3-meter springboard event; Scott finished with a total score of 233.95 for sixth place and Taylor placed right after for seventh after scoring 190.05 points,
Scott also gave a fifth place performance in the 1-meter diving event earning a score of 237.40.
After New Mexico pushed through another rigorous three day long competition for the 2014-15 season head coach Kunio Kono says, “The final day is always tough for any swimming competition. but all of our girls competed amazingly well. I’m very proud of their finishes with strong performances.” He includes recognition of the level of compeition both UNLV and NMSU had to offer this past weekend.
The team’s experience from the season so far is expected to build up and prepare the Lobos for the challenging races the MW Championships and NCAA Championships are anticipated to offer. According to coach Kono they are on the right track, “I’m very confident from this weekend that our girls are moving in the right direction.”
The swimming and diving team will have roughly a month off until their next dual competition against Colorado State which will also stand as the final home meet of the year and Senior Day on Sat, Jan. 17 beginning at 11:00 a.m. MT