ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Lobos anticipate final dual meet and invitational competition of the year as the swimmers will head to Las Cruces, N.M. to take on NMSU’s Aggies while the divers will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo. to compete in the Air Force Diving Invitational this weekend.
UNM’s swimming and diving team will jump back into the pool after a big 174-126 win over Colorado State.
The upcoming Rio Grande Rivalry contest marks the final dual meet of the season for both teams before conference play. New Mexico has been successful in the past two years against New Mexico State as they dominated in the 2012-13 season finishing at 178.8-121.5 points and last year when they went head-to-head in the Duke City and came out with a win of 154-132 points.
This year the Aggies are returning after a narrow loss against Idaho (133-167) and will host the Lobos at the NMSU Natatorium with a 1-6 dual meet record.
New Mexico’s divers will also be getting down to business with New Mexico’s States divers at the Air Force Diving Invitational where Boise State, San Diego State, UNLV, and Wyoming will also be seen.
NMSU is expected to be a worthy opponent, especially when it comes to the diving division. Their roster includes three-year diver Lauren Reifel, a recent Western Athletic Conference Diver of the Week selection, after scoring highly against Pac.12 No.14 Arizona in both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events.
Head coach of UNM’s swimming and diving program, Kunio Kono, offers words on the two day long competition, “I believe this meet will tell us what we need to tune our swimmers for the MW Championships. We are three weeks out and are very focused on the meet in San Antonio, Texas. I am sure that NMSU will race very hard and we need to step up to win this meet.”
The battle against the Aggies is the last stepping stone before the Lobos make way towards the ultimate season competition at the 2015 Swimming and Diving Mountain West Championships which is quickly approaching and is set to begin next month.
New Mexico’s swimmers will kick off events in Las Cruces, N.M. on Friday, Jan. 30 at 5:00 p.m. The divers will begin all day competition in Colorado Springs, Colo. on the same day.
Keep track of recaps and results at golobos.com