LAS CRUCES, N.M. – “I don’t remember the last time our results and record was this amazing. I am so proud of our athletes and want to congratulate them for their dual meet season,” head coach of the UNM swimming and diving program, Kunio Kono, says.
Amazing is right. The Lobos finished off regular season competition with a bang this weekend as they dominated NMSU’s Aggies with a final team score of 210 to 143 points. Their success over their Rio Grande opponent made for a 5-1 dual meet season record.
New Mexico took home 11 titles for the 17 events held in the Las Cruces Aquatic center.
April Chee, Madi Burns, Amelie Braul, and Amber Amr sparked the Lobos’ fire in the 200-yard freestyle relay as they took first place with a time of 1:36.87. Fanni Pataki, Shayla King, Kaela McKee, and Morgan Ginnis followed for second place at 1:36.88.
Next up was the 400-yard IM where UNM claimed second, third, and fourth place spots by Celine Bertrand at 4:38.19, Carlie McGregor at 4:41.46, and Anna Lengyel at 4:42.26 points, respectively.
Ginnis appeared on the scoring sheets again as she led the way for not one but two sweeps for the Lobos in the 100-yard freestyle and 50-yard freestyle.
Ginnis finished first in the 100-yard freestyle with the fastest split of 26.26 and 27.33 for a final time of 52.59. Pataki took second touching the wall at 52.92 and Shayla King came in for third at 53.51.
The 50-yard freestyle saw Ginnis for first place at 24.23, King for second place racing a time of 24.43, and Burns bringing in third place with a time of 24.54.
As the meet went on the Lobos found that Kaela McKee, was key to their victory. She helped add a total of 35 points to New Mexico’s score.
McKee raced the first leg of the 400-yard medley relay along with Ginnis, Kristin Walker, and Abigail Wheeler to finish with a relay A time of 3:52.01 for first place.
She also raced with Walker, Wheeler, and Ginnis in the 200-yard medley relay for another title clocking in at 1:45.69. Amr, King, Anna D-Lilliestrom, and Madi Burns took second place in the same event at 1:46.23.
McKee and Amr carried their strength over to the 100-yard backstroke. McKee took first place at 57.18 and Amr took third place at 59.30.
The two were seen as top finishers again in the 200-yard backstroke as McKee took second with a time of 2:07.51 and Amr for fourth finishing at 2:08.37. Senior swimmer, Caitlin Gardiner, raced the same event for third place at 2:08.32.
“Kaela has been training very hard and she is one of the most needed for conference championships. She had good technique and racing tempo this weekend and I am very excited for her to swim in two and a half weeks,” Kono speaks on McKee’s impressive performance.
The Lobos added the 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard freestyle, and 1,000-yard freestyle to their list of first place finishes.
Kristin Walker took the 200-yard breaststroke racing a time of 2:22.66, Emily McGill took third place at 2:28.52, and Lindsey Englestead right behind for fourth with a time of 2:28.77.
Pataki, Gardiner, and D-Lilliestrom represented the Lobos in the 200-yard freestyle and took first at 1:55.10, third at 1:56.89, and fourth at 1:58.70, respectively.
First year swimmer, Celine Bertrand, conquered in the long distance events as she took first place in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:37.50.
She took another title in the 500-yard freestyle as she touched the wall at 5:09.53. Anna Lengyel came in seconds later for second place at 5:12.21.
Lengyel claimed another second place finish in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:08.49. Wheeler finished for third at 2:12.38 and Bertrand for fourth at 2:13.12 in the same event.
Wheeler further contributed to New Mexico’s win in the 100-yard butterfly where she took second place contacting the pad at 56.83. Moss took fourth place at 59.05.
She also made an impact in the 200-yard IM where she finished with a 2:10.32 time for third. Preceding her was McGill for second place at 2:09.68.
Another nine points was added to the Lobos’ tally in the 100-yard breaststroke. Walker, McGill, and Englestead completed the race for second at 1:06.07, third at 1:07.55, and fourth at 1:08.81, respectively.
The Lobos kept their fire kindled until the very end as they took the top finishes in the final event of the weekend—the 400-yard freestyle relay. New Mexico’s team of King, Pataki, Ginnis, and Braul brought in first place clocking in a relay A time of 3:31.96. D-Lilliestrom, Gardiner, Chee, and Lenyel raced a relay B time of 3:36.32 for second place.
Diving
UNM gained another seven points from the springboard events by freshmen divers Rachel Colman and Kayla Taylor.
Colman scored 205.20 points for third place in the 1-meter diving event. Taylor had a final score of 165.25 points to put her in fifth place in the same event.
In the 3-meter, Taylor dove for a fourth place finish and final score of 173.40 points. Colman followed for fifth place after collecting 169.70 points.
New Mexico can breathe a sigh of relief now that they have accomplished and concluded a strong dual meet season. However, competition doesn’t stop here as the 2014-15 Mountain West Championships remain for the Lobos.
“Dual meets and conference championships are totally different animals,” Kono explains. “Dual meets are always just practice for us. Conference championships are the meet where we need to swim really fast and make NCAA times. We ended our season’s dual meets and now we need to tune up for the Mountain West Championships.”
The Lobos will now prepare for the Mountain West Championships which is scheduled to commence Wednesday, Feb. 18 and will last until Saturday, Feb. 21.