ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Six University of New Mexico swimmers are heading to Federal Way, Washington, to take part in the AT&T Winter National Championships hoping to make the cut for Olympic qualifying next summer. Seniors Kristin Walker and Shayla King will be joined by junior Abigail Wheeler, sophomore Morgan Ginnis and freshmen Adriana Palomino and Mareike Foester at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center Thursday through Saturday.
“The girls have looked good the last few days,” UNM head coach Kunio Kono said. “It’s a long-course meet, which is a little different for them, but they’ve been training well.”
NCAA swimming takes place on 25-yard pools, but the Winter National Championships will be long course, meaning they will be 50 meters in length. USA Swimming sets the official time standards a racer needs to reach in order to qualify for the trials.
“The girls will swim every day until they hopefully make the time they need,” Kono said. “It’s a fast pool and it will be a great environment. Some of the top swimmers in the world will be there like Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin. It will be an exciting meet, and it’ll be their best chance to make the Olympic trial cuts.”
All six of the Lobos have posted best times within a second or two of the cut line this season. Ginnis is 0.6 seconds away from the cut in the 50 free on a short course, and her converted long course time is only 0.18 seconds away from qualification. King is also close on the 50 free, needing to shave less than a second off her top time this year.
Walker’s converted time in the 100 breast is just six hundredths of a second away from making the cut. Wheeler will try to improve her time by a little over a second in the 100 fly, and Palomino, UNM’s long-distance extraordinaire this year, will be racing slightly different lengths than she’s used to: 400 and 800 meters instead of 500 and 1,000 yards.
Foester, a native of Buckenhof, Germany, is the only non-American competing for the Lobos and obviously cannot qualify for the U.S. trials, but has posted times close to the cut in both the 100 and 200 breast.
“I’m excited for all our girls,” said Kono, “and I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen.”