ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico women’s swimming and diving team celebrated Senior Day with a 192-108 dual-meet win over in-state rival New Mexico State on Saturday. The Lobos dominated the meet, winning 13 of the 16 events to extend their winning-streak versus State to six.
UNM was led by senior Madison Burns, who was competing in her final home meet as a Lobo. Burns came out on top in all four of her events on the day, including individual wins in the 50-yard freestyle (23.59) and the 100-yard freestyle (51.85). Along with her individual victories, the senior also teamed up with juniors Carol De Groote Tavares and Konoha Shinada and sophomore Asami Terada to win the 200-yard medley relay (1:44.59) while also helping juniors Shinada and Adriana Palomino and sophomore Talia Passarelli top the leaderboard in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:31.33).
Konoha Shinada was the second of three Lobos to sweep their events on the day, including two individual wins and the two previously mentioned relays. Shinada led the field in the 200-yard butterfly with a final time of 2:04.44 and she took first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.94.
The Lobos got a familiar push from Palomino as she also topped all of the events that she participated in. Along with her victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay, Palomino also grabbed first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:01.13 and the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:54.54, more than 16 seconds clear of second-place. Palomino’s 1000-yard freestyle was a 9:43.14 after altitude conversion, the top-time in the event in Mountain West history.
Carol De Groote Tavares and Emily Huffer each walked away four podium finishes. De Groote Tavares had one individual win in the 100-yard backstroke (1:47.06) along with the 200-yard medley relay win. She also took second in the 200-yard backstroke (2:02.73) and third in the 200-yard individual medley (2:10.48). Meanwhile, Huffer took first in the 200-yard backstroke (2:02.49) and placed second in the 200-yard butterfly (2:07.26). She also placed second in both the 200-yard medley relay with Passarelli and freshmen Brooke Zukowski and Klara Farkas (1:47.06) and the 400-yard freestyle relay with Farkas, sophomore Breanna Wiercinski and freshman Matea Sumajstorcic (3:31.77).
The Lobos got strong performances from their underclassmen throughout the meet. Breanna Wiercinski gathered two individual second-place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle (24.48) while tying with Talia Passarelli in the 100-yard freestyle (53.53). Asami Terada took second in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.62).
As for the freshmen, Klara Farkas won the 200-yard freestyle (1:52.68) and placed second in the 100-yard butterfly (57.43). Matea Sumajstorcic also gathered a win, topping the 200-yard individual medley (2:09.95) along with a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle (5:08.09) and a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.02). Finally, Landry Walker captured a second-place finish in the 1000-yard freestyle with a final time of 10:50.97.
“Overall, I thought we performed very well across the board. We have two-and-a-half weeks until our conference championships so this was a great indication of details that we need to continue to fine-tune,” said head swimming coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker. “It was an awesome day to celebrate our seniors. Madi Burns, Deidra Dorough, Celine Bertrand, and that was our main priority today. It’s just an honor to really celebrate our seniors and what they’ve done for this program, which is a tremendous amount. They are fantastic teammates, individuals, and athletes, obviously. All-around, they just had such a positive impact on our program and on the people around them. It was great to be able to send them off with a win against our rival.”
Three divers shined today, as the trio of junior Allyson Concepcion, sophomore Natasha Dark and freshman Hannah Tiendas each placed in the top-four of both the one-meter and three-meter dives. Tiendas captured her first-ever collegiate win in the one-meter dive, making NCAA Zone Cut with a score of 273.13. She followed her performance with a fourth-place finish in the three-meter with a final score of 273.15.
Allyson Concepcion was solid as well, placing third in the one-meter dive with a score of 266.18 and second in the three-meter dive with a 299.33. Finally, Dark finished fourth in the one-meter dive with a score of 264.75 and third in the three-meter dive with a 280.58.
“It’s beyond words how proud I am of these divers. They all did outstanding today and showed great improvements,” said head diving coach Julie Weddle. “I’m excited for Hannah and her first collegiate win while also qualifying for Zones in the one-meter. She also posted a personal-best in the three-meter with a 273, just seven points short of zone qualification.
“Ally also had an outstanding three-meter, just seven-tenths shy of breaking 300 points. Her and Natasha both posted Zone qualification scores on the three-meter. This was a great day for Lobo divers and that they are getting ready for conference.”
The diving team will be back in action on Friday, February 2 through Saturday, February 3 as they travel to Arizona for a diving quad-meet hosted by NAU.
SENIORS
Madison Burns: Burns served as an integral part of UNM’s team this year and for the years before, winning 14 events in seven meets up to this point this season. Burns holds the school-record for the 200-yard freestyle relay along with Morgan Ginnis, Shayla King and Kaela McKee with a time of 1:30.63. She also placed seventh at last year’s Mountain West Championships in the 200-yard freestyle relay while placing fifth in the 200-yard medley relay. Burns will graduate in May of this year with her BBA in both HR and Finance, and she plans to pursue a career in impressions.
Celine Bertrand: Bertrand’s Lobo career was highlighted by a dominant performance at last year’s Mountain West Championships. The senior became the first UNM swimmer to capture an individual Mountain West title since the conference’s inception, winning the 200-yard butterfly with a school-record time of 1:59.25. At the same meet, Bertrand also broke the school’s 400-yard individual medley record with a time of 4:19.84. Outside of school athletics, Bertrand’s work with Lobo Aquatics has helped her realize her passion for coaching. She will graduate in May with a Liberal Arts degree with a focus in Exercise Science and Health Management. Afterwards, she plans to pursue a career in coaching with aspirations to reach the collegiate level.
Deidra Dorough: During her four years as a Lobo, Dorough posted impressive performances against in-state rival New Mexico State, winning the 200-yard backstroke in a dual-meet against the Aggies as a sophomore, while also performing at the 2017 Mountain West Championships, taking sixth in the C-Final of the 200-yard backstroke last season while also scoring in the 400-yard individual medley. Outside of the pool, Dorough has proven to be an exceptional student and leader. The senior has been selected to the Mountain West’s All-Academic team for the past three seasons and has achieved a 4.0 GPA every semester at UNM. Dorough is also a member of the Lobo Leadership Academy and is the president of her NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee chapter. She will graduate in May with her BBA in International Business.
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