MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The University of New Mexico women’s swimming and diving team finished the Mountain West Swimming and Diving Championships with a fourth-place showing, marking their best finish in the Mountain West Championship in program history with a program-best 792.50 points.
The program’s previous best was 697 points recorded at the 2017 MW Championships, an improvement of 95.5 points. Last season, UNM finished sixth with 673.5, a 119-point improvement from last year.
UNM had six Lobos place in the top 10, broke a school record and was claimed MW Swimmer of the Meet during the final day of competition.
Senior Adriana Palomino led the Lobos throughout the meet, winning all three individual races she competed in.
During Saturday’s portion of the four-day meet, Palomino won the 1650-yard freestyle with a final time of 16:20.53, finishing 4.80 ahead of the next competitor. In an already decorated collegiate career, after her final win in the championships, she became the first swimmer in the Mountain West to win the 200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, and the 1650-yard freestyle. Palomino was also the first Lobo in school history to be named MW Swimmer of the Meet after placing first in the individual rankings with 96 points.
The three wins by the Arizona native also marked the first individual conference titles of her career in each of those events. Palomino finished sixth in the 200, fourth in the 500 and second in the 1650 last season and finished sixth (200), third (500) and fourth (1650) her sophomore year.
Palomino, senior Konoha Shinada, sophomore Klara Farkas and freshman Hedda Øristland placed fifth with a final time of 3:22.23 in the 400-yard freestyle relay, but was significant in that their time broke the UNM school record by just over half a second. The previous record was set in 2014 by Shayla King, April Chee, Maria Dudley and Jorgi Hobson with 3:22.88.
Sophomore Matea Sumajstorcic finished fifth and freshman Bryndys Bolladottir finished 10th in the 1650-yard freestyle to give UNM three top 10 finishers in the event. Sumajstorcic finished with a final time of 16:41.28 while Bolladottir touched the wall at 16:50.22. Sumajstorcic scored with 68 individual points in the meet, the second-highest contributor for the Lobos and the 25th-highest point total amongst all swimmers and divers.
In the 200-yard butterfly, seniors Emily Huffer and Shinada placed within the top 10 in their final conference meet. Huffer finished in fourth with a final time of 1:59.50 and Shinada placed sixth with a final time of 2:01.71.
In diving, freshman Jocelyn Gallais was the top finisher for the Lobo squad, finishing just outside of the top 10 in the platform with a final score of 230.30.
The diving team will be back in action from March 11 to March 14 for the NCAA Diving Zone in Flagstaff, Ariz. The time for the meet time is to be determined, so stay tuned for updates on the upcoming meet.