Lobo Head to MW Championships
Mountain West Championship Central | Schedule of Events
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Good thing the Mountain West Swimming and Diving Championships are indoors. The outdoor temperature in Minneapolis, Minnesota will get as low at -8 degrees this week, which is the host site of the Mountain West Swimming & Diving Championships, but for the Lobos, their hopes are that it’s just going to heat up.
The Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center is serving as the host natatorium for the 2020 championships. The championships run from February 19-22 and will be carried live on FloSports via a subscription. Links to the Mountain West Championships, featuring live scoring, updates and streaming information are available at https://themw.com/sports/2020/1/22/champ_wswim_20.aspx.
New Mexico, under first year head coach Keegan Ingelido, will be looking to better last year’s fourth place finish at the same venue. That finish of 792.5 points was the best finish for UNM in the history of its time in the Mountain West.
Last year’s team rode the back of Adriana Palomino to that finish. Palomino won three events on her own, winning the 200-yard, the 500-yard and the 1,650-yard free style events. UNM might not have that type of swimmer in its arsenal, but then again, it just might, as several Lobos rank near the top of the MW best times lists for the season.
Certainly, UNM has a shot at a double winner in the butterfly with freshman Nicholle Toh. Toh owns the league’s best time in the 200-yard betterfly at 2:00.19, and she ranks third in the 100-yard butterfly. Her chief competition will most likely come from two-time defending Mountain West 100-yard champion, Courtney Vincent of San Diego State. Vincent has the top time in the 200 this year. Toh is vying to beome UNM’s first Mountain West butterfly champion since Anna Bertrand in 2017 when she won the 200-yard butterfly.
UNM’s other conference leader entering the championships in Hedda Oritsland, who ranks in the top-10 in three events, and in the top-20 in two others. Oritsland has the league’s best time in the 100-yard freestyle, and she is looking to be UNM’s first scorer (top eight) in the 100-yard freestyle since 2009 when Marissa Campbell took sixth. UNM’s best-ever finish in the 100 was in 2005 when Tori Claridge finished fourth.
Oritsland was an all-conference performer in the 100-yard butterfly last year, and she isn’t the only all-conference performer that UNM has returning, and UNM senior diver Natasha Dark. Dark finished eighth in the 1-meter last year and is looking to improve upon that. Diving might be the wildcard for the Lobos, as Dark, Sara Rogers and Jocelyn Gallais have all turned in career-best marks over the last month and are looking to carry that into the championships.