Swimming in Seventh After Opening Day of Phill Hansel Inv.

HOUSTON, Texas — New Mexico picked up 140 points on day one of the Phill Hansel Invitational and sits in seventh place out of nine.  The meet continues with action on Friday and Saturday.  The results are through seven events, six swimming races and one diving competition.  San Diego State leads the field with 457 points, followed by Houston (407), Rice (317), Colorado State (267), Washington State (261), Tulane (182), New Mexico (140), Air Force (127) and North Texas (12).

Events on Thursday were the 50-yard free, the 200-yard free relay, the 500-yard free, the 200-yard individual medley, the 400-yard medley relay and the 1-meter platform.

In the platform, the Lobos had three divers place in the B-finals with Daphne Scheck placing the best in the event with a 16th-place showing, scoring 250.05.  Alex Robertson and Kristen Hepfer, two freshmen, were 22nd and 24th, respectively.

UNM also did well in the opening relay, the 200-yard free, finishing seventh in the field.  The quartet of Katy McCarter, Marina Olmstead, Borka Tomanova and Olivia Bishop came in at 1:34.04, just 0ne-hundreth of a second behind Air Force for sixth place.

In the 500-free, Laura Benkova, fresh off her stint at the European Championships in Russia, just missed qualifying for the A Final.  She instead raced in the B Final, coming in second for 10th place points overall.  Camila Batista, Paige Lyons and Josie Carpenter all qualified for the D Finals.

Mari Aoki was UNM’s top finisher in the 200-yard IM, finishing fifth in the C Final for 21st overall.  McCarter and Olmstead qualified for the C Finals with McCarter barely getting edged out for first in that race. Bishop, Tomanova and Benkova all were in the D Final.

In the 400-yard medley relay, Olmstead, Jordan Foster, Benkova and Bishop turned in a seventh place overall finish.