Lobos Set Three Personal Bests on Day 1 of Invitational
Houston, Texas – The University of New Mexico currently sits in 6th place out of six teams after day one of the Phil Hansel Invitational swim meet in Houston, Texas. The Lobos scored a total of 186.5 points on Thursday, which put them just over ten points shy of 5th-place Tulane. Houston, followed by Rice, Air Force, and North Texas are the teams presently in the top four places of the meet.
The Lobos team score and standings position doesn’t tell the whole story of the day. On a day in which the team placed last, three swimmers set new personal-best times and several others set new season-best times.
Sophomore Katy McCarter and senior Marina Olmstead recorded their fastest times ever in the 50-yard freestyle event on Thursday. McCarter placed 6th in the event, posting a 23.40 time which is 13-hundredths of a second faster than she has ever gone. Olmstead also posted her personal best in the Championship Finals of the event, going 23.57 – nine-hundredths of a second faster than her previous best.
Junior Ashley Sterchele also set a new all-time best on day one of the meet, going 5:07.28 in the 500-yard freestyle in the E-Final. She shattered her previous best time by two and two-hundredths of a second in the event.
Three other Lobos set new season-best times in the 50-yard freestyle in addition to McCarter and Olmstead. Senior Grace Carey (25.02), senior Ola Tomaszek (25.27), and senior Maddie Deucher (25.41) all recorded season-best times in the event on Thursday.
Similarly, four other Lobos posted new season-best times in the 500-yard freestyle, in addition to Sterchele. Freshman Maya Clise (4:59.84), senior Josie Carpenter (5:04.08), sophomore Brynn Quintana (5:06.16), and sophomore Paige Lyons (5:07.36) set new fastest times for the season. Clise’s time was good enough for 18th place in the event.
New Mexico had four more swimmers record season-best times, all in the 200-yard individual medley. Sophomore Layni Andrle (2:09.19), junior Jordan Foster (2:09.30), sophomore Kiana Raagas (2:12.92), and freshman Eloise Fisher (2:13.45) all set personal season-bests in the event. Andrle placed 36th in the event.
A few Lobos also competed in the 1-meter diving event on Thursday. Sophomore Alex Robertson placed tied for 10th (242.40) in the Championship Finals of the event. Junior Kristen Hepfer placed 14th (229.25), diving in the Consolation Finals.
New Mexico has work to do on the remaining two days of the meet in Houston.