Lobos Lose to Rival Aggies in First Home Meet
Albuquerque, N.M. – The University of New Mexico swimming and diving team lost to bitter rival New Mexico State University in their first home meet of the season by a score of 172-123. The Lobos (0-4, 0-2 MW) swam and dove at home on Saturday for the first time in the 2023-24 campaign. They will host just one more meet this season in January.
The Aggies (2-2, 0-1 WAC) won their second consecutive dual meet of the season and won 12 of the 16 events on Saturday.
Western Colorado University also participated in the diving portion of the meet.
New Mexico took home four first-place finishes in swimming events and won both of the diving events in the meet.
The Lobos swept the relays, taking first in both the 200-yard medley relay (1:46.97) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:36.17). Freshman Sophia Corder, junior Katy McCarter, and senior Jordan Foster all appeared on both relays. Senior Iryana Tsesiul was the team’s fourth swimmer on the 200-yard medley relay and junior Brynn Quintana was on the winning 400-yard freestyle relay. The team’s time in the 200-yard medley relay was a new season-best.
McCarter single-handedly kept the Lobos within striking distance of their rival, winning each of her two individual events. She took home first place in the 50-yard freestyle event (24.33), out-touching the second-place finisher by just over one-tenth of a second. Following a short break in the swimming portion of the meet for the 3-meter diving competition, McCarter dove back into the pool in the very next swimming event to again pace the field in the 100-yard freestyle (52.47). Her times in both events were new season-bests.
Freshman Alice English and senior Kristen Hepfer won the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, respectively, for the Lobos. This was English’s first victory in the 1-meter event (253.05) of the season. Hepfer’s first-place finish in the 3-meter event (264.53) was not only her first victory of the season, but it was also a new season-best score for her in the event.
The Lobos’ six event wins on Saturday were the most they’ve won in a dual meet this season thus far. The team has improved in each meet so far this season, winning just two events against Colorado State and Air Force, four events against Northern Arizona, and then six against the Aggies.
New Mexico’s swimmers will look to continue improving as a team and aim to snap their four-straight losses to begin the season next month when they travel to Las Vegas to participate in the UNLV Invitational at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. That meet will begin on December 17th and wrap up on the 19th. The Lobos’ divers will be back in action next weekend, November 17th through 19th, at the Lumberjack Diving Invitational in Flagstaff, Ariz.
