Swimming to Face Off in Quad Meet at USAFA
USAFA, Colo. — The Lobos, fresh off a pair of close meet results at San Diego State, will compete one state north, taking to the pool at the United States Air Force Academy to take on a pair of Mountain West teams in Air Force and Colorado State, as well as Seattle of the Western Athletic Conference. The meet is split over two days, with the first half of the meet on Friday, January 17 starting at 5 p.m. and the second half of the meet on Saturday, January 18 at 11 a.m. The meet will be broadcast on YouTube here.
The Lobos will have most of the team available for the quad-meet, with the major exception of Arianna Stokes, who is not back from overseas yet, and Katy McCarter, who has degree requirements that will require her to miss the meet. Also missing the meet will be Summer Wenger and diver Rithika Colvin.
Air Force, which finished in third place at the Phill Hansel Invitational (UNM was seventh in the same meet), is 12-3 on the year and 11-0 at home. Colorado State is 1-3 overall with a win over Colorado Mesa and close losses to Washington State, Denver, and Wyoming. Seattle is 0-5 with losses to Cal Baptist, Grand Canyon, Washington State, Idaho and Simon Fraser.
Last time out, the Lobos lost 165-126 to San Diego State and 155-144 to Pepperdine. The loss to Pepperdine by just 11 points was nearly UNM’s first win in a dual over a Division I team since a 129-106 win over San Diego on January 8, 2022. That meet was just 13 events. UNM’s last win over a Division I team in a full 16-event meet was a 194-106 win over New Mexico State on January 25, 2020.
The Lobos were able to get event wins in the 100-yard butterfly as Sophia Corder took first place with a time of 57.65, her second-best time of the season. Layni Andrle was third in that same event with 59.70 on the clock.
Additionally, the relay team of Jordan Foster, Katy McCarter, Andrle and Corder took first in the 400-yard freestyle relay at 3:36.18. Corder was in that event for Arianna Stokes, one of several Lobos that missed the event as they head back to Albuquerque from overseas for the holiday break. Paige Lyons and Eryn Quirsfeld nearly turned in season-bests in the 1,000, with Lyons coming in at 11:06.28, about five seconds off her best, and Quirsfeld at 11:17.06, just 0.05 from her top time.