Broughton's 400 IM Paces UNM for Day 3

HOUSTON, Texas — Ellie Broughton continued her terrific Credit Union 1 Mountain West Championship, nearly setting a school record in the 400 IM, pacing the Lobos on Day Three of the championships.  The meet winds down tomorrow with seven events.

The Lobos are in ninth place overall with 311 points, 97 points clear of San Jose State and just 38 behind eighth place Air Force.  San Diego State has a meet leading 835 points, a 38-point lead over UNLV in SDSU’s attempt for a sixth title in seven years.

For UNM it was about Broughton and the pair of races run.  The preliminary race was a PR for her at 4:21.30, good for sixth on the all-time UNM performance list, up from eighth where she was at previously.  The tough part of that race is she was 0.03 seconds out of an A-Finals appearance.  Sometimes that can be a crushing blow to not be in the A-Final, but Broughton turned that on her head and obliterated her prelim time.  She was nearly two seconds faster, finishing first in the B-Final at 4:19.39.  Broughton was actually fifth at the halfway mark of the race before incrementally moving up.  She was still tied for second heading into the final 50 yards, but she overtook both Fresno State’s Madison Caserio and Air Force’s Hanani Dona to win.

Lobo senior Katy McCarter scored in the 100-yard backstroke for UNM as well.  She was the final qualifier into the C-Final, but finished seventh at 56.77 to move up a spot.

Not to be outdone, the Lobos’ 200-yard freestyle relay, anchored by McCarter, finished eighth at 1:32.68, topping both Colorado State and Air Force.  It was UNM’s best showing in the 200-yard freestyle relay since 2020 when UNM also finished eighth.

Although a non-scoring event, the Lobos finished third in the team diving event.