ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --- The Lobos took three events on senior day, including the opening 200 medley relay, as UNM celebrated Tahlia Micallef, Amaya Oliphant, and Kaylah Yazzie on Senior Day in a late morning meet against the visiting Northern Arizona Lumberjacks.
The Lobos lost 195.5 to 89 in the next-to-last dual meet of the season prior to the Mountain West Championships in Houston, February 18-21.
Along with the relay title, UNM took a pair of freestyle races, with Arianna Stokes winning the 50 free with a time of 23.52, just ahead of teammate Olivia Hann, who was second at 24.09. In that race, Micallef turned in a season-best time of 25.03, besting her previous mark by 0.31 seconds.
Stokes’ time was just 0.04 off her season best.
After a short break, the racers came back for the 100 free, and this time Hann couldn’t be beat. She blazed to a PR of 51.33, nearly a full second faster than her previous best. She beat NAU’s Kokona Watanabe by 0.54 seconds for the win.
The meet got started on a high note after the senior day ceremonies with UNM’s relay team of Stokes, Emily Ford, Sophia Corder, and Rian Bleyendall took the 200-medley relay in 1:44.10, half a second over NAU.
In diving, Esme Abbadi-Macintosh was the top finisher for UNM in the 1-meter dive, and Alice English was UNM’s top scorer in the 3-meter.
In other results, Yazzie, Alex McGill, and Blayendaal went second, third, and fourth in the eight-person 100-yard backstroke, and Micallef was third in the 200-yard free. In the 500-free, Eryn Quirsfeld had a season-best 5:19.16.
UNM splits up next week, with diving heading to Flagstaff for the NAU Diving Invitation Thursday through Saturday, while UNM heads back to Las Cruces for a swim meet only on Saturday.