Staff Report
The UNM swim team will try to improve on last year's sixth place finish in the Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving Championships this week.
"We had a good meet last year and I think we have a better team this year," head coach Bill Spahn said. "We would just like to be better than we were last year."
The Lobos improved by leaps and bounds from a year ago, finishing 8-3 overall and 4-3 in the MWC.
In the championships, UNM will be chasing MWC powerhouses UNLV, Colorado State, Utah and BYU.
Last year, BYU won the tournament but the Cougars have struggled to a 3-4 MWC record in 2002-03. Leading the conference this year was UNLV, posting a perfect 7-0 league record. Right on the heels of the Rebels were CSU and Utah who finished 6-1 and 5-2 respectively.
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"I think it's going to be a real battle between BYU, CSU and UNLV," Spahn said. "Utah will probably get fourth and we hope to get that fifth spot."
The Lobos are a young team with the majority of the swimmers being underclassmen. However, they will look to the leadership of lone senior Myra Will. The Tillamook, Ore., native should be a force in the freestyle sprinting events. Will came close to breaking the 50 and 100 freestyle UNM records this season on several occasions. She should be a force at the MWC championships in those events, as well as the 100 backstroke.
"We have to look at Myra because she's a senior and she has had a good year so far," Spahn said.
The Lobos' strongest all-around swimmer this year was freshman sensation Robyn Miller. Miller has posted six of the top seven UNM times in the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 fly, 200 IM and 400IM. She also demolished the school record in the 400 IM by two seconds with a time of 4:28.04. Miller also posted individual honors winning the MWC swimmer of the week award after the Lobos beat Houston and Air Force.
Sophomore Nicole Overeem is the team's best long distance swimmer. She leads UNM in the 1000, 1650 and 500 freestyle. Overeem could place in freestyle events at the MWC championships.
On the diving side of the competition, the Lobos should do very well. Sophomore Becca Barras, who has consistently dominated the 1-meter and 3-meter events, leads the dive team. Currently, Barras is third in the conference in both the 1-meter and 3-meter. She has also been recognized as diver of the week on three separate occasions this year.
Barras' partner in crime is junior Tracey Berghian. She has improved as the season progressed and currently sits in fifth in both spring board events. She looks to crack the top three in this week's tournament.
Overall, Spahn said the team is happy with its performance this year and is just hoping to continue.
Competition gets underway today and concludes on Saturday, Feb. 22 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
