This year many Lobo athletes have put UNM in the national spotlight.
No one got more national attention than senior kicker Katie Hnida who was the first woman to score in a college football game with two extra points in the season-opener against Texas State-San Marcos on Aug. 30.
Junior Becca Barras and senior Tracey Berghian were the solid foundation of the Lobo swimming and diving team. Berghian accumulated six first-place finishes, including the MWC 3-meter title and the MWC Diver of the Year Award. Barras earned a total of 15 gold medals in the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform dives, including her second consecutive Mountain West Conference title in the 1-meter. Barras was the only athlete from the Lobo team to represent UNM at the NCAA Championships. She finished in the top 25 in both springboard events.
Junior Lindsey Arndt led the women's basketball team to its second consecutive MWC Championship title and a ticket to the NCAA tournament. Arndt was honored as the MWC tournament Most Valuable Player with 14 points and eight rebounds in the championship game. She went on to lead UNM in the first round of the NCAA's with 10 points in the Lobos' loss to the Florida Gators.
The women's tennis team received a bid into the NCAA tournament behind sophomore Maja Kovacek and senior Sandy Lukowski, who moved into the No. 8 doubles spot in the nation last week. Kovacek received an at-large bid in the singles competition as well. The No. 30 Lobos were selected to face the No. 31 Oregon Ducks in the first round on Saturday in Seattle, Wash.
On the men's side, senior Divan Coetzee is the No. 1 singles tennis player in the MWC and the No. 22 player in the nation. Coetzee finished the regular season 35-9 and broke the wins-in-a-season record. Coetzee's 96th-career win on May 1 against San Diego State tied the UNM career-wins record. The men's tennis team will face the No. 23 Washington Huskies on Saturday, in Stanford, Calif.
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Junior transfer Danny Granger shocked the MWC basketball scene after becoming eligible on Dec. 21. Granger led the conference in scoring, averaging 19.5 points per game and nine rebounds. Granger recorded four straight double-doubles, which has not been done since Kenny Thomas' reign in 1997-98.
Junior Matt Gonzales was last week's men's MWC outdoor track and field Athlete of the Week. He is the first UNM track athlete to earn the award twice in one season. Gonzales was honored after his third-place collegiate performance at the elite Cardinal Invitational on April 30 in Stanford, Calif. With the 28:22.77 finish of the 10K race, Gonzales surpassed the Olympic Trial provisional qualifying time. He will likely represent UNM at the Olympic Trials in mid-July.
Although so many athletes were outstanding representatives of UNM this season, sophomore running back DonTrell Moore and senior Alpine skier Jennifer Delich are the New Mexico Daily Lobo Athletes of the Year for the 2003-04 term.
In mid-November, Moore became the nation's leading scorer and set the single-season UNM rushing record on Nov. 15 against Air Force, which marked the eighth straight game in which he rushed more than 100 yards. He averaged 119.8 yards per game and ended the regular season with 1,438 total yards. Moore was named Offensive Player of the Year by collegefootballnews.com.
Delich was the captain of the first team in school history to win a national title and won a national title herself in the Giant Slalom on March 9. It was the first time a Lobo woman won the event. Delich was selected to the 2004 NCAA Leadership Conference May 30-June 3 at the Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
