The University of New Mexico's swimming and diving team went up against the Colorado State University Rams and the Air Force Academy Falcons in a two day meet on Friday, Dec. 2 and Saturday, Dec. 3.
Each school sent out two teams, an A and a B team, to compete at each event. Colorado State's A team came in first with 272 points. They were followed by the Air Force's A team with 251. Then Colorado State's and the Air Force's B teams earned 237 and 116 respectively. The Lobos finished fifth and sixth with the A team scoring 102 and the B team earning 81 points.
The Lobos have an overall record of 2-5 and are 0-3 in conference play.
The first event was the three-meter dive. The Lobos had five divers competing in the preliminary round, with the top eight continuing to the next round. Two Lobos advanced to the final round: Alex Robertson with a score of 271.05 for fourth place and Kristen Hepfer in seventh with a score of 254.20.
The first swimming event was the 200-yard medley relay. The Lobos A team took third place with a time of 1 minute, 45.69 seconds. The team consisted of Maddie Deucher, Ola Tomaszek, Jordan Foster and Katy McCarter. McCarter had the fastest split for the team finishing in 23.66 seconds.
This was followed by the 400 individual medley where the Lobos had three swimmers competing. Caitlyn Beery started out strong, finishing with the third fastest time for the first lap in her heat, but quickly it was Ram Erin Dawson who started dominating the race — nearly lapping some of her opponents. Dawson ultimately won and Beery came in 13th.
In the 100 freestyle, McCarter was the standout Lobo: she competed in the first heat and took fourth place with a time of 52.24.
UNM had three athletes competing in the 200 backstroke. Deucher had a great start, hovering around third place halfway through the race, but ultimately finished in 11th place — the best placement for the Lobos.
The sixth event was the 200 breaststroke. Tomaszek finished in second with a time of 2:22.60. She had a great start and continued strong, finishing with the fastest final lap time. Tomaszek had the best placement in a race for a Lobo during the first day of the meet.
For the 100 butterfly Foster was chasing third place, but ultimately finished in fourth place with a time of 56.75. She was able to keep pace with Falcon Corbyn Cormack, but was beaten out in the final seconds of the race.
In the 500 freestyle, Brynn Quintana started out with the second fastest first lap. But it was fellow Lobo Maya Clise who had the best time placement for the Lobos, finishing in sixth place.
The final event for day 1 was the 400 freestyle relay. UNM's A team was Marina Olmstead, McCarter, Quintana and Foster. They finished in third place, just 0.22 seconds behind the second place Falcons.
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At the end of the first day, UNM had some strong individual performances but had a lot of ground to make up for a strong finish.
The second day started with the 1-meter diving event. Robertson and Hepfer had another strong showing, finishing second and sixth, respectively.
UNM's A team took third place at the 400 medley relay. The team was Olmstead, Tomaszek, Foster and McCarter.
The next event was the 1650 freestyle. Marin Wilson finished eighth and Quintana was seventh. They were the two Lobos participating in the event.
Halfway through the 200 individual medley, Layni Andrle and Tomaszek were hovering around the middle of the pack, but were passed up to finish in 13th and 17th. Clise had the best time for the Lobos, finishing ninth.
For the 50 freestyle, Foster and Olmstead both had great performances tying for third with a time of 23.99.
The 15th event was the 200 butterfly where Ashley Sterchele had the best placement for the Lobos finishing 11th.
The 100 backstroke had three Lobos participating. Josie Carpenter finished with a time of 59.42 which put her in fifth place.
Tomaszek was in first halfway through the 100 breaststroke but was passed on the last turn and finished in second with a time of 1:04.55.
Paige Lyons had the best finish for UNM during the 200 freestyle. She came in eighth place and was followed by McCarter who placed ninth.
The final event was the 200 freestyle relay. At the first lap, the Lobos were in first but CSU and AFA's A team both managed to pass the Lobos; UNM ended in third. The meet ended with UNM's A team coming in fifth overall.
Head swimming coach Keegan Ingelido gave her thoughts about the meet and said they performed with little rest due to an intense training week.
"I think it went pretty well. We had a pretty tough week of training. We didn't rest for this meet, so we're getting back into the swing of things. I think there were some good swims, but there is also stuff we can always improve on," Ingelido said.
Head diving coach Julie Weddle was also optimistic about the meet and thought of it as a good foundation for her divers.
"I thought my girls showed some really good potential today. We still have a lot to work on, but we're in a good position leading up (to our) conference in February," Weddle said.
The Lobos next play in the University of Northern Las Vegas invitational in Las Vegas, Nevada on Dec. 17-19.
Thomas Bulger is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @thomasbulger10
Thomas Bulger is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @thomasbulger10
