New Mexico split a pair of dual meets against Colorado State and Air Force on Senior Night in Albuquerque.
New Mexico Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --- The University of New Mexico women's swimming and diving team honored its five seniors competing in its final home meet of their career Saturday and all five came through with at least one top-four finish as the Lobos defeated Colorado State 160-121 and lost to Air Force 147-134 at Seidler Natatorium.
The seniors - Lindsey Englestead, Anna Lengyel, Emily McGill, Kaela McKee and Abigail Wheeler - combined for eight of the Lobos' 13 top-three individual finishes and helped guide a pair of relays to second-place finishes
"I'm real happy with the quality of our racing today," UNM coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker said. "... It was a fun day with the seniors. We were racing on behalf of them today. This is a tremendous senior class."
McKee had a strong day as she won the 100 (56.67) and 200 (2:04.61) backstroke as well as helped the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams to second-place finishes.
"It was really, really exciting," McKee said of competing at her final home meet. "It was good to swim with some really fast underclassmen. We're excited going into the rest of this season. We still have conference, and hopefully NCAAs. This was a good turning point for us at the end of the semester."
Another senior that shined Saturday was McGill as she won the 100 (1:04.60) and 200 (2:20.07) breaststroke, took second in the 200 individual medley (2:06.15) and swam the second leg of the 200 medley relay team that took second.
The other seniors played big parts in the Lobos' successful Saturday as well with Wheeler taking third in the 100 (57.07) and 200 (2:07.52) butterfly and swimming a leg in the 200 medley relay, Lengyel taking second in the 200 butterfly (2:05.60) and Englestead taking fourth in the 100 (1:06.46) and 200 breaststroke (2:23.41).
In the diving portion, sophomore Allyson Concepcion took first place in both the 1-meter (265.70 - winning by 2.5 points) and 3-meter dive (270.20).
"I think it was really important to win so I could score a lot of points and help the seniors out," Concepcion said. "Since this is their last (home) meet, I wanted to do everything I could to help the team out."
Several other Lobos finished in the top three in events as well with Adriana Palomino taking second in the 500 (5:03.26) and the 1000 (10:19.63) freestyle, Konoha Shinada taking second in the 100 butterfly (56.86) and third in the 50 freestyle (23.81) and Carol De Groote Tavares taking third in the 100 backstroke (57.40).
The 200 medley relay team of McKee, McGill, Wheeler and Shinada took second place with a time of 1:45.18 while the 400 freestyle relay team of Shinada, McKee, Talia Passarelli and Palomino took second with a time of 3:31.71.
The Lobos will have more than a month off before competing at a meet hosted by San Diego State on Jan. 13.
Air Force Press Release
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Air Force women’s swimming team earned a pair of Mountain West victories by defeating both Colorado State and New Mexico on Saturday, Dec. 3, in Albuquerque, N.M. The Falcons beat New Mexico (147-134) and Colorado State (158-123).
The day started out on a great note for the Falcons, winning the 200 medley relay as the team of Emma Strom, Shayle Finnesand, Elise Hart and Lydia Knutson posted a time of 1:42.95. In the 1000 free, senior Genevieve Miller won with a time of 9:57.35. The Falcons took the top two spots in the 200 free as Miller won (1:50.01) while Jinan Andrews was second (1:52.76). In the 100 breast stroke, Shayle Finnesand was third with a time of 1:05.68.
Knutson then broke her own school record and posted an NCAA “B” time in the 50 free, winning with a time of 22.90. Knutson also won the 100 free (51.55) while Andrews was second (51.59). Strom placed third in the 200 back (2:05.59) and Heidi Schellin was third in the 200 breast stroke (2:23.33). In the 500 free, Miller won (4:51.02) and Elisabeth Brechbuhl was third (5:05.01).
Freshman Ester Min won the 100 fly (56.77). The Falcons continued to dominate the relays, as the team of Knutson, Tianna Jorgenson, Miller and Andrews won the 400 free relay (3:29.21). The team of Brianna Mount, Autumn Wolfgramm, Kendall Kilgore and Jessica Chen was third (3:32.42).
In diving, sophomore Isabella Farrell placed fourth on one-meter with 241.65 points. On three-meter, Farrell was second with 252.95 points while Rebecca Hetrick was fourth 231.90.
“This was a total team effort,” head coach Casey Converse said. “We had some special efforts today. Genevieve won back-to-back events to start the meet and Jinan racing the 200 IM and then anchoring our free relay to end the meet. Lydia continues to raise the bar for the team. She swam on both our winning relays and won two individual events. The divers did their part as well. We are really happy with how the freshman class has performed. The surprise swim of the meet may have been Esther Min winning the 100 fly. Great team effort and I’m very proud of the team.”
Colorado State Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Colorado State women’s swimming & diving team competed in Albquerque, New Mexico on Saturday, getting a mid-season test against a pair of Mountain West foes before taking a break from competition over the winter holiday season. CSU went up against New Mexico and Air Force, dropping results to both squads.
Sophomore Haley Rowley picked up a pair of victories in the tri-meet, winning the 200 butterfly (2:05.15) by four-tenths of a second and the 200 IM (2:05.71) by a similar margin.
Freshman Andrea Basile also swam well in the 200 IM, giving CSU two-thirds of the podium with a third-place finish (2:08.87).
Junior Katie Kicklighter picked up a pair of top finishes in short-distance freestyle events, placing second in the 50 free (23.80) and third in the 100 yard version (52.46). Senior Jenna Beaury added a pair of second-place results in breaststroke events, finishing in 1:05.66 in the 100 and 2:22.74 in the 200.
Sophomore Tonicia Thomas gave CSU another second-place finish, finishing the 200 backstroke in 2:04.63 and missing a win by just .02 seconds.
In diving, senior Emily Williams took a runner-up result out of the 1-meter springboard event (263.20), while teammate Madison Gess provided the Rams’ top finish in the 3-meter (235.70)
IN THEIR WORDS…
“Getting to compete in dual meet format against conference teams for the first time was a good test to see where we're at. I saw some good things but I definitely saw a lot of areas that need to be improved upon. We've got some work to do and things to work on during winter training and before February but we're heading in the right direction.” – Diving Coach Chelsea Popplewell’s thoughts on the meet
