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New Mexico fly swimmer Samantha Moss participates in the women 200 yard butterfly event against Colorado State at Seidler Natatorium on Saturday. The Lobos swimming and diving team defeated the Rams with a team score of 174-126.
New Mexico fly swimmer Samantha Moss participates in the women 200 yard butterfly event against Colorado State at Seidler Natatorium on Saturday. The Lobos swimming and diving team defeated the Rams with a team score of 174-126.

UNM dominates swim duel on way to tourney

Seidler Natatorium played host for the final time in the 2014-15 season against the Rams. The Lobos redeemed themselves after suffering an earlier 185-113 loss against the Rams in the final conference competition last season.

“CSU was very ready last year. We were more than ready this year,” head coach Kunio Kono said. “They did a dynamite job.”

The Rams got off to a great start early in the events, starting the dual meet with the 3-meter dive. Junior Ariana Milone (310.95) and senior Mary Kate Hardy (262.05) finished first and second respectively for CSU with UNM’s freshman Rachel Colman (256.35) finishing third.

Colorado State shut out UNM in the 1-meter dive, not allowing a single Lobo to finish in the top three.

The Lobos made up for its shaky diving performance with exceptional finishes in the timed races. UNM had the top finisher in all but two races. CSU’s Katie Kicklighter took first in the 50-yard freestyle and the Rams’ Jess Shepard took the 200-yard backstroke.

That left the Lobos with 12 first-place positions out of the 16 events, a major contributor to the massive ending differential.

UNM’s A team took home victories in both the 400 freestyle and the 200 medley relay.

Sophomore Kaela McKee took first in the women’s 100 backstroke with a time of 57.08. Celine Bertrand was the only freshman on New Mexico to finish with a first-place bid with her time of 2:06.70 in the 200 butterfly.

Abigail Wheeler joined the winner’s circle with her 56.72 timed performance in the 100 yard butterfly. Emily McGill took the final individual race of the day clocking in at 2:08.51.

New Mexico’s sophomore Anna Lengyel took first place in the 1,000 freestyle (10:43.39) and the 500 freestyle (5:11.89). Sophomore Fanni Pataki earned two wins of her own by winning the 200- yard freestyle (1:54.95) and the 100- yard freestyle (52.27).

Junior Kristin Walker also fueled UNM’s dominating performance with two victories, finishing first in all her events. Walker said she felt confident in her ability to tackle both the 100 and 200 yard races before the meet started.

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“She’s always asking me a question,” Kono said. “Today she told me for the first time, ‘Now I finally understand what I need to do and what I can do.’”

Walker said she struggles mentally with the 200 breaststroke and turns to her head coach for sound advice. However, the UNM breaststroke specialist said something finally clicked on Saturday and she didn’t need any wise words from her coach.

“We have had a lot of tough training up to this point so I have been getting in really good shape the past couple of weeks,” Walker said. “I was feeling pretty good today.”

Although not a single New Mexico senior was able to tack on the nine points awarded when finishing first, senior Samantha Moss brought four points to her team finishing second in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 57.79, just over a second away from sophomore teammate Abigail Wheeler’s 56.72 finish.

Moss currently holds UNM’s 200-yard record in the butterfly for her 2013 time of 2:01.57.

Although Moss said she would have liked to finish faster, the senior said she is pleased with the performance she gave.

“This is just the time of the season where it’s a lot about refining those little details,” Moss said. “I did the things I wanted to today in regards to my technique.”

The Lobos certainly put on a show to instill confidence in the senior day turnout. Both Moss and Walker said they were exited at the number of people who came out to watch the seniors compete at home for the final time.

“It was great to see everyone’s families and friends here,” Moss said. “There were a lot more people here than I would have expected.”

Now that the emotions of senior day have passed, the Lobos will have one more non-conference meet before venturing to San Antonio, Texas for the conference championship.

“It’s been an amazing year for them,” Kono said. “I know that they will do an amazing job in a few weeks (in the conference tournament).”

Liam Cary-Eaves is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on twitter 
@Liam_CE.

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