While many University of New Mexico students are sound asleep, a group of devoted young women are wide-awake training rigorously to bring home a Mountain West Conference Swimming Championship.
The UNM women's swimming and diving season is underway and team spirit is high. UNM hopes that its hard work and dedication will pay off as it rolls into MWC competition.
"All of our swimmers are awesome," sophomore Aimee Dunavant said. "We had a great recruiting year last year. Our freshman, sophomores, juniors and one senior have gotten a lot better and we've been working really hard."
The Lobos are picked to finish fifth in the MWC this year and are coming off a sixth place finish last year. Although recording a mediocre record in regular season competition at 3-4, UNM had a breakout performance at last year's MWC Championships. The Lobos broke seven school records, including three relay and four individual times.
Sophomore distance swimmer Nicole Overeem and senior sprinter Myra Will lead this year's young, talented squad. The diving team looks to contribute profoundly and is led by sophomore Becca Barras and junior Tracy Berghian. Because of its stellar performance at the end of last season, this team's expectations are high and optimistic.
"Our ultimate goal is finishing in the top four in the conference," Will said. "Personally, I would like to be a part of breaking some more school records, both individual and relays. We just want to retain our freshmen and keep the newcomers. We want make the year fun."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Last weekend, the Lobos traveled to Laramie, Wyo., for their first meet of the year. They took on the Wyoming Cowgirls in a dual meet format, which means two teams competed head-to-head. The Lobo swimmers and divers defeated the Cowgirls in impressive fashion, 127-116.
The divers looked good as they finished first and second in the one-meter and three-meter events.
The swimmers won six of the nine events, four of which freshmen prevailed. Freshman Robyn Miller, hailing from Napa, Calif., led the charge placing first in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle events. Overeem, coming off a break out freshman year, won the 1000-yard freestyle and finished second behind Miller in the 500-yard freestyle. Also winning events were Whitney Thomson in the 200-individual medley, Kelsey Leckovic in the 100-free and Will, the team's lone senior in the 50-free.
This year, the Lobos installed a great freshman class, bringing in 14 new faces. Head coach Bill Spawn thinks the newcomers can make an instant impact on the team and inevitably put UNM on the map in the near future.
"From what I saw this past weekend, I was really impressed with the freshmen," Will said. "Considering it's their freshman year and coming from when I was a freshman, they are doing awesome."
A day after the meet in Wyoming, the team headed south on I-25 to clash with two MWC foes at the Early Bird Invite in Fort Collins, Colo. The Lobos finished third out of 10 teams in the two-day competition. They placed behind host and front-runner Colorado State University and Wyoming. Never the less, UNM had top-16 finishers in 19 events. The bright spot was once again Overeem, who took two first place wins in the 500 and 1650-freestyle. Will and Dunavant also won their respective events in the 50-free and 100-butterfly.
The two Lobo divers, Barras and Berghian once again finished 1-2 respectively in the one and three-meter events. Although they did not win the meet, they had good solid performances in individual and relay events.
Coming off two important meets last weekend, the Lobos come home to the friendly confines of the Johnson Center pool to face the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in a significant conference dual meet.
UNLV has a highly touted swim program and will provide the Lobos with some great competition. The rebels took second place at the 2002 MWC Championships and return the best swimmer in the conference in Lorena Diasconsescu. Diasconsescu took her third straight MWC Swimmer of the Year award last season.
The Lobos are having a great week of practice and are physically and mentally prepared for this weekend's challenge.
"We expect to give UNLV a run for their money," Overeem said. "We are a great team and a lot of people overlook us. People need to stop overlooking us within the school and within the conference. We are an up and coming team and we are going to be a threat. Come and support us and you'll see some great racing."
UNM takes on UNLV, Saturday, Oct. 26, at 1 p.m. at the Seidler Natatorium in Johnson Center.
