Thursday's practice was especially tough on Lobo swimmers.
"We're just warming up right now, and that's her out in front," head coach Bill Spahn said. "That's typical of her. Everyone else is just kind of paddling along, and she's out in front."
In her freshman season, Robyn Miller broke a UNM record in the 400 Individual Medley, with a time of 4:28.04. Then she broke it again at the Mountain West Conference Championships with 4:26.06.
Miller also had the top-team times in the 200 and 500 freestyle races, the 200 backstroke, the 200 breaststroke, the 200 butterfly and the 400 IM.
Spahn said he got lucky because the swimmer from Napa, Calif. was not highly recruited.
"She was pretty good coming out of high school," he said. "But I was the only one who recruited her. We were fortunate."
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Miller's success has carried into her sophomore season and she has racked up seven first-place finishes and two second-place finishes so far. This week, the Lobo swim team has been preparing to head to Las Cruces to meet the Aggies for the first and last time this season - and Miller is hoping to add to her collection of awards.
"We're practicing really hard today because we have a meet this weekend," she said.
Miller has captured the gold three times in the 500 freestyle, three times in the 400 IM and once in the 200 free.
She said the latter two are her favorite races, and the individual medley is her specialty. Spahn said he has high expectations for Miller, with the MWC championships just around the corner. He said she is capable of breaking two more Lobo records.
"She just broke one and she should have broken more," he said. "She should also be the school record holder in the 500 free and the 200 free. Those are two events that she should be able to break school records in easily."
Even though she broke her own record at the conference championships last season, she did not earn a medal and Spahn said he thinks he knows why.
"She did not have a good championship last year," he said. "With freshmen, you really don't know how you should prepare them for a really big meet. We probably let her relax too much. Even by own admission, she knows that we should have been training harder and taken a lot shorter rest before our championship."
Miller has set high standards for herself as well. Her sights are not only set on the conference championships, but also on the NCAA.
"I want to make the B-cuts to the NCAAs in the 400 IM and the 500 free," she said. "But I haven't made it yet."
Spahn agrees that the national competition is well within Miller's reach.
"We'd like to think that she'll get to the NCAAs before she's finished," Spahn said. "Most of the girls who get to the NCAAs are really gifted, and she's really gifted. She's got the talent to get there."
