Men’s Basketball
New Mexico will play the Auburn Tigers in the first round of ESPN’s Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
On Thursday ESPN released the entire bracket for the eight teams playing in the tournament. UNM drew the Tigers and play is set for Dec. 22.
The SEC-member Tigers finished 15-20 during the 2014-2015 season and went 4-14 against their conference opponents.
UNM will play three games in Honolulu. Game two will be against either BYU or Harvard on Dec. 23. The final game UNM will play in the tournament is scheduled for Dec. 25.
Northern Iowa, Oklahoma, Washington State and Hawaii are the other four teams in the field.
Women’s Basketball
Yvonne Sanchez appointed former Olympian Carla Garrett as the strength and conditioning coach for the Lobo women’s team.
Garrett, a Santa Fe native, has more than 20 years of experience in designing and executing weight training, conditioning and speed programs for high school, college and professional squads.
“We definitely hit a home run when it comes to Carla being hired here at New Mexico,” Sanchez said in a statement. “It’s going to be a lot of fun having her work with our players, as she is a pioneer in strength and conditioning. It is exciting to have her come back home to New Mexico and work with our program and be a Lobo.”
In the same release, Garrett said she welcomes the opportunity to come back home, but is looking for more than just a homecoming party in New Mexico.
“I am even more excited for the opportunity to take the teams that I will train to new places that they haven’t been before,” she said. “Thank you to the University of New Mexico for getting me back into the college setting.”
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Garrett, who was a world-class athlete in track and field throwing events and weightlifting, will also be handling strength and conditioning for the softball and women’s tennis programs.
Men’s Soccer
UNM’s men’s soccer program has been predicted to finish second in Conference USA’s preseason poll.
No. 17 Charlotte, last year’s C-USA champion (14-4-1, 6-1-1 C-USA) was picked to finish first again this year.
A pair of UNM junior attackers were named to the Preseason All-Conference Team. Redshirt junior midfielder Chris Wehan and junior midfielder/forward Niko Hansen have been predicted to garner elite status in the conference for the 2015 season.
Wehan was also nominated to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. The trophy goes to the nation’s top male and female college soccer players.
UNM has also added midfielder Francesco Casucci. UNM’s newest midfielder has spent the past few years playing for the U16, U18 and U20 teams of Torino in Serie A in Italy.
“He’s played with some of the biggest clubs in the world, so he brings a bit of perspective,” head coach Jeremy Fishbein said in a statement. “One of the most exciting things is he was captain of Torino’s under-20 team. He played with some big players, and to be a leader among players like that takes some special qualities.”
2015 C-USA Men’s Soccer preseason poll (as selected by C-USA coaches)
1. Charlotte
2. New Mexico
3. Kentucky
4. Old Dominion
5. UAB
6. FIU
7. South Carolina
8. Marshall
9. Florida Atlantic
Women’s Golf
The UNM’s women’s golf program has been putting up solid performances both on the course and in the classroom.
A team that finished just second in the Mountain West Championships has received the Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-Scholar Team GPA Award. No team had a higher cumulative GPA than the 3.799 average produced by the six Lobo golfers.
The WGCA presents the award to the top combined GPA in the nation, across any of the three divisions in the NCAA.
Concordia University at St. Paul was second with a 3.783 GPA, and Florida Gulf Coast was a close third finishing with a 3.781 GPA.
