Another Mountain West basketball season is in the books. The Nevada Wolf Pack became the 2017 Mountain West Basketball Tournament Champions after taking down the second-seeded Colorado State Rams by a score of 79-71 on Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Perhaps no one could have guessed the destination for Josh Kerr, but the talented redshirt freshman left his mark by ending up with an individual NCAA championship on Saturday in College Station, Texas. The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships did not witness Kerr repeat his sterling triple performance at the Mountain West Championships (he ran three times in three minutes 58 seconds), but his time of 4:03.32 was more than enough to claim his first NCAA title. Kerr entered the men’s one-mile run ranked as the seventh seed, but stunned No. 1 ranked Oregon senior Edward Cheserek in the race to win by over two seconds.
The New Mexico beach volleyball team evened its season record with an easy 5-0 win over Division II-opponent Texas A&M-Kingsville in Tempe, Ariz on Saturday. “It was nice to play one of the weaker teams and prep for tomorrow,” assistant coach Pauline Manser said in a release. “It was good for us to work on the things that we worked on during the week and focused on after last weekend.” The Lobos (3-3) did not meet many challenges in the first-ever encounter with the Javelinas (4-2).
Allowing its opponent to grab hold of an early lead didn’t stop the University of New Mexico, as the baseball team came roaring back to beat San Jose State Saturday afternoon. After letting San Jose State score eight runs in the first four innings of play, the Lobos silenced the Spartan bats. New Mexico (10-3) trailed 8-2 entering the bottom of the fourth, but scored 14 straight to take a 16-8 victory at Santa Ana Star Field. UNM’s pitching got pummeled early on, as the starter, Johnathon Tripp, allowed 10 hits and eight runs in four innings on the mound.
After losing two matches in the Mountain-Pacific Invitational tournament, the Lobos were eager to return to their winning ways. The Lobos had strung together five consecutive wins in the build-up to the Mountain-Pacific Invitational, but lost 4-1 to both Fresno State University and the University of San Francisco in Stockton, California. After the disappointing outing in California, the Lobos (6-8) had another week to prepare before playing matches against UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, and Northern Arizona University on Friday, Saturday, and Tuesday, respectively.
The Board of Regents held an Audit and Compliance Committee meeting on Thursday, where the Government Accountability Office and State Auditor discussed indigent healthcare at UNM Hospital. Sarita Nair, chief government accountability officer for New Mexico, said UNM was selected for the audit because that is where the most comprehensive data on uncompensated care comes from. The Office of the State Auditor said they received many questions seeking more transparency on understanding the impact of funds that support healthcare for those who can't afford it.
New Mexico beach volleyball team expects some changes in its lineup as it takes on two nationally ranked teams in Tempe, Arizona this Saturday and Sunday. “We may make some changes in partnerships, we haven’t decided yet,” head coach Jeff Nelson said in a release. “We’ve got to look at all of our options and see what makes us the deepest all the way through.” The Lobos (2-3) had a respectable opening week, but they lost all three matches against schools with national rankings, including a heartbreaker to TCU. Although UNM dropped out of the top-20 team rankings, it still received votes in both the AVCA poll and DiG Magazine poll and was unofficially ranked No. 23.
A first inning that yielded six runs and eight hits and some stellar pitching from starter Tyler Stevens is all the Lobo baseball team needed to propel itself to a win over San Jose State on Friday evening at Santa Ana Star Field. Stevens (2-1) went the distance in the game, striking out eight and scattering four hits over nine innings. New Mexico (9-3, 4-0 MW) went on to post a decisive 11-1 victory thanks in large part to his arm. But Lobo pitching wasn't the only dominating factor in the win, as the team tallied 11 total runs on 19 hits, with all of its starters producing one hit or more.
The UNM men’s soccer team is hitting the road for the second time this spring, this time to take on the Grand Canyon University Lopes. GCU finished the 2016 fall season with a 7-9-3 overall record, whereas the Lobos finished 12-7-3 after advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament, their 12th NCAA appearance in program history. The Lobos are scheduled to play five games this spring, all but one of which will take place on the road. They suffered a 2-1 overtime loss during their opening match to Southern Methodist at the FC Dallas Complex last weekend.
Spring Break — (n.), an academic tradition that began in the 1930s as a way to offer a midterm break or time off for Easter. Contemporary spring break practices still have much in common with Easter: The concept of rebirth (when your roommate seemed dead after three shots of tequila, but came back to life at the smell of bacon pancakes), the importance of large stones (or being stoned), the centrality of eggs (a pivotal hangover food), and the sacrifice of one man (the sober sitter/DD/Jesus take the wheel) for the lives of the collective. PAAARTAY! — (n.), the homing beacon of drunk spring breakers. This loud inebriated shout, frequently accompanied by a drunken selfie and incoherent hashtags (#pooturnt #durnkselfie), helps spring breakers find one another when they’ve lost their brethren.
More than 200 men, women and children joined in the singing of the so-called Battle Hymn of the Suffragists outside the UNM Bookstore Wednesday evening in celebration of International Women’s Day. “You have told us to speak softly to be gentle and to smile, expected us to change ourselves with every passing style, said the only work for women was to clean and sweep and file,” the collective sang. “That's why we’re marching on.” Hosted by the New Mexico Party for Socialism and Liberation, the event was inspired not only by International Women’s Day, but by the increasingly negative rhetoric toward women, amplified by the Trump administration.
It’s probably not healthy to get nostalgic about things only a few months past. But the joy, the optimism, the humor! How could I not miss Joe Biden memes? Biden was first sworn in as a U.S. senator at 30, making him the sixth youngest U.S. senator. (The youngest was John Henry Eaton, who was sworn in at age 28 in 1818. You’re supposed to be 30 to serve in the Senate, but no one bothered to ask Eaton how old he was, and I guess he didn’t worry about the age requirements). Biden was a senator from the time he was first elected in 1972 to when he became vice president in 2009, having been re-elected six times.
For the third year in a row, it was 1-and-done for the UNM men’s basketball team on its Mountain West Tournament journey. The Lobos lost its quarterfinals matchup to the Fresno State Bulldogs 65-60 in Las Vegas, Nevada on Thursday, finishing their season with a 17-14 record. The loss was a tough pill to swallow for Lobo fans, as it was New Mexico that held the lead for most of the game — nearly 30 minutes to be exact. Fresno State was in front for just over six minutes, but played its strongest basketball when it mattered most.
The UNM baseball team will finally return home to the friendly confines of Santa Ana Star Field as it resumes conference play against San Jose State on Friday. New Mexico (8-3, 3-0 MW) just finished up an eight-game road trip in which the team reeled off four straight wins to rebound from a shaky start and go 5-3 away from home. The Lobos have been hitting the stitches off the baseball so far, averaging over 10 runs per contest. After putting up 59 runs in a three-game sweep over Air Force, UNM took down NMSU on Tuesday night, 8-2, in a neutral site game played in El Paso, Texas.
Spring break is finally upon us, and with unseasonably warm weather blessing the Land of Enchantment, it’s time to drop the textbooks and get out into the wild and beautiful landscapes that give our state its legendary nickname. Here’s a few ideas for day trips, camping excursions and romantic getaways that are close to home and won't break the bank.
Elections to select the next president and vice president of the Associated Students of UNM are fast approaching, and for the first time in at least 12 years, the undergraduate student population will have their pick of four candidates at each position to represent them. Monday was the deadline for students to officially file for candidacy, and besides the slightly higher number of prospective ASUNM leaders, there is also a wealth of experience across the board. Among those running for 2017-18 ASUNM president: Sen. Noah Brooks, Sen. Elena Garcia, former senator and current Lobo Spirit Executive Director Justin Cooper, and ASUNM Communications Director Gabe Gallegos.
The UNM Geology Club is chock-full of field adventures, information and opportunities for students interested in any kind of earth science. Kaylen Jones, the acting president of the club, has been a part of the UNM Geology Club since she was an undergraduate student. “We do more than just look at rocks,” Jones said. “We plan a lot of great trips to go hiking, we're really outdoorsy and we like to include aspects of science and STEM. It's a way to get involved without necessarily having to take a class and feel pressured to get a good grade.”
The fierce competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships are the pinnacle of the world of track and field, and College Station, Texas will host the event this weekend. The national meet will be held on Friday and Saturday in Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium. The host school, Texas A&M has hosted the event in 2009, 2011 and will be the venue again in 2018. The seasonal winds at College Station will not be enough to put out the fire that will burn for four Lobo newcomers to the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley retained his crown as the UFC’s welterweight champion over the weekend in a chess-like rematch against No. 1 ranked, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. The rematch between Woodley and Thompson proved to be nearly identical to the first match at UFC 205, lasting all five rounds. Both fighters set a strategic pace, spending the majority of the match dancing with each other, but landing a few good hits throughout. During the third round, "The Chosen One" executed an Olympic-caliber double-leg takedown and whaled on "Wonderboy" while he kept the opponent on the ground for the majority of the round.
On Tuesday a suit was filed against the UNM Foundation and the Board of Regents for violations of the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. The suit describes plaintiff Daniel Libit as having been denied multiple IPRA requests seeking information from the WisePies/Pit naming agreement, prompting his legal action. “The negotiation and implementation of the WisePies naming agreement is obviously a public activity taken by public officials employed by the University of New Mexico,” said Nicholas Hart, the attorney representing Libit in the case.
Solutions by The State News
