Sports

Sports

Blade Runners dominate in St. Louis

Maddie Pukite | April 24

The New Mexico Blade Runners recently became national champions in Sled Hockey. They dominated in Division 6 during the Disabled Hockey Festival in St. Louis, Missouri. During the tournament, the team had 45 unanswered goals. Forward and UNM student  Deavon Tabish-Moran said that communication and speed were key for the team to come back to the competition and take first after being third last year. “We went back and we competed in the same division. We wanted to do well in it before moving up, and we came out and (were) much more dominant, showing that we were anticipating,” Tabish-Moran said.

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Opinion

OPINION: NIL collectives are fan exploitation

Thomas Bulger | April 24

How much does a fan owe their team? Unconditional love and support? Buying concessions at a game? $10 a month until the end of time? University of New Mexico head football coach Danny Gonzalez recently announced a partnership with 505 Sports Venture Foundation — a local nonprofit dedicated to getting student-athletes endorsements and name, image and likeness deals — to create a new name, image and likeness collective with a subscription-based model. An NIL collective is a pool of money made up of smaller donations from fans and boosters. The money is then distributed to the players with the use of a third party to work around the fact that universities can’t pay their players directly.

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Sports

Men’s tennis: Lobos are regular season champs

Thomas Bulger | April 20

The men’s tennis team dismantled the San Diego State University Aztecs 4-1 to remain undefeated in conference play and clinch the regular season championship. The Lobos had their trophy waiting for them after the match and will move on as the one seed in the conference tournament. On Thursday, April 20 everything went in the Lobos favor. With two matches left in the season, both the University of Las Vegas and Boise State University were upset, and fell to two losses on the season which left the Lobos in control of their destiny. The win moves the Lobos to 5-0 in conference play.

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Sports

NM United: Team draws in home opener

Thomas Bulger | April 17

 New Mexico United tied 1-1 against San Diego Loyal in their first match in Albuquerque on Saturday, April 15. The two teams have now tied in their past four matchups. Through four matches this season, United has a record of 1-1-2. Fans had to wait six weeks into the season for the team to come back home. They showed up to support the team in droves with 11,233 in attendance Saturday night. Head coach Zach Prince praised the team's effort and credited Sam Hamilton's bounce-back performance after an uncharacteristic game against Monterey Bay.

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Sports

Softball: Lobos split series in dramatic fashion

Thomas Bulger | April 17

 UNM's softball team faced the Colorado State University Rams in a two-game series over the weekend. Both games were called early with the Lobos losing the first game 10-1 in five innings, but rallying back the next game to win 12-4 in six innings. Each game was defined by a 7-run inning that allowed the team to take over. The Lobos had a balanced offense, but Rachel Hathoot and Ashley Archuleta each had four hits and one walk in the series. Hathoot had 5 runs batted in during the second game to help secure the victory.

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Sports

Isotopes: The boys are back in town

Thomas Bulger | April 10

  The Albuquerque Isotopes had their first home series of the season against the Salt Lake Bees. The first three games of the series were competitive, but the Isotopes only came back to win one. The home opener on Tuesday, April 4 had a crowd of over 6,639 despite it being 43 degrees at the start of the game: the coldest first-pitch temperature at home in Isotopes history. They won their home opener 7-5, rallying late to secure the win. Isotopes gave up four hits but three of them were home runs, which led to the Bees getting an early lead.

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Sports

Baseball: Lobos lose series to San José State

Thomas Bulger | April 10

  The Lobos fell to a 6-8 record in conference play after a tough series loss to San José State. They won the first game in the series, but then came up short in the following days. Reed Spenrath had an excellent series, getting nine hits on his 12 at bats. Brian McBroom pitched the last four innings of the first game, giving up two hits and one run. Isaac Gallegos pitched the third game and went 5.2 innings, giving up two earned runs over the course of 121 pitches.

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Opinion

OPINION: Isotopes unveil tasty new menu for upcoming season

Elizabeth Secor | March 27

  The Albuquerque Isotopes unveiled their new concessions items for the upcoming 2023 season on Friday, March 24. Hungry fans can rest easy: almost everything sampled was a homerun. The executive chef of the ballpark, Jim Griego, crafted these new food creations; his inspiration came from wanting to give fans variety. “I wanted fans to feel like when they came to the park, there was choices. There were not just, a hot dog or a hamburger,” Griego said. “I wanted them to feel like they could come here and have a food destination.”

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Sports

Bull riding stampedes into The Pit

Thomas Bulger | March 27

  The most dangerous 8 seconds in sports came to Albuquerque with the Ty Murray Invitational as part of the Professional Bull Riding "Unleash The Beast" tour. It was a near sold out crowd all three days of the event. In PBR riders have to stay on their bull for 8 seconds to receive a score. If the rider is able to do so he receives a score for how well he rode out of 50. The bull also receives a score out of 50 depending on how hard they bucked. These scores are added together for the ride's total score.

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Sports

Baseball: Lobos upset at home with 2-0 loss to Aggies

Thomas Bulger | March 21

  On March 21 the University of New Mexico baseball team faced rival New Mexico State University and lost 2-0. The Lobos will face the Aggies four times this season; the series will resume in Las Cruces in April. Through March 20, the Lobos led the nation in batting average with a team average of .349, but had an uncharacteristic offensive performance Tuseday night despite being just a few hits away from stealing the game. Overall, the team had five hits: Kyle Smith led the team with two.

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Sports

UNM student and pro rock climber seeks second national title

Gillian Barkhurst | March 20

  19-year-old competitive rock climber and University of New Mexico Lobo Isis Rothfork will represent New Mexico in Chicago at the Youth National Championships, hosted by USA Climbing, in July. With two landmark seasons under her harness, Rothfork remarked that she has a different mentality going into competition. “It’s like a different game, going in when you're not really chasing. You're kind of being chased.” Rothfork said.

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Sports

Roadrunner Curling Club focuses on education and community

Maddie Pukite | March 20

  Curling since 2015, James Brickey brought the sport to the desert in 2017 with the formation of the Roadrunner Curling Club, aiming to introduce more people to the sport while forming a community in the process. The club meets at least three times per week, which includes lessons on Thursday nights and opportunities to compete. However, learning is a crucial principle of the club even when competing, according to Brandon Wichman, a club member.

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Sports

Baseball: Lobos look strong in series win at start of conference play

Thomas Bulger | March 20

  The University of New Mexico baseball team played their first series of conference play on March 10-12 against the Air Force Academy Falcons. The Lobos won two of the three games. The Lobos lost 9-7 in 10 innings in the first game on March 10: UNM rallied late to tie the game in the ninth inning, but fell short in the 10th. The Lobos would go on to win the second game 15-0 on March 11, and won the third game 11-4 on March 12.

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Sports

Men's basketball: Lobos defeat Fresno State in final home game 94-80

Thomas Bulger | March 1

  On Tuesday, Feb. 28, the University of New Mexico men's basketball defeated the Fresno State University Bulldogs 94-80 in their final home game of the season. They improved to a 8-9 record in conference play. It was senior night at The Pit: Emmanuel Kuac, KJ Jenkins, Josiah Allick, Jaelen House and Morris Udeze were honored before the game. They received flowers and a framed photo of one their highlights. Fans celebrated the players with a standing ovation and a "thank you seniors" chant. Besides Udeze, all players have an extra year of eligibility they earned for the year they lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Sports

Women's basketball: Seniors shine at The Pit

Thomas Bulger | February 26

  UNM had a great game; they beat the Aggies in every statistical category: they won the rebounding battle, had less turnovers and made 39 of their 71 shots. The team had 7 players with double digit scores. Every Lobo had a good game, but the seniors had a stand out performance. McGruder led the team in points with 17 and grabbed 7 rebounds. LaTascya Duff had 13 points, three assists and three rebounds. Brown had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds. LaTora Duff scored 11 and had a team high six assists.

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Sports

Men's basketball: Lobos lose to San Diego State on a buzzer beater

Thomas Bulger | February 26

 The University of New Mexico men's basketball team lost to the #22-ranked San Diego State Aztecs 73-71 via buzzer beater on Saturday, Feb. 25. The Lobos fell to 7-9 in conference play after the loss. It is now unlikely the Lobos receive an invite to March Madness. The only path to the NCAA tournament is to win the Mountain West conference tournament. The Lobos may have a losing record in conference play, but were very competitive in all of their losses; this is a team that could learn from adversity and apply that to the tournament.

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Sports

Isotopes: New manager, hitting coach look to knock it out of the park this season

Miyawni Curtis | February 20

  Pedro Lopez is returning to the Albuquerque Isotopes for the 2023 season, not as the bench coach, but as their new manager. He will be joined by former Lobo baseball star Jordan Pacheco as the returning hitting coach. Staff from the Isotopes gathered on Friday, Feb. 17 for a press conference to celebrate the promotion of Lopez and introduce his goals for the new season. He is the eighth manager in Isotopes history, according to Minor League Baseball. Lopez said he is grateful and honored, but it won’t be easy. He has one goal for the upcoming season: winning.