Most of the New Mexico track and field squad will rest this weekend before the team hosts the Mountain West Conference Championship. Head coach Joe Franklin said the team will send a distance medley relay to North Carolina. They will be competing in the UCS Invitational in Winston-Salem on Saturday, for the sole purpose of qualifying for nationals.
The New Mexico women’s tennis team hopes to stay unbeaten at home when it takes on Utah this Saturday. Utah enters the matchup with New Mexico riding the momentum of a three game winning streak.
The New Mexico men’s tennis team will wrap up a grueling road trip against three teams this weekend before finally returning to Albuquerque to host its home opener. The Lobos split a doubleheader last weekend in California, beating UC Irvine 4-3 and losing to Pepperdine 1-4 in some tightly contested matchups.
After months of preparation, the Lobos are now ready to dive into championship mode. The UNM women’s swimming and diving team started the 2016 Mountain West Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship in College Station, Texas on Wednesday and will continue through Saturday.
Major League Baseball is in somewhat of a transitional phase the likes of which neither the sport, nor its fans, have ever really seen before. It’s not experiencing an existential crisis, per se, but the sport has devoted much attention and resources towards tailoring a very traditional game for a younger generation. As it turns out, the 2016 season might be the perfect time to do just that – give the sport a try. You don’t have to fight the urge of resisting the sport any longer. And with pitchers and catchers from most major league ball clubs reporting for Spring Training duty on Friday, you’re only going to hear about it more and more as Opening Day (which has as much a right as the Monday after the Super Bowl to be a national holiday) draws ever nearer on April 4.
The time for New Mexico to grow up is right now. With just five games left in the season, head coach Yvonne Sanchez said she is going to trim playing time for some players until they can prove they deserve it.
New Mexico’s back-loaded Mountain West schedule could have implications on the conference tournament seeding process. Five of the Lobos’ next six opponents are all positioned in the top half of the conference standings. These are Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Nevada. The Lobos also have a date against a feisty Air Force squad in there.
Cullen Neal’s statistics didn’t factor much into Saturday afternoon’s game against San Jose State: six points, three rebounds. But his presence resonated throughout WisePies Arena. Neal, the starting point guard for the New Mexico basketball team, received uproarious support from fans during the game just days after his father, head coach Craig Neal, said that he has received death threats. In his press conference heading into the game this past Thursday, Craig Neal said his son changed his phone number twice and deleted social media accounts due to continuing and increasingly harsh criticism that, he felt, crossed the line.
It came down to the final seconds, but New Mexico’s second-half surge fell just short in a 59-58 loss to San Jose State on Saturday. The Lobos’ six-point second quarter on the road proved to be too big a hole to climb out of, yet UNM still managed to make the contest an intriguing one. “You score six points in the second quarter, that’s just not going to cut it,” head coach Yvonne Sanchez said in her post game radio interview. “We didn’t come out with the same fire that we had in the first quarter.”
A handful of Lobos set personal and school records, while a former Olympian set a new track record at the Don Kirby Invitational over the weekend. Georganne Moline, who finished fifth in the 2012 Olympics in the 400 meter hurdle, competed in the women’s 600 meter run on Friday. The extra 200 meters didn’t seem to faze her, as she cruised to a first place victory, setting a new Albuquerque Convention Center record with a time of 1:26.70. New Mexico saw several athletes register performances that likely earned them a trip to the national championships. Head coach Joe Franklin said qualifying was very positive and important.
New Mexico improved to 4-2 on the season and remain unbeaten at home after defeating the University of Denver in a tightly contested matchup on Friday. UNM got off to a hot start when Rachana Bhat and Ludivine Burguiere defeated Charlotte Derbyshire and Evy Van Genechten, 6-1 in doubles play. Denver’s Morgan Barnhill and Bianca Mok responded by winning the second matchup against Ruth Copas and Andrea Leblanc, 6-2. Dominique Dulski and Emily Olivier were able to garner the coveted doubles point by taking the third and final doubles match against Julia O’Loughlin and Maureen Slattery, 6-4.
The sun was shining, the thermostat read mid-60s and the New Mexico players dressed in turquoise uniforms were all smiles during what felt like a midseason day at Santa Ana Star Field on Friday. UNM head coach Ray Birmingham said on baseball media day that the goal remains the same: to put another Mountain West championship year on the outfield wall. This year, Birmingham has a lot of confidence as the baseball season is set to begin in Hawaii on Friday, he said. The big thing that Birmingham said stands out is the atmosphere in the locker room.
The New Mexico men’s tennis team earned a split in California on Saturday in a doubleheader against UC Irvine and Pepperdine. Head Coach Bart Scott shook things up by separating doubles partners Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen. The pair began the season as the eighth ranked doubles team in the nation.
The New Mexico softball team opened its 2016 season with two wins and three losses at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona, over the weekend. The Lobos started the tournament Friday afternoon with a 2-1 victory over San Diego, with runs from right fielder Jade Gray and shortstop Michala Erickson.
Head coach Craig Neal often talks about always moving forward and not focusing on the past. His Lobos are doing a better job in that regard. Following back-to-back losses at San Diego State and Utah State, New Mexico responded and shut down San Jose State’s offense in a 74-58 victory.
The days of getting everyone into the game is over. New Mexico head coach Yvonne Sanchez said she has given players opportunities to take advantage of, but simply haven’t gotten it done.
Criticism of Cullen Neal has crossed the line, New Mexico coach Craig Neal said Thursday afternoon, even elevating to threats. The Lobo sophomore point guard, also the most polarizing player on this year’s squad, has already changed his phone number twice and removed his social media accounts from Facebook and Twitter, Craig Neal said, as criticism against his son has increased. “Put yourself in his shoes.
Less than two weeks after New Mexico announced its highest GPA among student-athletes in program history, the Mountain West appointed 60 individuals to the All-Academic honorees. It was the third most in conference, but the highest in New Mexico student-athlete history. It was also the first time UNM has had back-to-back years of sending 60 or more student-athletes to the All-Academic team after sending 61, the highest in program history, a year ago.
New Mexico hosts the Don Kirby Invitational this weekend in its final event before the Mountain West Conference Championships. Head coach Joe Franklin said he is encouraged by the improvements the team is making each week. Several of the athletes have posted personal records in consecutive weeks.
The New Mexico women’s tennis team will try to get back in the win column when it returns home to host Denver University on Friday. The Lobos dropped two consecutive contests in Minneapolis, Minnesota last weekend at the Courtside Classic, losing to Mississippi State 1-6 and Minnesota 2-5.
Solutions by The State News
