Staff Report Mike Locksley has brought change to the UNM football team. The change is in the form of searching for players to help bring New Mexico its first Mountain West Conference championship. And it all started on Wednesday, which was National Signing Day for college football recruits.
When UNM ski team members strap on their boots, it isn't just a snowy mountain they have to overcome. The team consists of 22 members - male and female - who speak seven languages and are from 10 countries. They train in one of the most southern states of the U.
It all vanished. A 50-45 lead for the UNM women's basketball team with 1:23 left in the game - gone. Quickly, it turned into a 53-50 loss to Utah on Sunday at The Pit. The Lobos can thank Utah's Morgan Warburton for that, as the last 3-pointer of her 18 points proved to be the game winner.
The UNM track and field team maintained its level of excellence in the New Mexico Multis and Invitational on Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The Lobos posted two NCAA provisional qualifying times and three first-place finishes. Ariel Burr ran a 54.
The opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the country doesn't come around often. It might happen this weekend for the UNM men's tennis team and will definitely happen for the women's tennis team. Both squads will hit the road this weekend to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Team Indoor Challenge.
There is a rift developing between head coach Steve Alford and UNM men's basketball team manager Mike Mares. Alford, who has an undying affinity for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has spent the last week badgering Mares, an Arizona Cardinals' fan who has aspirations to become a basketball coach.
Chad Toppert did what he knew best against the Colorado State Rams on Wednesday at The Pit. "He didn't stop shooting," head coach Steve Alford said. The senior from Albuquerque overcame a dismal three-point first half against the Rams only to blow up for 15 points in the second half.
Head coach Don Flanagan of the UNM women's basketball team was hoping the Lobos could win 17 games in the 2008-09 campaign. Eighteen games into the season, the Lobos have 15. "I thought it would be disappointing if we didn't win 17," Flanagan said. "We haven't got there yet - so I better stop right there.
The end of the NFL season is always a depressing time for football fans, especially me, considering I gave myself a Christmas gift in the form of DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket in September. You know, that program that allows you to watch every NFL game on every Sunday during the season.
The franchises of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals couldn't be farther apart in terms of historic significance in the NFL. Pittsburgh, along with the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, is tied for the lead in all-time Super Bowl victories with five.
Colorado State's men's basketball team, at 7-25 overall and 0-16 in the Mountain West Conference, was the laughingstock of the MWC last season. "It was a relief it was over," CSU's head coach Tim Miles said. "It was a perfect storm of things going wrong when I took the job.
Scouting reports were rendered useless on Sunday at The Pit when the UNM women's basketball team beat TCU 75-63. Georonika Jackson appeared to be a weak link, according to TCU head coach Jeff Mittie. But Jackson made the Horned Frogs look foolish. On Sunday, she dictated the game.
Change hit the UNM football team like a tidal wave in the form of a new coach after the Lobos went 4-8. Now, head coach Mike Locksley has finalized his coaching staff. And, including Locksley, "Ocean's Eleven" it is. Locksley announced his 10 hires in a news conference Friday at the Tow Diehm Athletics Center - and much like the cast of the movie, there is a collection of youth meshed with a pedigree of experience.
After a close loss to LSU last week, the No. 49 UNM women's tennis team rebounded to defeat No. 43 South Florida 4-3 on Saturday at the UNM Tennis Complex. "We knew coming in that this was an important match for us," head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz said. "We had the home-field advantage because of our high altitude and really believed that we could capitalize on the opportunity.
The UNM men's tennis team opened its season with a pair of wins this weekend. The 42nd-ranked Lobos toppled No. 44 Indiana in a 4-3 nailbiter Friday before dismantling No. 75 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4-2 on Sunday at the UNM Tennis Complex. With the wins, the Lobos are off to a 2-0 start to the 2009 season.
The UNM indoor track team put in a full day's work on Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center, wrangling two school records and four first-place finishes during the Cherry and Silver Invitational. "I think it was a great day, but a long day," head coach Joe Franklin said.
The UNM women's basketball team whipped itself back into winning form Sunday at The Pit with a 75-63 victory over Mountain West Conference foe TCU. The win propelled the Lobos to 12-1 at home on the season and boosted the team to 4-1 in MWC play after a disappointing offensive output against San Diego State on Wednesday.
Swimming and diving is much like mythology. Half the events that comprise the sport - especially diving - seem unimaginably impossible, almost dream-like. Seeing them executed to precision is even more baffling. Divers must be as eloquent as a swan but have the grit and fearlessness of a great white shark.
The UNM men's tennis team has big shoes to fill in 2009. Last year, the Lobos finished with a spring record of 20-9 - the most wins for the program in 20 years - and a share of the Mountain West Conference regular-season title. Entering this season, the Lobos are ranked 42nd in preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls.
Nobody likes to audition to have their damning ghosts exposed in the public sphere any day - let alone every day. But every game the UNM women's basketball team plays is an audition. And here's what the Lobos put on exhibition on Wednesday against San Diego State: With the Lobos down 56-52, Amy Beggin whittled her way into the lane and drew a foul.
Solutions by The State News
