Sports

Sports

Women's Basketball: Four seniors play their last game at the Pit

Matthew Narvaiz and Cameron Goeldner | February 28

And then, it was their last. Four seniors, all guards, stepped onto the Pit floor for the last time, as players for the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team. Seniors Cherise Beynon, Laneah Bryan, Tesha Buck and Alex Lapeyrolerie had a mix of emotions, they said, but a positive outcome in a season in which they broke records, beat the unbeatable and have become a sisterhood. And that sisterhood will stand the test of time, Lapeyrolerie said.

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Sports

Women’s Basketball: Lobos cap senior night with a win over CSU

Matthew Narvaiz | February 28

In the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team’s final game at The Pit this season, a strong performance from senior guard Cherise Beynon led the Lobos to a win over Colorado State, 54-48, in front of a crowd of 5,088 screaming fans. Being their last game, it also doubled as “senior night,” in which four Lobos Beynon, Tesha Buck, Alex Lapeyrolerie and Laneah Bryan stepped onto the Pit floor. Lapeyrolerie, who tore her ACL in a game against Air Force a few games ago, also suited up in her uniform. And, to the crowd’s delight, was awarded her spot in the starting lineup. She looked out into the crowd and hugged her teammates before leaving the court shortly after to let the game get started.

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Sports

College students can reap benefits from bodybuilding

Sherri Barth | February 28

Not everyone has the desire or the drive to be a world-class bodybuilder, but college students and other community members may find it rewarding. Sam Schrader, a multi-title bodybuilding champion and University of New Mexico medical student, said he has experienced both mental and physical gains from the sport. “I absolutely think that keeping a consistent training schedule has been unbelievably important to my resilience in the face of an increasingly demanding academic schedule," he said. "I think that it’s become as important to my emotional wellness as it is to my physical fitness.”

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Sports

Men’s Tennis: Weekend split leaves Lobos 6-4

Matthieu Cartron | February 28

The University of New Mexico (6-4) fell 4-2 on Friday to the University of Utah (14-1) before taking down the University of California, Santa Barbara (5-4) on Sunday in a dramatic 4-3 win. In doubles play against the University of Utah, the Lobos appeared to be on their way to snatching the doubles point from the Utes after the duo of seniors Bart Van Leijsen and Jorge Escutia beat Utah junior David Micevski and freshman Randy Cory 6-4. But soon after, junior Ricky Hernandez-Tong and sophomore Dominic West fell to junior Joe Woolley and senior Egbert Weverink 6-4, and on court three Utah junior Dan Little and sophomore Azat Hankuliyev quickly followed up with a 6-4 win over UNM freshman Stepan Holis and senior Sean Baklini to give the Utes the doubles point.

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Sports

Football: Former Lobo picks up pair of Hall of Fame honors

Robert Maler | February 26

Former University of New Mexico football player Brian Urlacher has been busy lately, picking up Hall of Fame selections for his collegiate and professional playing careers. Urlacher was already a member of UNM's Ring of Honor, but joined the ranks of the College Football Hall of Fame in December of 2017. He was a versatile player for New Mexico, logging plays as a linebacker, safety and on special teams as well. During his time at UNM, he garnered All-American honors twice and amassed some impressive statistics.

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Sports

Sports Issue: Students use protein to help build muscle

Marco Torrez | February 26

Protein is consumed to help aid muscle repair and increase muscle growth, but protein itself does not constitute a negative repercussion unless the consumer mismanages their protein intake. Protein consumption is a common aspect of many people’s normal workout procedure. The amount of different kinds of protein that is available to people ranges from organic, to powder, to shakes and to bars. Kurt Escobar, a UNM Ph.D. student and undergraduate professor specializing in Exercise Science at the University of New Mexico, said the idea that different forms of protein have different varying levels of effectiveness is not true.

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Opinion

Sports Issue: Column — How I got into sports reporting

Matthew Narvaiz | February 25

Growing up I was always into sports. Playing them, watching them but, most of all, talking about them. I remember in my younger days watching College Gameday with Lee Corso and always looking forward to waking up at 9 a.m. to hear him and his crew’s predictions on the upcoming college football games. To me, that’s where the real fun was. Growing up, for most of my elementary and middle school years, I had dreams and aspirations of being on Sportscenter and talking about the day’s highlights. But like time, change in myself—and my interests—was always inevitable. I was still just a young boy, learning new things about myself each and every day. Being on Sportcenter, being an anchor on set, wasn’t for me. What was for me, though, was still being involved in sports somehow and someway.

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Opinion

Sports Issue: Column — Let's talk about paying collegiate student-athletes

Danielle Prokop | February 25

First off, I don’t care about college sports, but I do care about college athletes. I don’t have a “team,” and I’ve never been to a game. However, that does not take away from the fact that people are placing themselves into a brutal arena, unpaid for the work they do, for the sake of entertainment. Athletes are working 40 hours a week minimum at their sport — a full-time job on top of classes. They are limited by schedules and practices. Athletes cannot control their image, endorse products or receive payment for autographs unlike other “amateurs." This arbitrary rule is enforced across sports, not just the money-makers like football or basketball.

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Opinion

Sports Issue: Column — College sports should benefit students, not the NCAA

Christian Marquez | February 25

I really don’t care for sports. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Lobos, but hear me out. Student-athletes lay it all on the line for a chance to make professional sports their career. Some of them make it, but most of them do not. If we look to the numbers, it seems that only one party is guaranteed to profit from this relationship: the NCAA and their partners. For example, according to the NCAA’s estimated probability of competing in professional sports, out of the 18,684 student-athletes playing men’s basketball in 2017, 4,152 were draft eligible. There were 60 draft spots open, and only 44 players were drafted — making the probability of being drafted pro from NCAA men's basketball 1.1 percent.

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Opinion

Column: STUNT takes cheerleading to a new level

Catherine Stringam | February 25

For the first time ever, the University of New Mexico's all-girl cheerleading team will be playing STUNT during the Big 12 Meet, Friday through Sunday in Oklahoma City. As a freshman on the UNM all-girl team, this is super exciting for me. I have cheered for a long time and competed in a variety of competitions — both high school and all-star, at the state, national and international levels.

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Sports

Men's Basketball: Lobos eke out 91-90 win over Runnin' Rebels

Robert Maler | February 25

It is not accustomed to playing games on Sunday, but the University of New Mexico men's basketball team could use a win any way it could get it — and it came up big in crunch time to do just that. New Mexico (15-14, 10-6 MW) won its third straight game to elevate its overall record to above .500 for the first time since the opening games of the season, gutting out a 91-90 victory over UNLV on Sunday afternoon. Things went back and forth throughout the game, and things got chippy at times as the referee's whistle began to blow with more frequency as both teams seemed to give everything they had to hold on to their place in the conference standings.

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Sports

Sports Issue — Hockey: Lobos qualify for Nationals for first time in program history

February 25

For the first time in the history of the University of New Mexico hockey team, the Lobos have skated into postseason play and will compete in the ACHA National Championships. New Mexico went undefeated in its first 11 games to start the season and never looked back, posting an impressive 20-4-1 record along the way. Head coach Grant Harvey said the team was overlooked in the past and felt some politics kept New Mexico out of the postseason mix in previous seasons. But with the selection process, including an algorithm with defined criteria and the team's impressive résumé, there was no question this season's effort was good enough to warrant a bid to nationals.

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Sports

Sports Issue — Photo Story: "Free Throw Portraits" capture the intensity of basketball

Cameron Goeldner | February 25

It’s a rare occasion that there’s a moment of calm during a basketball game, especially one that is as close as the game the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team played against Wyoming last Wednesday.

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Sports

Sports Issue — Men's Basketball: Troy Simons' long road to New Mexico

Robert Maler | February 25

Fans of the University of New Mexico men's basketball team probably know about the potential and the growth of junior guard Troy Simons throughout this season, but many may not know the path that landed him in a Lobo uniform. Simons led the nation in NCJAA scoring during the 2016-17 season while playing for the Polk State Eagles, torching the nets with 26.3 points per game. The 6-foot-3-inch guard said he wasn't used to playing college basketball and learned a lot from his time as an Eagle.

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Music

Sports Issue — Baseball: Lobo players reveal inspiration for walk-up songs

Matthew Narvaiz | February 25

For the players, it is one of the most important parts of the game. Some do it to hype themselves up. Others do it to calm their nerves and relax. But for just about every player, walk-up songs give insight into who they are and what they listen to. For the University of New Mexico baseball team, it’s no different. The Lobos, this season, have a wide variety of music choices from classic rock to old school hip-hop, to old Kanye and much more.

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News

Sports Issue — How does the FBI investigation affect UNM?

Cameron Goeldner | February 25

In September, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it was pursuing criminal cases against some of the most powerful people in major college basketball. It was a bombshell that shook the landscape just before practice for the new season underway. One of the first, and still one of the biggest dominoes to fall, was Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, who was fired following the revelation that an Adidas executive, the school’s official provider of athletic apparel, had conspired to pay $100,000 dollars to the family of an elite recruit to get him to play for Louisville and represent Adidas following the conclusion of his college career. Despite the national prevalence of this story, its effects weren’t felt by the University of New Mexico men’s basketball team. However, this week the investigation reached the Lobos' corner of the basketball universe, as San Diego State’s Malik Pope and former UNLV player Patrick McCaw were linked to the latest round of players who had allegedly received improper benefits from agents — specifically the agency, ASM Sports, in a story released by Yahoo! Sports last week.

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Sports

Sports Issue — Women’s soccer: Lobos add seven to roster

Matthieu Cartron | February 25

As the University of New Mexico women’s soccer program prepares for its upcoming spring season, it announced the addition of seven new players to the roster for the 2018 fall season. “This group of players is exceptionally talented and will fit in with our culture of hard work on and off the field immediately,” UNM head coach Heather Dyche said in a release. “They are excellent students, outstanding players and, most importantly, great people.”

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Sports

Baseball: Lobos tie Central Michigan in series finale

Matthew Narvaiz | February 25

That’s right. On Sunday afternoon, the University of New Mexico baseball team and Central Michigan finished their fourth meeting this season in a 6-6 tie. After nine whole innings of play, the game was tied. And in the tenth, neither team added another score. In the meantime, the Chippewas had a plane to catch and the game had reached its time limit all culminating to the tie. The Lobos (4-3-1), however, won the first three matchups. On Thursday in the series opener, UNM won 20-9 behind a big offensive outing from junior Hayden Schilling. On Friday, sophomore Justin Slaten allowed just three hits and no runs starting on the mound for the Lobos in their second win. And on Saturday, junior Christian Tripp struck out the side in the ninth inning to propel UNM to a close 8-7 win. On Sunday, though, the game was as tight as tight gets. Central Michigan scored in the top of the first on a fly out, with the runner on third getting there courtesy of a triple. It gave them a 1-0 lead early on.

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Sports

Women’s Basketball: Lobos' struggles continue, falling to UNLV on the road

Matthew Narvaiz | February 25

Mountain West play hasn’t been kind to the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team. On Saturday, they lost on the road to UNLV, 74-62, marking their second straight loss and eight in conference. The Lobos (20-9, 8-8 MW) started off well, getting out to a 17-6 lead after senior guard Tesha Buck made back-to-back three-pointers early in the first quarter. But the Lady Rebels (18-9, 13-3), at home, didn’t shy away. UNLV went on a 9-1 run the rest of the first quarter, and cut the Lobos’ lead to three points, 18-15, heading into the second quarter.

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Sports

Softball: Lobos lose to Montana 4-2 at the UCR Classic

Cameron Goeldner | February 25

For the University of New Mexico softball team (2-11), Saturday’s game started off differently. With a lead. However, it wasn’t meant to be for the Lobos on the second day of the UC Riverside Classic, as the Lobos fell to Montana (2-10), as the Grizzlies used a three run sixth inning to take a lead they would hold until the final out