* The University of New Mexico swimming and diving team heads to Oklahoma City, Okla., to participate in the Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. Events will begin Wednesday, Feb. 27, with the women's 1-meter springboard at 10 a.m, and will conclude Saturday, Mar. 2, with the 400 freestyle relay.
* The Lobos finished the regular season at 6-6, including a 3-4 mark in conference action. UNM swimmers and divers had 23 times or scores that ranked in the top 16 in the conference, 14 times/scores in the top 10, eight times/scores in the top 5 and seven times/scores in the top three.
* Individually, senior Quinn Michie leads the Lobos with five times that rank in the top 16 in the conference, including two times that rank third overall. Senior Amanda Carson owns the conference's best time in the 100 butterfly, and owns the second best time in the 200 butterfly. Freshman Nicole Overeem has three times that rank in the top 16, while sophomore transfer Kira Carbonneau has two times that rank in the top 16. Divers Becca Barras and Tracey Berghian both rank in the top five among all divers in the conference.
* New Mexico closed out its home season with a win against Wyoming, 126.5-116.5. It was the first win for the Lobos in six years against the Cowgirls. UNM improved its record to 4-4, 2-2 in conference action.
Dive team enjoys success in second year
* UNM enters its second season of diving after a five-year hiatus. Led by second-year coach Jeff DiNicola, the diving squad had a solid first year. Sophomore Tracey Berghian, the only returner from last year's squad, and freshman newcomer Becca Barras make up the diving team. Berghian led the way for the young squad, as she proved to be one of the top divers in the conference. She finished the regular season with the second-best diving score on the 1 Meter Board and the fourth-best 3 Meter score. Berghian also had scores good enough to qualify for the diving zones that were held in Seattle, Wash. in March, where the top two performers at each zone advance to the NCAA Diving Championships. Berghian did not qualify for the NCAA's, but she did turn in a solid performace. She finished 23rd out of 38 divers in the 1 meter springboard, 29th in the 3 meter springboard and 16th in the Platform.
* Freshman Becca Barras has been named MWC Diver of the Week four times this season. Barras earned her fourth Diver of the Week honor following her performance at the Air Force Dive Invitational, where she won both the 1-meter and 3-meter springoboard competitions, and finished fourth on the platform. Her second MWC Diver of the Week honor was the result of her performance in UNM's two home meets Nov. 8-10. Against Colorado State and Northern Arizona on Nov. 9, Barras swept the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events, tallying scores of 252.55 and 278.74, respectively. She followed that effort with a victory on the 1-meter board (253.15) and a second-place finish on the 3-meter board (417.10) at the Lobo Invitational. Barras, who has already scored high enough to qualify for diving zones in March, has 14 first-place finishes out of 21events this season. She has five second-place finishes, and has not finished lower than fourth place in any event this year. * Barras' first Diver of the Week honors came after UNM's first meet of the year against Northern Arizona. In her first collegiate meet, Barras swept the diving events, winning the 1-Meter Dive with a score of 252.08 and the 3-Meter Dive with 278.78 points. In the process, Barras qualified for the Diving Zones on the 3-Meter Board and was just three points shy of qualifying on the 1-Meter Board. Both divers have been consistent all year and have dominated the competition. Barras and freshman Tracey Berghian have finished 1-2 10 times this season, and the lowest finish for either of them is fourth place. Berghian, who qualified for zones last year, was just six points shy of qualifying this year.
MWC Top Times * Several Lobo swimmers and divers have performances that rank them up with the best in the Mountain West Conference. The Lobos have the overall top time in one event, two finishes that rank second in the conference, eight times/dives that rank in the top five, 14 that rank in the top 10 and 23 that rank in the top 16. * Senior Amanda Carson is shaping up to be the swimmer to beat in the butterfly events. She owns the top time in the 100 butterfly(57.61) and the second best time in the 200 butterfly (2:05.51). She also has top 16 times in the 50 backstroke and the 200 IM. * Senior Quinn Michie has come on strong of late. She has the third-best times in the MWC in both the 200 IM (2:06.81) and the 400 IM (4:33.22). She has the 9h-best time in the 50 backstroke and is in the top 12 in the 100 and 200 backstroke. * Sandra Colburn has performed well in the distance freestyle events. She has top 8 times in the 1000 and 1650 freestyle, and has the 11th-best time in the 500 free. She also has the 11th-best time in the 400 IM. * Other notables include junior Myra Will, who has the the 7th-best time in the 50 freestyle, freshman Nicole Overeem, who has top 16 times in the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle, freshman Lindsay Jeter, who has the 14th-best time in the 1000 freestyle. * UNM's divers have continually scored points to rank them with the best in the MWC. Freshman Becca Barras has the second best score on the 1-Meter Board (269.70), the third best score on 3 Meter (449.40) and fourth on the platform. Sophomore Tracey Berghian has the fourth-best score in the 3-Meter Dive (434.50) and the sixth-best score in the 1-Meter (257.40). She also has the third best score on the platform (313.50).
forecasting the meet
* UNM looks to improve upon its efforts from last year's Swimming and Diving Championships, which saw an injury-plagued and young team finish last at the meet. This year's squad has a solid mix of veterans and underclassmen that showed during the regular season that they can compete with the rest of the conference.
* The Lobos will look for a lot from it's trio of seniors that all have had strong performances at conference in the past. Amanda Carson, the school record holder in the 100 butterfly, has the best time in that event in the conference and should contend for the title in both the 100 and 200 butterfly events. Carson finished 7th in the 100 Fly and 6th in the 200 Fly last year, and she also earned an 8th place finish in the 200 IM last year.
* Quinn Michie will look to redeem herself after a disappointing effort at the conference championships last season. Michie finished 9th in the 200 IM and 12h in the 100 backstroke despite swimming with an injured shoulder that plagued her most of the second half of the season. She has regained her form and should be a presence in both the IM events and the backstroke events.
* Sandra Colburn earned UNM's highest finish last year, placing fourth in the 1650 freestyle. She also finished 11th in the 500 freestyle and the 400 IM. Colburn's best time this year is in the 1650 freestyle, where she ranks sixth in the conference with a time of 17:25.58. She should be a force in the distance freestyle events.
* If the regular season is any indication, UNM divers have a legitimate shot at winning all three dive events. "Becca and Tracey definitely should finish in the top 5, if not higher," dive coach Jeff DiNicola said. "They have gone head to head with the top divers in the conference, and continue to beat them or stay right up there with them. Both of them have the talent to win any of the three events." Barras, a four-time MWC Diver of the Week, has won 14 of 21 events she has been in, and ranks in the top four in the conference in all three events. Berghian, a sophomore, has been here before, placing sixth in the 3-meter and the platform and 9th on 1-meter last season. "I expect Tracey to finish higher than she did last year," DiNicola said. "She's been here and knows what to expect, and she has much more confidence than she did last year."
* Some underclassmen that could also make some waves at conference:
Junior Myra Will ranks seventh in the conference in the 50 freestyle and should place in both the 50 and 100 freestyle, sophomore transfer Kira Carbonneau, who had to sit out the first half of the season due to transfer rules but really came on strong in the second half of the year, is a talented, multi-dimensional swimmer who can challenge at many events, freshman Nicole Overeem, who has been swimming great and ranks in the top 16 in three distance freestyle events, and Lindsay Jeter, another freshman who could place in the distance freestyle and the backstroke.
2002 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE
SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
2002 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE
SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2002
7:00-10:00 a.m.
Warm
10:00 a.m.
Women's One-meter Springboard Prelims
2:00 p.m.
Men's One-meter Springboard Prelims
6:00 p.m.
200-yard Medley Relay FINALS
One-meter Springboard FINALS
5-minute warm up period
800-yard Freestyle Relay FINALS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2002
7:00-11:00 a.m.
Warm
11:00 a.m.
500-yard Freestyle Prelims
200-yard Individual Medley Prelims
50-yard Freestyle Prelims
2:00 p.m.
Men's Three-meter Springboard Prelims
6:00 p.m.
500-yard Freestyle FINALS
200-yard Individual Medley FINALS
50-yard Freestyle FINALS
Men's Three-meter Springboard FINALS
5-minute warm up period
200-yard Freestyle Relay FINALS
FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2002
7:00-11:00 a.m.
Warm up
11:00 a.m.
400-yard Individual Medley Prelims
100-yard Butterfly Prelims
200-yard Freestyle Prelims
100-yard Breaststroke Prelims
100-yard Backstroke Prelims
2:00 p.m.
Women's Three-meter Springboard Prelims
6:00 p.m.
400-yard Individual Medley FINALS
100-yard Butterfly FINALS
200-yard Freestyle FINALS
100-yard Breaststroke FINALS
100-yard Backstroke FINALS
Women's Three-meter SpringboardFINALS
5-minute warm up period
400-yard Medley Relay FINALS
SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2002
7:00-11:00 a.m.
Warm up
11:00 a.m.
200-yard Backstroke Prelims
100-yard Freestyle Prelims
200-yard Breaststroke Prelims
200-yard Butterfly Prelims
15-minute warm up period
1650-yard Freestyle Prelims
1:00 p.m.
Men's Platform Prelims
3:00 p.m.
Women's Platform Prelims
6:00 p.m.
1650-yard Freestyle FINALS
200-yard Backstroke FINALS
100-yard Freestyle FINALS
200-yard Breaststroke FINALS
200-yard Butterfly FINALS
Platform Diving FINALS
5-minute warm up period
400-yard Freestyle Relay FINALS
DIVING FINALS WILL BEGIN IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE CONCLUSION OF THE FINAL
INDIVIDUAL EVENT OF THE EVENING
