LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State swimming and diving team looks to make a splash as it travels to Houston, Texas for the 2018 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at CRWC Natatorium on Feb. 21-24.
 
"This is a special group who has worked very hard this season and deserve to swim and dive well this week," head coach Rick Pratt said. "With 7 sessions, this meet takes mental toughness and we're going to focus on one thing at time. There are some tight events and getting athletes into the finals is key.  The best part of our job are the surprises and watching them accomplish their goals. It's a great feeling and I'm excited for that most of all. Last year we had 13 new athletes at the meet and this year we only have two. That experience should help us a lot as well. Our expectations are high and we're looking to make NM State proud."
 
NM State was picked to finish second in the Pre-Championship Women's Swimming and Diving Coaches Poll, receiving one first-place vote and 29 points.
 
The first session is slated to start at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, beginning with the diving preliminaries. Prelim sessions (except for the 1650s on Saturday afternoon) will be streaming on Facebook Live and can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/wacsports.
 
Live stats for the swimming events can be found at: http://wac.org/livestats/swim/2018/index.htm, while fans can follow along with the diving stats at: https://secure.meetcontrol.com/divemeets/system/meetresultsext.php?meetnum=5233. The WAC Digital Network will be broadcasting the finals live each day, which can be seen online at: http://www.wacsports.com/watch.