LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State swimming and diving squad dropped a 176.5-123.5 decision to Battle of I-25 rival New Mexico at the NM State Swimming and Diving Complex on Saturday afternoon.
 
"There is a lot of energy and anticipation around the rivalry between NM State and UNM in all sports, however for us we always look at it as an opportunity to race against some of the most talented swimmer on our meet schedule," said associate head coach Rachel Judge. "There were some genuine moments of greatness today in the pool and on the boards; I cannot remember a time in recent history that we beat UNM in diving on both 1 and 3 meter boards. This group has a lot of grit - we have 3 weeks to prepare to race GCU and then we will be getting ready for the WAC Championships."
 
The Aggies started off the day with Barbora Krizanova, Hanna McGowan, Reagan Nentwich and Neza Kocijan finishing second in the 200 Medley relay at 1:45.86, just behind UNM's squad at 1:45.76. In the next race, the 1000 Free, Moana Houde-Camirand came in fourth, the highest of all Aggies, with a time of 11:03.83.
 
Next, Grace Laporte (158.38), Airam Oliva-Aun (1:58.39) and Lauren Hemburrow finished third, fourth and fifth respectively in the 200 Free. Freshman Anabel Ivanov was the highest-placing Aggie in the 100 Back, finishing third in 58.68.
 
NM State then picked up a win from Hanna McGowan in the 100 Breast (1:04.45) while teammate Ashley Reynolds placed second (1:06.26). New Mexico State earned another win in the next race, the 200 Fly with Katherine Harston touching first at 2:06.68. Teammate Lanie McAlpin placed second with a time of 2:08.25. Next, the 50 free saw Kocijan with a second place finish at 24.30 while Makena Sutherland finished fourth at 24.90.
 
The Aggies then dropped the 100 Free and the 200 Back before Hanna McGowan won her second breaststroke of the day, the 200, with a time of 2:22.38. Afterwards, Harston placed third in the 500 Free (5:14.23), Nentwich third in the 100 Fly (59.05) and Krizanova second in the 200 IM (2:09.52).
 
New Mexico State then finished second in the days final event, the 400 Free, with Ivanov, Hemburrow, Oliva-Aun and Kocijan finishing in 3:32.14.
 
On the diving side, MacKinna Hauff continued her strong senior campaign by picking up a win in the 3m board with a score 286.13. Raina Brommer then won the 1m event at 282.60.
 
The New Mexico State swimming and diving team returns to the pool on Saturday, Feb. 9, at 11:30 a.m. (MT) when it hosts WAC rival Grand Canyon. The Divers are set to compete in the Air Force Academy Diving Invite on Friday, Feb. 1, and Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019, in Colorado Springs.