Day One Results

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A strong showing by the NM State women's swimming & diving team on day one of a two-day dual meet has the Aggies in line for their first dual meet victory over in-state rival New Mexico in a decade.
 
Closing out a strong day one performance by gathering up 15 of a possible 17 team points in the 400-yard medley relay, the NM State women's swimming & diving team took an 87-80 lead over Mountain West and in-state adversary New Mexico Friday at the Armond H. Seidler Natatorium.
 
DIVING
• Though the Lobos were able to take an early lead with first, third and fifth-place finishes in one-meter diving, NM State's Italia Aranzabel qualified for NCAA Diving Zones with a score of 265.05 en route to a runner-up finish. Casey Schmidt (219.45) collected another two team points for the Aggies with her fourth-place finish, cutting the Lobos' lead to 13-6 heading into the eight swimming events.
 
SWIMMING
• New Mexico's lead continued to grow after winning the 200-yard freestyle relay, but NM State started to cut into the Lobos' advantage shortly thereafter.
• Lindsay Puhalski led a pack of four Aggie who placed among the top five in the 200-yard IM by winning the event in a time of 2:08.57. Also picking up points for NM State in the event were Jordan Andrusak (2:09.30, second place), Lauren Hemburrow (2:12.15, fourth place) and Skylar Welle (2:13.58, fifth place).
• Leading 34-27, the Aggies fell behind after New Mexico finished first, second, third and fifth in the 500-yard freestyle event.
• Natalia Villa secured a runner-up finish in the 100-yard breaststroke, but the Aggies' highest point scorer in that event was Welle whose time third-place time of 1:06.36 yielded four points for the visitors.
• Needing some top finishes, NM State got them in the 200-yard backstroke. Maude Boily-Dufour won the event in a time of 2:07.34 with Puhalski close behind in second place with a time of 2:08.41.
• One of the two shortest events of the first session was won by Airam Oliva-Aun. Her time of 52.33 in the 100-yard freestyle helped her edge out New Mexico's Katy McCarter (52.57) for a first-place finish in that event.
• New Mexico maintained its lead thanks to a first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly. Fortunately, Katherine Harston was one of three point-producing Aggies in the event to make sure the visitors stayed close. Harston's time of 2:11.36 was good for a runner-up finish.
• Down 78-72 headed into the day's final event, NM State finished strong to conclude the first day with the upper hand. The Aggies' 400-yard medley relay team of Boily-Dufour, Aimee Burton, Neza Kocijan and Rachel Ponte was clocked in a time of 3:53.58 to win the event.
• NM State extended its lead when Oliva-Aun, Puhalski, Kiersten Valdez and Welle finished second in the 400-yard medley relay in a time of 3:55.45. New Mexico picked up just two points in that event, allowing the Aggies to take a seven-point lead after the first day.
 
QUOTABLE | HEAD COACH RICK PRATT
"It wasn't the perfect session but we had many positive moments and the team fought hard through a rollercoaster of a session.  Our relays at the end finished very strong which says a lot about our conditioning and we closed our races well.  We need to clean up some things and learn from our mistakes today to finish stronger tomorrow."
 
COMING UP NEXT
• Beginning with three-meter diving action at 11:15 a.m., NM State will try to close out its first dual meet victory over New Mexico since 2011 Saturday morning. Following the diving portion, swimming events are set to begin at noon from the Armond H. Seidler Natatorium.
 
++NM State++