Complete Results (PDF)
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Italia Aranzabal earned first-place finishes in both the one-meter and three-meter diving events, but the NM State women's swimming & diving saw visiting Northern Colorado win 13 of the 14 swimming events and the Aggies fell 167-131 in their first WAC dual meet of the season Saturday afternoon at the NM State Swimming & Diving Complex.
Getting off to a fast start, the Bears posted two of the top three finishes in both the 200-yard medley relay and 1,000-yard freestyle events to move ahead 26-10. Hoping to make up some points in the 200-yard freestyle, the Aggies' Lauren Hemburrow was clocked in a time of 1:54.84. Unfortunately, she was barely out-touched by the Bears' Giulia Pavanello (1:54.78) for the top finish in the event.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Carli Baldwin came up with the third runner-up finish for the Aggies in the first four event by posting a time of 57.95 seconds. Less than one second separated the top four finishers in the 100-yard breaststroke, but NM State's Aimee Burton (third, 1:05.38) was the only Aggie among the top four there.
Trailing 83-48 following seven events, NM State made up ground on the diving platform. Of the 18 points up for grabs in the one-meter diving event, NM State amassed 16 of them. In addition to Aranzabal's (253.13) first-place finish, Casey Schmidt (second, 192.60) and Kate Malinowski (third, 186.68) put forth great performances to help the hosts sweep the podium finishes in that event.
With the Bears' lead cut to 85-62, NM State took two of the top three spots in the 100-yard freestyle as Burton (52.11) and Neza Kocijan (53.14) finished second and third respectively, but the Bears used first and fourth-place finishes in the event to outscore the Aggies 11-8 there.
Lindsay Puhalski (2:08.76) and Jordan Andrusak (2:25.86) came up with third-place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard breaststroke respectively, but Northern Colorado placed first and second in each of those events to push its lead higher.
Anabel Ivanov (5:17.69) posted a third-straight third-place finish by an NM State performer in an event by coming up with a podium finish in the 500-yard freestyle. Rachel Ponte (second, 57.66 seconds), Burton (third, 58.00 seconds) and Baldwin (fourth, 58.25 seconds) took spots two through four in the 100-yard butterfly but again a top-spot finish by Northern Colorado didn't allow the Aggies to make up any ground.
Much like what transpired on the one-meter diving board, Aranzabal (241.88), Schmidt (205.80) and Malinowski (201.23) went one, two, three in the three-meter diving event. Northern Colorado finished first and second in the 200-yard IM, but the Aggies' afternoon finished on a high note with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
NM State's team of Burton, Hemburrow, Kocijan and Airam Oliva-Aun came up with an event-best time of 3:29.00 to win the relay. The Aggie quartet's time was nearly three seconds faster than the Bears' runner-up foursome.
With 21 points to her credit through individual and relay events, Burton posted the highest point total by any Aggie swimmer on the afternoon.
QUOTABLE | HEAD COACH RICK PRATT
"To lose at home is always disappointing and in general we could not hold off their top spots in most events. UNC has some talented swimmers and swam great as a team today. It is a long season and our group is working hard and needs to adjust to the training better moving into the next phase of the semester. There were many positive things to come off this weekend. We finished the meet strong and we had many that were faster than last week. Aimee Burton swam great today and our seniors where very tough. They did a great job leading, even when things weren't going our way from a scoring perspective. That is a strong sign for our team's culture."
COMING UP NEXT
• NM State's next stop is Albuquerque, N.M., for a dual meet showdown with longtime in-state rival New Mexico. The Aggies will set up shop at the Armond H. Seidler Natatorium on Friday, Oct. 29, to tangle with the Lobos.
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