PHARR, Texas – On Wednesday, the Aggies kicked off day one of the WAC Championships at the City of Pharr Natatorium. In just one day, NM State has already accomplished something it had never done in its program's history as it received a record-breaking performance from its 800 free relay team. Following three events, the Aggies have racked up 73 points and are currently in third place as a team.

"Solid start today," noted Head Coach Rick Pratt. "Our divers did great and really competed well in the consolation finals. All scored 20+ more points than they have at WAC before. Our medley relay was solid and overall had great splits. To break that school record in the 800 free relay was awesome and all four swimmers put up lifetime splits and raced hard. This was a great start and a good sign of things to come moving forward."
 
The Aggies opened the day with the three-meter dive where Head Diving Coach Zach Hawley saw three of his divers reach the consolation finals. Once there, senior Italia Aranzabal turned in the Aggies' best performance of the day as she finished second with a finals score of 267.55.
 
Later, the quartet of Lindsay Puhalski, Naomi Slee, Katie Rink and Estel Galo combined to break a record that has stood for five years as they reached the wall at 7:19.69 in the 800 free relay. This also marked the Aggies' first podium finish of the week as they claimed third.
 
NM State will return to the pool tomorrow for the second day of the WAC Championships. Thursday's events include the one-meter dive, the 200 free relay, the 500 free, the 200 IM and the 50 free.
 
Prelims are slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. MT while finals will start at 4:55 p.m. For those watching in the United States, prelims will be available on WAC International while finals will be available on ESPN+. International viewers may watch the entire day's events on WAC International.

Day One Standings
1. Northern Arizona - 133 points
2. Grand Canyon - 98 points
3. NM State - 73 points
4. Idaho - 65 points
5. Utah Tech - 64 points
6. Northern Colorado - 63 points
7. California Baptist - 61 points
8. Seattle U - 48 points