PHOENIX – On Saturday, NM State Swimming & Diving took a trip to Grand Canyon's Fr Edward A. Reese Aquatic Center for a five-way meet, headlined by the matchup with the Lopes. The Aggies fell by just one point to GCU, dropping the head-to-head 103-102. The Crimson & White also took down Simon Fraser (127-39), Ottawa [AZ] (142-13) and Arizona Christian (142-22) to wrap up their weekend in Arizona.
 
Head Coach Rick Pratt, on the meet: "To lose by such a close margin is always heartbreaking.  It could have gone either way in several races and unfortunately, we didn't leave deck with a win over GCU. Still, we left with our heads held high as we had some great performances and learned a lot about our group today. GCU has a lot of firepower and once again we faced a team that gave us everything they had. To fight as hard as we did after all the travel and challenges we faced yesterday was tremendous; this trip was a positive experience regardless. Our divers were outstanding today with a couple lifetime best scores, and they really put us in the mix to win. Katie Rink was so impressive today as well. She swam a bunch of hard swims and finished the day with an amazing 200 free and then minutes later anchored our relay with everything she had.  This was the theme with our whole team at the end of the session; they put everything out there and finished with a lot of heart. Those team attributes will serve us well moving forward."
 
Across the 11 events held on the day, NM State racked up 15 podium finishes, including four event victories and six silver medals. Katie Rink's mark of 1:499.99 in the 200 free was the fastest in the pool and good for a CSCAA NIC 'B' cut qualification. 
 
Later, Emily Dobbins came away with a victory in the 100 back. The junior posted a 56.03 time to lead the pool, recording a new season best for the program. Meanwhile, Mira Tinani led the way on the boards once again, taking first place in both the 1m and 3m to lead a dominant day for the Aggie divers.
 
The junior recorded a 279.68 mark atop the leaderboard in the 1m, while her teammates Peytton Moore and Addison Pastiak rounded out a podium full of Aggies. In the 3m, Tinani's 280.80 was good for first place, just ahead of Pastiak in second 243.60.
 
UP NEXT
The Aggies will head to the Bayou City for the Phil Hansel Invitational across Nov. 19-21. NM State finished sixth at the event last year with a score nearly 40 points ahead of rival New Mexico. The three day meet held at the CRWC Natatorium will include opposition of Houston, UNM, Rice and Air Force, among others.
 
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