 "Photo:")
The New Mexico State swimming and diving team's four-meet winning streak was brought to a halt last Saturday against Colorado State who beat the Aggies 158-114.
The Aggies finished with four out of 14 first place finishes in individual events against CSU. The loss came after a dominating performance over Northern Colorado the day before.
"It was a tough meet because CSU was ready to go real fast," swimming and diving coach Rick Pratt said. "We've won the last four meets pretty convincingly, so it was nice to go in and be the underdogs. The girls were caught up in trying to win it all and weren't focusing on their individual events."
A bright spot for the Aggies was freshman Maria Spies who had a successful meet winning both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.
"She's been dominant all fall," Pratt said. "She's got the fastest time in the WAC by four seconds, which is a lot in the 200 breaststroke."
Spies is ranked 26th in the nation in the 200 meter breaststroke event and would qualify for the NCAA tournament if the season ended today.
"You have to be top 32, so I think she has a legitimate shot at making that meet and if that's the case then she'll be the first female New Mexico State swimmer ever to do so," Pratt said.
The Aggies' next meet is against the University of New Mexico on Jan. 28 in Las Cruces. The Aggies defeated the Lobos last year 159-140 - their first win over the Lobos in more than 25 years.
"It's turning into a pretty good rivalry," Pratt said. "It will be a fun meet. It's the one team that our girls want to beat the most and vice-versa."
The Aggies are 9-7 in dual meets this season, so a win over UNM will give the Aggies a respectable 10-win season.
Pratt said that being dominated by Colorado State may have been a blessing in disguise.
"It was good to have a meet like that, where we can learn that lesson and remind ourselves what to do in a stressful environment," Pratt said "The girls need to learn to control what they do because they are not going to be able to control what the person is doing in the lane next to them."
The swimming and diving team finish off their season at the Air Force Diving Invitational Jan. 30-31 and the WAC Championships Feb. 25-28.
"We're still in great shape," Pratt said. "This is the hardest working team we've ever had and we're going to swim fast no matter what in the next five weeks."
Be the first to comment on this article!