Freshman Shine in Win Over UT Permian Basin

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LAS CRUCES, NM – In their final home meet of the calendar year, the Aggies picked up a 180-94 over visiting UT Permian Basin as 10 individuals earned first-place finishes across 14 events, including four freshmen.

SWIMMING

• The quartet of Maude Boily-Dufour, Aimee Burton, Rachel Ponte and Elizabeth Cervantes-Vanderlugt combined to start the day with a win for the Aggies in the 200-yard medley relay – finishing with a time of 1:47.61.
• First-year Aggie Jamie Puhalski claimed the first win of her collegiate career as she finished in front of the pack in the 1000 free with a time of 11:07.83.
• Fellow freshman Naomi Slee followed Puhalski with a win in the 200 free (1:54.36) to continue the strong start to her debut season. Slee also turned in a second win in the 100 free (54.31)
• Maude-Boily Dufour also claimed wins in a pair of events on Saturday as she swept the backstroke events – finishing with the top time in both the 100 back (58.85) and 200 back (2:11.30)
• Lindsay Puhalski added herself to the list of Aggies with multiple wins as she was quickest in the 100 breast (1:07.54) and 200 breast (2:28.07).
• The 200 fly also belonged to the Aggies as Molly Hill turned in a time of 2:10.36 to finish first.
• Sprinter Aimee Burton was tops in the 50 free with a time of 23.87.
• Freshman Estel Galo swam away from her competitors in the 500 free as she posted a time of 5:19.85 to earn the top spot.
• Faye McDonagh also joined Puhalski, Slee and Boily-Dufour as she picked up wins in both the 100 fly (58.28) and the 200 IM (2:09.80).
• The team of Burton, Cervantes-Vanderlugt, Kira Brownell and Lindsay Puhalski concluded the day with a win in the 200 free relay (1:38.04).

DIVING

• Italia Aranzabal claimed the top spot in the 3-meter diving event as she finished with a finals score of 248.33.
• In the 1-meter event, Kate Malinowski earned a win the second diving event of the day by posting a 245.85 finals score in the 1-meter dive.

QUOTABLE | HEAD COACH RICK PRATT

“Today’s meet was a great opportunity for us to focus on our energy and some of the races that our women don’t always get to do in our typical dual meet format. Since we were not heading to an invite the week before Thanksgiving, our team was able to crush a few weeks of training that will help to carry us well into next semester.

“Freshman Jamie Puhalski got her first collegiate win today in the 1000 Free which was an exciting way to start out the meet.

“We are really looking forward to getting up to the UNLV Invite in a few weeks where we will get to compete in a three-day, prelim-final format against 10 other programs.”

UP NEXT

The Aggies will conclude their fall season with a trip to Las Vegas where they will participate in the UNLV Winter Invite from Dec. 17-19 NM State will then return home on Saturday, Jan. 7, to host WAC foes Grand Canyon and Idaho.

++NM State++