Aggies Knock Off North Texas at Home in Season Opener

Katie Rink and Dijana Mazumdar each earn two wins.

Source: NMSU Athletics (Photo: Courtesy)

NM State began the season on the right foot as they battled its way to a commanding 138-104 victory over North Texas on Friday afternoon at the NM State Swimming and Diving Complex. This marks the third consecutive win over the Mean Green and improves the Aggies’ record against North Texas to 7-3 across the last 10 dual meets.

Despite North Texas earning a sweep of the podium in the 3-meter dive, the Aggies still came away with three points as Addison Pastiak (220.80 points) and Mira Tinani (219.45 points) landed in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

NM State was then able to get itself going – claiming nine of the ensuing 15 podium finishes. In the first swim event of the day, NM State’s A relay squad of Thea Masselink, Kodi Wiman, Faye McDonagh and Dijana Mazumday picked up a second-place finish with a time of 3:51.74.

Kate Rink and Estel Galo then went 1-2 in the 1000 free as the closest Mean Green competitor was over 20 seconds behind Galo. Rink ultimately came away with the win with a time of 10:28.13 while Galo logged a second-place finish with a time of 10:47.77.

The top spot in the 200 free also belonged to an Aggie as junior Naomi Slee earned a narrow victory with a time of 1:54.05 – just six tenths of a second faster than UNT’s Indra Vandenbussche who came in second.

Freshman Dijana Mazumday then collected her first collegiate win as she turned in the fastest time in the 50 free – reaching the wall at 23.67. Additionally, Kathryn Gyde secured third place in the event with a time of 24.36.

The Aggies continued to keep their foot on the gas in the following event as Riley Crespo’s time of 4:36.40 was good for first place 400 IM n the 40while Kodi Wiman tallied second with a time of 4:39.09.

NM State then earned its first podium finish of the season in a diving event as freshman Peytton Moore turned in a score of 240.08 to finish third from the 1-meter springboard.

The number one position in the 200 fly belonged to North Texas, however, Estel Galo (2:07.85) and Ellen Osthelder (2:11.05) helped the Aggies hold their own as they finished second and third, respectively.

Dijana Mazumdar continued her impressive debut as she picked up her second win by recording a first-place finish in the 100 free with a time of 51.77.

Thea Masselink then submitted a strong showing in the 200 back – collecting a first-place finish with a time of 2:06.28 to earn nine points for the home side.

As they did in the 1000 free and 400 IM, the Aggies swam to first and second place finishes in the 500 free as Katie Rink claimed her second win of the day with a time of 5:03.81 and Naomi Slee followed closely behind with a time of 5:06.15.

Kodi Wiman kept things rolling with a win in the 200 breast as she reached the wall at 2:20.79 to finish nearly two seconds ahead of the field.

Lastly, the Aggies’ A relay team claimed second in the 400 free relay to conclude the meet. The team consisted of Katie Rink, Naomi Slee, Caroline Constantini and anchor Kira Brownell.

QUOTABLE | HEAD COACH RICK PRATT
“Today was a great step for our team and I’m really proud of the level of intensity we had in our efforts – we raced very tough. UNT put up some great relays and we had to fight for every win. This meet is going to motivate our group moving forward and while we still have much work to do, this team has much potential to be great.”

UP NEXT
The Aggies will have a few weeks off before they travel to Golden, Colo., where they will take on Colorado School of Mines on Friday, Oct. 24, before venturing to Greeley, Colo., the following day for a battle with WAC foe Northern Colorado.

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Levi Gwaltney

Levi Gwaltney is the Editor In Chief of Las Cruces Digest. The Editor makes editorial and posting decisions regarding content published on this site. In most cases, the Editor makes little if any contribution to content published, and takes no credit for the content of republished posts. If available, the source or author of posts is provided at the top of the article.