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Category Archives: Athletics

Lobo Softball Spearheads Donation Drive to Help Oklahoma Tornado Victims

May 21, 2013 | By UCAM

As news reports and updates came out of cen­tral Okla­homa on Mon­day night fol­low­ing the deadly May 20 tor­nado that struck Moore, Okla., and sur­round­ing areas of Okla­homa City, Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico head soft­ball coach Erica Beach felt com­pelled to do something.

“Part of being a Lobo is being will­ing to help oth­ers, whether it’s in your own com­mu­nity or some­where else that needs help,” Beach said. “For us, it’s about doing the right thing and using the resources we have avail­able to help a com­mu­nity that is des­per­ately in need.”

In a mat­ter of hours, she was in touch with other mem­bers of Lobo ath­let­ics staff and for­mer student-athletes for­mu­lat­ing a plan to help.

Beach and assis­tant Lobo soft­ball coach Lyn­d­sey Angus, along with the entire Lobo Ath­letic Depart­ment, are col­lect­ing items Wednes­day, May 22-Thursday, May 30. Beach and for­mer Lobo foot­ball player, Derek Wat­son, will haul all donated items to Okla­homa City next Fri­day, May 31.

Lobo Field is south of The Pit and can be accessed by turn­ing west onto Sun­shine Ter­race SE off Uni­ver­sity Boulevard.

Wat­son was a mem­ber of the Lobo foot­ball team from 2001-03 and played along­side Jon Oliver (1999–01) and Kyle Coul­ter (2001–04), who cur­rently reside in the Okla­homa City area.

The news of Monday’s tor­nado prompted Wat­son to check in with his for­mer team­mates and friends.

“I heard from both Jon and Kyle,” Wat­son said. “Both of their fam­i­lies are okay. Kyle jumped right in with res­cue efforts, help­ing at both of the ele­men­tary schools — Bri­ar­wood and Plaza Tow­ers. He will be our point of con­tact as far as the needs of vic­tims in the area and then, once we get there next week, he’ll help direct us to shel­ters and relief dis­tri­b­u­tion centers.”

Coul­ter lives in For­est Park, Okla., about 14 miles north­east of Moore. He is a vol­un­teer fire­fighter with the For­est Park Fire Depart­ment and arrived to the affected area within a cou­ple of hours of the tor­nado hitting.

“It’s just dev­as­ta­tion,” Coul­ter said. “It looks like a war-torn area. Parts of the town are just com­pletely dec­i­mated and there is noth­ing left but rub­ble. The only way you can tell there was any­thing there is there’s a dri­ve­way left. It’s just devastation.”

Coul­ter says peo­ple are pick­ing up what they can find — some only a small bag full of clothes or other items — and then walk­ing to find shel­ter either set up by relief orga­ni­za­tions, or with friends or fam­ily in the area. He said nobody in the area had power or water as of Tues­day morn­ing, but peo­ple were get­ting access to water and food that was brought in.

“When we arrived Mon­day night there were already peo­ple com­ing in from all over the state, other emer­gency response teams, bring­ing water and sup­plies and com­ing ready to help,” Coul­ter said. “The local Home Depot stayed open all night and gave us what­ever we needed as first responders…from chain saws and gloves and eye pro­tec­tion to any­thing else, just right off the shelves.”

The list of needs for the area is as basic as bottled/sealed water and food, to dia­pers, wipes, baby for­mula, toi­letries and “fam­ily stuff,” mean­ing toys, blan­kets, pil­lows, dog and cat food, etc.

“There was a water treat­ment plant that was affected, so water is going to be scarce and we’re going to make a huge push to bring as much water as pos­si­ble when we travel out there next week,” Beach said. “We’re accept­ing dona­tions of cloth­ing and toi­letries as well as blan­kets, toys and games and really any­thing. There are peo­ple that have lost prob­a­bly every­thing in this storm and we have to try to help them put some of the pieces back together.

“We need help from the entire Lobo com­mu­nity on this and if we all do a lit­tle part then it’s going to make a huge difference.”

The Asso­ci­ated Press reported on Mon­day evening that the Draper Water Treat­ment Plant in Okla­homa City was knocked offline as a result of the storm. Res­i­dents and busi­nesses in south­east Okla­homa City were encour­aged to stop using water until fur­ther notice.

Media con­tact: Chelsea Ein­er­wold (218) 296.2845; email: ceinerwo@unm.edu

Posted in Athletics, Campus Community, Events, University News | |

UNM Alumni Association Presents Hands-On Introduction to Spring Football Training

April 19, 2013 | By Steve Carr

Head Lobo foot­ball coach Bob Davie and his staff will present “Behind the Ball at Spring Train­ing: Lobo Foot­ball,” an in-depth look at how the Lobos pre­pare for foot­ball sea­son, on April 25, 2013, at 5:30 p.m. This is the fourth Lobo Liv­ing Room event spon­sored by the UNM Alumni Association.

In “Behind the Ball,” UNM alumni and friends will see first­hand how Coach Davie pre­pares Lobos for the spring foot­ball sea­son. Through a facil­i­ties tour of the L.F. “Tow” Diehm Ath­let­ics Facil­ity; weight room, aca­d­e­mic, and travel pre­sen­ta­tions; and a video of Lobo foot­ball high­lights, par­tic­i­pants will learn what it takes to pre­pare for a win­ning sea­son. Coach Davie will also talk about his out­look for the 2013 sea­son. A recep­tion will fol­low in the End Zone Club.

This event is free and open to the pub­lic, but space is lim­ited. RSVP by Wednes­day, April 24 at Lobo Liv­ing Room or by call­ing (505) 277‑5808.

The Lobo Liv­ing Room is a series fea­tur­ing notable alumni speak­ing, demon­strat­ing, or per­form­ing in their areas of exper­tise. Alumni cover a vari­ety of news­wor­thy, pop­u­lar, and his­tor­i­cally sig­nif­i­cant topics.

Posted in Athletics, Events | |

Title IX Hosts Panel Discussion on Women’s Roles in Sports

April 15, 2013 | By Mara Kerkez

Title IX hosts for­mer UNM bas­ket­ball great Michael Cooper and cur­rent women’s bas­ket­ball player Ebony Walker among a panel of seven in a dis­cus­sion about women’s roles in sports Fri­day, April 19 from 1:30–3:30 p.m. in the Eth­nic Cen­ters court­yard out­side Mesa Vista Hall.

The event, “An Unleveled Play­ing Field?,” also includes Alfred Math­ew­son, act­ing direc­tor of Africana Stud­ies; Tam­ica Smith, direc­tor of ath­let­ics at Clark Atlanta Uni­ver­sity; Breda Bova, chief of staff to Dr. Frank and fac­ulty rep­re­sen­ta­tive to the NCAA; and Sonia Gibson-Rankin, asso­ciate dean of Uni­ver­sity Col­lege and panel facilitator.

Title IX is a Fed­eral law passed in 1972 that requires gen­der equity for boys and girls in every edu­ca­tional pro­gram that receives fed­eral fund­ing. While most who know about the law think it applies only to sports, ath­let­ics is only one of ten key areas addressed by the law, which include access to higher edu­ca­tion, career edu­ca­tion, edu­ca­tion for preg­nant and par­ent­ing stu­dents, employ­ment, learn­ing envi­ron­ment, math and sci­ence, sex­ual harass­ment and stan­dard­ized test­ing and technology.

The event is free and open to the pub­lic. For more infor­ma­tion, email wcarrea@unm.edu or call (505) 277‑5645.

Posted in Athletics, Events | |

Birmingham, Baseball Team Honored in the NM Senate

February 7, 2013 | By Carolyn Gonzales

Ray Birm­ing­ham

Yes­ter­day was New Mex­ico Grads and New Par­ents Day at the Round­house. In the Sen­ate, a cer­tifi­cate hon­or­ing the UNM base­ball team and its coach, Ray Birm­ing­ham, was read. The team has achieved many suc­cesses includ­ing con­fer­ence cham­pi­onships and is has been nation­ally ranked over the past five years.

Coach Birm­ing­ham, a native of Hobbs, spoke proudly of the young men on his teams and of the state he rep­re­sents. He said, “New Mex­ico is a big deal to me, it’s where I was born and raised. I’ve coached young men from every com­mu­nity in the state, they won’t let you down.”

He went on to relay a con­ver­sa­tion he had with a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of South­west Air­lines who reported to him that the UNM base­ball team is known across the South­west to be out­stand­ing guys. They carry them­selves very well in air­ports, help­ing the elderly and sin­gle women with kids. Coach Birm­ing­ham con­cluded, “They are stand-up guys. They rep­re­sent New Mex­ico. Ninety per­cent of them are on the honor roll and the other ten per­cent are work­ing on it.”

Karen James, of First Church of Christ Sci­en­tists in Santa Fe gave the open­ing prayer for the Sen­ate. She wit­nessed the “out­stand­ing trib­ute” Birm­ing­ham and the team received.

She wrote, “Those beau­ti­ful young men are set­ting such a good exam­ple of sports­man­ship, ser­vice, schol­ar­ship and character…You are to be thanked for your influ­ence beyond coach­ing a sport to teach­ing about life, to demand­ing excel­lence in all areas of endeavor. Good for you, your stu­dents, UNM, and as was empha­sized yes­ter­day, our whole state.”

Posted in Athletics, University News | |

UNM Alumni Association and Young Alumni Organize Nationwide Basketball Watch Parties

February 7, 2013 | By Steve Carr

The UNM Alumni Asso­ci­a­tion and the Young Alumni Chap­ter are orga­niz­ing “Lobos Coast to Coast,” watch par­ties to sup­port the Lobos men’s bas­ket­ball team when it plays UNLV on Sat­ur­day, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. MST.

Alumni chap­ters around the coun­try and in five New Mex­ico loca­tions will gather to watch the game live on the NBC Sports Net­work to show coast to coast sup­port for Lobo Basketball.

In New Mex­ico, the watch par­ties are as fol­lows:
• Albu­querque, Down­town: Tip-off 7 p.m., Effex Lounge, 420 Cen­tral Ave. SW, Albu­querque, NM 87102. Con­tact: Jonathan Paiz.
• Albu­querque, East­side: Tip-off 7 p.m., Fox and Hound, 4301 The Lane @ I-25, Albu­querque, NM 87109, (505) 344‑9430. Con­tact: Ryan Lindquist.
• Albu­querque, West­side: Tip-off 7 p.m., Elliot’s Bar and Grill, 10200 Cor­rales Rd. NW, Albu­querque, NM 87114. Con­tact: Mike Green.
• Los Alamos: Tip-off 7 p.m., Pajar­ito Brew­pub and Grill, 614 Trin­ity Dr., Los Alamos, NM, (505) 662‑8877. Con­tact: Tyler McCormick.
• Santa Fe: Tip-off 7 p.m., Mar­ble Brew­ery, 360 East San Fran­cisco St., 505–989-3565. Con­tact: Jon Gayer, Young Alumni Chap­ter President.

To down­load infor­ma­tional fliers on the above Lobos Coast to Coast events and party watch details in other states, visit Lobos Coast to Coast.

Posted in Athletics, Events | |

Banners in The Pit to Add Protection

December 18, 2012 | By Steve Carr

New ban­ners are going up inside at The Pit, but these do more than show school spirit. They are designed as an extra mea­sure of pro­tec­tion while con­trac­tors shore up a post-construction concern.

Since the recent remodel of the Uni­ver­sity of New Mexico’s bas­ket­ball arena, sev­eral tiles in the stone façades have dis­lodged and fallen. Because safety is of para­mount impor­tance, the Uni­ver­sity ini­tially put up pro­tec­tive bar­ri­ers to avoid any pos­si­bil­ity of an acci­dent or injury until a per­ma­nent solu­tion could be reached.

Work began this week on the instal­la­tion of the ban­ners inside the Pit. In addi­tion to pro­vid­ing some extra dec­o­ra­tion, the ban­ners will also func­tion as pro­tec­tive nets that would catch any tile that might fall.

“These new ban­ners will serve as an extra pro­tec­tion, and will pro­vide a dual safety mea­sure while adding a touch of cherry and sil­ver in sup­port of the Lobo bas­ket­ball team’s out­stand­ing start to this sea­son,” said Uni­ver­sity Archi­tect Robert Doran. “They will remain in place as an extra level of pro­tec­tion until a per­ma­nent solu­tion is found.”

Of the more than 30,000 square tiles that make up the stone façades inside and out­side the Pit, 26 have come loose and fallen within the past year. The 8-inch by 8-inch tiles have tum­bled at ran­dom times with 12 com­ing down inside and 14 from the out­side walls. Tests to deter­mine the cause are so far inconclusive.

“This is not a struc­tural issue, it is a façade issue,” explained Doran. “The project archi­tects and engi­neers as well as the con­struc­tion man­ager have been work­ing with the Uni­ver­sity from the begin­ning to insure safety and resolve the issue as soon as possible.”

Reg­u­lar updates will be pro­vided as the con­di­tion warrants.

Media Con­tacts: Dianne Ander­son (505) 379‑9105; email: danderson@unm.edu or Steve Carr, (505) 702‑7720; email: scarr@unm.edu

Posted in Athletics, University News | |

UNM Announces 2011-12 Diehm/Self Award Winners

December 6, 2012 | By UCAM

Jael Clark and Chris Acosta.

The win­ner of the L.F. “Tow” Diehm Inspi­ra­tional Award for 2011-12 is Chris Acosta (men’s ski­ing), while Jael Clark (the for­mer Jael Fan­ning, women’s soc­cer) is the recip­i­ent of the Leslie Self Inspi­ra­tional Award.

Started in 1997–98, this is the 15th year the awards have been pre­sented to a UNM male and female student-athlete based on lead­er­ship, char­ac­ter, deter­mi­na­tion and com­mit­ment to team.

This year’s recip­i­ents will be rec­og­nized at an upcom­ing men’s bas­ket­ball game.

A native of Ash­land, Wis., Chris Acosta over­came per­sonal tragedy to become a three-time All-American down­hill skier for the Lobos.

In the sum­mer of 2010, Acosta and his clos­est friend, Spencer Nel­son, a mem­ber of the Uni­ver­sity of Col­orado Alpine ski team, were hik­ing near Aspen, Colo. Nel­son was struck by a falling rock and fell to his death as Acosta and other friends looked on.

A for­mer walk-on, Acosta is now a senior at UNM and cap­tain of the men’s Alpine team. He has earned All-America hon­ors each of the past three sea­sons in the giant slalom and slalom, includ­ing a third-place fin­ish at the 2012 NCAA Championships.

Jael Clark (Albu­querque / La Cueva HS), the for­mer Jael Fan­ning, logged phe­nom­e­nal achieve­ments — on and off the soc­cer pitch — dur­ing her time at UNM.

Clark was a four-year let­ter­win­ner (2008–11) who played in 80 career matches for head coach Kit Vela, lead­ing the Lobos to Moun­tain West cham­pi­onships in 2010 and 2011, and their first appear­ances in the NCAA Col­lege Cup.

Clark was a four-time recip­i­ent of the Moun­tain West aca­d­e­mic all-conference award and a three-time MW Scholar-Athlete award win­ner. She grad­u­ated from UNM in May with a degree in Nutri­tion and a sparkling 4.08 cumu­la­tive grade-point-average.

Clark logged more than 300 hours of com­mu­nity ser­vice while at UNM, includ­ing Toys for Tots, UNICEF, Spe­cial Olympics, Race for the Cure for breast can­cer, col­lect­ing shoes for vic­tims of the Haiti earth­quake and pro­vid­ing phys­i­cal ther­apy at sev­eral hos­pi­tals and clin­ics locally.

Clark was awarded an NCAA post­grad­u­ate schol­ar­ship ear­lier this year. She is cur­rently in grad­u­ate school at UNM, study­ing Phys­i­cal Ther­apy. She mar­ried for­mer UNM hur­dler Chad Clark in July.

About Tow Diehm
L.F. “Tow” Diehm served the Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico for 40 years, most of that time spent as the head ath­let­ics trainer. He was also an ath­let­ics admin­is­tra­tor and a lob­by­ist for the depart­ment to the New Mex­ico state leg­is­la­ture. Tow passed away on May 1, 1998.

About Leslie Self
Leslie Self was the wife of Randy Self, who is the for­mer Pres­i­dent of the Lobo Club. Leslie also passed away in 1998 after a long bat­tle with cancer.

Pre­vi­ous Award Win­ners
Tow Diehm Award
1997–98 Pepe Caballero — ten­nis
1998–99 Mar­cos White — bas­ket­ball
1999–00 Daniel Reyes — foot­ball
2000-01 Brian Smith — bas­ket­ball
2001-02 Jar­rod Bax­ter — foot­ball
2002-03 Dusty Young — base­ball
2003-04 Divan Coet­zee — ten­nis
2004-05 Nick Spee­gle — foot­ball
2005-06 Chris Carl­son — base­ball; Lars Los­eth — skiing/soccer
2006-07 Robb Bier­baum — golf
2007-08 Jeremy John­son — cross country/track and field; John Sul­li­van — foot­ball
2008-09 Johnny Parkes — ten­nis
2009-10 Simon Ejde­myr — soc­cer; Roman Mar­tinez — bas­ket­ball
2010-11 Tor-Hakon Helle­bostad – ski­ing
2011-12 Chris Acosta — skiing

Leslie Self Award
1997–98 Tamika Stukes — bas­ket­ball
1998–99 Aimee Hites — ten­nis
1999–00 Nikki Heck­roth — bas­ket­ball
2000-01 Quinn Michie — swim­ming
2001-02 Kristi Larsen — golf
2002-03 Jen­nifer Delich — ski­ing
2003-04 Amanda Barnes — track and field; Cassie Chavez — soft­ball; Nicole Overeem — swim­ming
2004-05 Kris­ten Win­ters — soc­cer
2005-06 Maja Kovacek — ten­nis
2006-07 Ter­ryn Grana­dos — soc­cer; Jen Hale — swim­ming
2007-08 Katie Coro­n­ado — track and field; Tori Clar­ridge — swim­ming
2008-09 Sarah Kwasi­groch — vol­ley­ball
2009-10 Polina Ermoshina — ski­ing; Nanette Wit­ten­berg — swim­ming
2010-11 Kelly Williamson – vol­ley­ball
2011-12 Jael Clark — soccer

Posted in Athletics, University News | |

UNM Alumni Letterman’s Association to Induct Five Newcomers

October 11, 2012 | By UCAM

The Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico Alumni Lettermen’s Asso­ci­a­tion has announced that five indi­vid­u­als: Jor­dan Adams (women’s bas­ket­ball), Van Hill (ten­nis), Rick Klatt (swim­ming, water polo), Kenny Thomas (men’s bas­ket­ball) and William Den­nard (Posthu­mous – foot­ball, track & field) will be inducted into the UNM Hall of Honor on Fri­day, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Albuquerque.

The Alumni Letterman’s Asso­ci­a­tion also announced its 2011-12 ath­letic depart­ment award win­ners includ­ing: Jeremy Fish­bein, men’s soc­cer, Coach of the Year; Jael Fan­ning, women’s soc­cer, Female Ath­lete of the Year; Mitchell Garver, base­ball and Kendall Spencer, track and field, were the Male Ath­letes of the Year. Dave Binder was announced as the win­ner of the Dis­tin­guished Ser­vice Award.

Tick­ets are $60 each or $600 for a table of 10. Call the UNM Alumni Lettermen’s Asso­ci­a­tion at (505) 925‑5905 to pur­chase tickets.

For more infor­ma­tion on the hon­orees, visit: UNM Hall of Honor.

Posted in Athletics, University News | |

Margaret and Turner Branch Donate $1.5 Million to Lobo Athletics to Name Field at University Stadium

July 31, 2012 | By Karen Wentworth

Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico Ath­let­ics and the Lobo Club have announced that Mar­garet and Turner Branch have con­tributed $1.5 mil­lion to Lobo Ath­let­ics for the nam­ing rights to the foot­ball field at Uni­ver­sity Sta­dium.  The field will now be called “Branch Field” and will honor these two Albu­querque attor­neys who are proud Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico alumni. The Branches have made numer­ous sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions in sup­port of UNM Ath­let­ics for more than 30 years.

This land­mark dona­tion is the sec­ond largest gift ever made to UNM Ath­let­ics by liv­ing indi­vid­u­als and counts toward the $75 mil­lion goal of the “Lobo Leap to Excel­lence” cap­i­tal cam­paign for Ath­let­ics, as well as the university-wide com­pre­hen­sive cam­paign,” Chang­ing Worlds: The Cam­paign for UNM.”  To show their appre­ci­a­tion, UNM Ath­let­ics and the Lobo Club will rec­og­nize the Branches dur­ing half­time of the season-opening foot­ball game on Sept. 1 when the Lobos play host to South­ern Uni­ver­sity at 3 p.m., MDT.

When fans arrive at Uni­ver­sity Sta­dium to kick off the 2012 sea­son, they will notice a brand new, state-of-the-art, syn­thetic field that was built with the sup­port of the New Mex­ico leg­is­la­ture and Gov­er­nor Susana Mar­tinez. The turf now will be embla­zoned with “Branch Field” on each half.  Field­Turf, the national leader in arti­fi­cial turf, has man­u­fac­tured and installed the sur­face in the sta­dium. The nam­ing rights for “Branch Field” are effec­tive for the next 15 years.

“The gen­er­ous sup­port of alumni such as Mar­garet and Turner Branch is key to the con­tin­ued suc­cess of this uni­ver­sity,” said UNM pres­i­dent, Dr. Robert Frank. “That kind of lead­er­ship is inspir­ing because it shows our cur­rent stu­dents that their pre­de­ces­sors appre­ci­ate the Lobo expe­ri­ence enough to make it even bet­ter for future generations.”

Turner Branch is a 1960 grad­u­ate of the Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico, where he served as pres­i­dent of the stu­dent body. He was a mem­ber of Phi Sigma Alpha, the Polit­i­cal Sci­ence Hon­ors Soci­ety, an active mem­ber in Chaaka, and was pres­i­dent of his social fra­ter­nity, Pi Kappa Alpha – where he con­tin­ues to be an active and sup­port­ive alum­nus. He grad­u­ated from Bay­lor Law School, where he was edi­tor of the Bay­lor Law Review and received the T.R. McDon­ald Award as the out­stand­ing law stu­dent in 1969.

His wife, Mar­garet, received her under­grad­u­ate degree from the Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico with hon­ors in 1975.  Mrs. Branch was stu­dent body pres­i­dent, was an active mem­ber of the Chi Omega soror­ity, which she is still active in today as an alum­nus, and par­tic­i­pated on the UNM golf team.  Mar­garet received her law degree in 1978 from the Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico School of Law.

Together, they own and oper­ate the Branch Law Firm – which Turner estab­lished in 1966.

“We are thrilled to honor Mar­garet and Turner Branch with the nam­ing rights to our foot­ball field,” said UNM Vice Pres­i­dent for Ath­let­ics Paul Krebs. “I can’t think of a bet­ter cou­ple to have their name indeli­bly asso­ci­ated with Lobo Foot­ball than the Branches.”

The Branches’ dona­tion is vital to the task first-year coach Bob Davie has under­taken in build­ing a foun­da­tion for the Lobo foot­ball program.

“It is a tremen­dous honor to have the Branch name on our foot­ball field,” Davie said. “I have been for­tu­nate enough to spend a lot of time with Mar­garet and Turner Branch and have a deep appre­ci­a­tion for all that they stand for. We hope to show our appre­ci­a­tion of their gen­eros­ity by putting a prod­uct on the field that they and all of New Mex­ico can be proud of.”

The nam­ing rights are sub­ject to the approval of the full UNM Board of Regents.

Media con­tacts: Dianne Ander­son, UNM (505) 277‑1807; email: danderson@unm.edu; Greg Archuleta, Lobo Ath­let­ics (505) 925‑5520; email: garchsr@unm.edu; or Wendy Anto­nio, UNM Foun­da­tion (505) 277‑9520; email: wendy.antionio@unmfund.org

Posted in Administration, Athletics, University News | |

UNM Athletics Sets All-Time GPA High with 3.21 During Spring Semester

June 19, 2012 | By Steve Carr

The Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico ath­let­ics depart­ment can boast plenty of great achieve­ments for the 2011-12 sea­son includ­ing 10 con­fer­ence cham­pi­onships, four Aca­d­e­mic All-Americans, 11 con­fer­ence Play­ers of the Year, five con­fer­ence Coaches of the Year, and 15 of 21 sports advanc­ing to NCAA post­sea­son play. UNM can also still fin­ish in the top-50 in the Learfield Sports Director’s Cup and could tally a poten­tial school record point total in the Learfield Cup.

Now, UNM can add the prover­bial aca­d­e­mic feather to its cap, as the student-athletes at UNM have set a school record with a cumu­la­tive grade point aver­age of 3.21 for the spring semes­ter, fol­low­ing a 3.13 accrued in the fall. In addi­tion, six pro­grams: men’s ski­ing, men’s ten­nis, women’s soc­cer, soft­ball, women’s swim­ming & div­ing, and women’s track & field/cross coun­try all set a pro­gram record for semes­ter GPA for either the fall or the spring.

The 3.21 cumu­la­tive grade point aver­age for the 2012 spring semes­ter bet­tered the pre­vi­ous record of 3.15, set in the spring of 2010. Men’s ski­ing led the way with a 3.77 grade point aver­age in the spring semes­ter, which set a pro­gram sin­gle semes­ter GPA record, and it tied the uni­ver­sity record with women’s ski­ing, which had a 3.77 in the fall of 2009.

Along with the school record 3.47 cumu­la­tive GPA for the depart­ment, each gen­der set a record as well. On the women’s side, the Lobo female student-athletes had a 3.47 grade point aver­age this spring, which bet­tered the 3.45 in the fall of 2010. It marked the fourth straight semes­ter that UNM’s female student-athletes have gar­nered a cumu­la­tive GPA of 3.40 or bet­ter, and it’s the 10th straight semes­ter of a 3.30 or bet­ter. UNM’s female student-athletes have now had a cumu­la­tive GPA of 3.0 or bet­ter for 28 straight semesters.

On the men’s side, the student-athletes earned a school record 3.01 for the spring semes­ter, the first time in school his­tory over a 3.0. The pre­vi­ous best was a 2.98 in the spring of 2010.

“I’m extremely proud of the hard work and the ded­i­ca­tion that our student-athletes have to their aca­d­e­mic pur­suits,” said Vice Pres­i­dent for Ath­let­ics Paul Krebs. “To have the suc­cesses that we have had on the field, and to match those with the suc­cesses in the class­room speaks to the types of peo­ple our coaches are recruit­ing. It also show­cases the hard work of Asst. A.D. for Aca­d­e­mics Henry Vil­le­gas and his staff and the sup­port we receive from around the University.”

Vil­le­gas feels that UNM’s student-athletes have the com­mit­ment to suc­ceed, on the play­ing field and in the classroom.

“I think this is a trib­ute to our student-athletes and the tremen­dous amount of time and com­mit­ment they ded­i­cate to their stud­ies while bal­anc­ing all that is expected of them as Divi­sion I student-athletes,” said Villegas.

“These stu­dents have responded well to the chal­lenge by their coaches and advi­sors to be the best stu­dents they can be in addi­tion to excelling on the fields of com­pe­ti­tion. I can­not say enough about our ded­i­cated advise­ment staff in the Lobo Cen­ter for Student-Athlete Suc­cess, they go above and beyond their duties at every oppor­tu­nity to sup­port our student-athletes,” he added.

The Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico Aca­d­e­mic Suc­cess Cen­ter was con­structed in 2007, and it houses the aca­d­e­mic sup­port staff for Lobo Ath­let­ics. Along with offices for aca­d­e­mic advi­sors and tutors, there are two com­plete com­puter labs, work sta­tions, meet­ing rooms, and class­rooms avail­able for student-athletes to have the best resources avail­able to them.

Aca­d­e­mic GPA High­lights per sport:
• Base­ball: Had a 3.06 grade point aver­age for the fall semes­ter, its best since fall, 2008. It also improved 0.61 from a year ago, the depart­ments’ best one-year improvement.

• Men’s Bas­ket­ball: Ran its string of con­sec­u­tive semes­ters with at least a 2.70 GPA to nine after a 2.72 in the spring.

• Foot­ball: Had a 2.66 grade point aver­age in Bob Davie’s first full semes­ter, the fourth-best improve­ment from fall to spring, and a .42 improve­ment from fall of 2010.

• Men’s Golf: Ran its string of con­sec­u­tive semes­ters with at least a 3.30 GPA to seven after a 3.39 in the spring. The team now has 10 straight semes­ters with at least a 3.0 GPA.

• Men’s Ski­ing: Tied a school record with a 3.77. The squad has 41 straight semes­ters of at least a 3.0 GPA.

• Men’s Soc­cer: Had a 3.33 GPA in the spring, the best semes­ter GPA in 13 semes­ters, since the spring of 2005 (3.35)

• Men’s Ten­nis: Set a pro­gram record with a 3.67 grade point aver­age, top­ping the 3.52 from the spring of 2003.

• Men’s Track & Field/Cross Coun­try: Had a 3.14 spring GPA, the fifth time in six semes­ters with a GPA of 3.0 or better.

• Women’s Bas­ket­ball: Had a 3.43 spring GPA, the 22nd straight semes­ter with at least a 3.0 GPA or better.

• Women’s Golf: Had a 3.59 spring GPA, the sixth time in seven semes­ters with at least a 3.5 GPA, and the 21st straight semes­ter with at least a 3.0 GPA.

• Women’s Ski­ing: Had a 3.66 spring GPA, the 10th straight semes­ter with at least a 3.5 GPA. The pro­gram has had 42 straight semes­ters with at least a 3.0 GPA.

• Women’s Soc­cer: Set a pro­gram record with a 3.59 GPA in the spring semes­ter. The women’s soc­cer team has had 38 semes­ters of a 3.0 GPA or bet­ter, every semes­ter of the pro­grams’ existence.

• Soft­ball: Set a pro­gram record with a 3.36 GPA in the spring semes­ter. The pro­gram has had 12 straight semes­ters with at least a 3.0 GPA.

• Women’s Swim­ming & Div­ing: Set a pro­gram record with a 3.50 spring semes­ter GPA. The pro­gram has 35 straight semes­ters with at least a 3.0 GPA, and 13 straight with at least a 3.25 GPA.

• Women’s Ten­nis: Had a 3.47 fall GPA and a 3.43 spring GPA, 12 straight semes­ters with at least a 3.40 GPA, and 40 in a row with at least a 3.0 GPA.

• Women’s Track & Field/Cross Coun­try: Set a pro­gram record with a 3.48 fall GPA and nearly tied it with a 3.47 spring GPA. The pro­gram has 16 straight semes­ters of a 3.0 or better.

• Women’s Vol­ley­ball: Had a 3.12 GPA in the spring, giv­ing it 19 semes­ters of a GPA of at least 3.0 in the last 20.

Media con­tact: Frank Mer­cogliano, (505) 925‑5520; email: fmercog@unm.edu

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