LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State swimming and diving team posted a  strong performance during day one at the Lancer Invitational in Riverside, Calif., on Friday afternoon. NM State sits in first place with 592 points, California Baptist (427) second, Fresno Pacific (230) third, Concordia (113) fourth, Azusa Pacific (84) fifth and Pamona-Pitzer (20) in sixth. 
 
"Today was great. We had several swims better than our last meet and despite being pretty tired we had great energy on deck and raced very hard," said head coach Rick Pratt. "It was nice having Alix Knagg and Moana Houde-Camirand back in the lineup and they had pretty solid swims today as well. Overall it was a great start and I'm excited to see what is to come tomorrow. Our divers were also very consistent today and had a strong showing. I'm expecting things to only get better tomorrow."
 
The meet started out with NM State squads placing second and third in the 200 Free relay. Neza Kocijan, Lauren Hemburrow, Airam Oliva-Aun and Anabel Ivanov finished second at 1:35.73. The relay of Olivia Bender, Sina Wegel, Barbora Krizanova and Grace Laporte touched third at 1:37.06.
 
In the 50 Fly, Reagan Nentwich took home a first place finish with a time of 24.71. Teammate Linsey Muiznieks touched second at 25.58 while Makena Sutherland (25.85), Airam Oliva-Aun (25.97), Katherine Harston (26.21) and Natalia Villa placed sixth, eighth, 10^th and 15^th respectively.
 
 Next, Ashley Reynolds (29.09) and Hanna McGowan (29.27) finished first and second respectively in the 50 Breast. Krizanova (30.30) finished third, Lauren Wood fourth (30.33) and Olivia Bender (31.01) 10^th.
 
The 500 Free saw Moana Houde-Camirand place second at 5:01.08 while Ivanov (5:04.23) and Laporte (5:05.82) touched fourth and fifth respectively. Then, in the 50 Back, Nentwich posted a second-place finish at 26.72 while Alix Knagg (29.19), Lanie McAlpin (27.72) and Kocijan (27.75) placed fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
 
In the next race, the 200 IM, Krizanova finished in second at 2:05.89 ssand Wood in third with a time of 2:05.92. McAlpin then placed fifth at 2:06.99, McGowan (2:09.47) seventh and Lauren Hemburrow (2:09.81) ninth.
 
The Aggies then picked up a first-place finish from Kocijan in the 50 Free with a time of 23.95. Sutherland joined her teammate on the podium with a second-place finish at 24.21. Ivanov placed sixth with a time of 24.33 while Oliva-Aun (24.53) touched eighth.
 
Next, the New Mexico State relay of team of Knagg, McGowan, Nentwich and Kocijan won the 400 Medley relay with a time of 3:346.56. The Aggies also got a second-place finish from Ivanov, Wood, Muiznieks and Laporte with a time of 3:54.18.
 
On the diving side, NM State divers competed in the 1m and 3m events. In the 1m, the Aggies swept the podium with MacKinna Hauff placing first at 254.75 with Raina Brommer (231.4) and Sheridan Decker (202.65) finishing second and third respectively. The 3m saw another strong showing from Hauff as she also won that event with a score of 249.9 while Brommer placed fourth at 193.1.
 
The New Mexico State swimming and diving team is back action tomorrow, Dec. 15, with the last two sessions of the Lancer Invitational. Session two runs from 9 a.m. (MT) to 12 p.m. with session three from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.