Lobos Lead MW and the program’s top 187 research athletes – University of New Mexico Lobos Athletics

ALBUKVERKI, NM Eddie Nuez, director of athletics at the University of New Mexico, recently stated that we strive for excellence in everything we do, and the number of lobbies on the Mountain West list of researchers and athletes announced Thursday has provided further evidence of this norm.

For 10^th for the consecutive year, UNM led Mountain West in research athletes with a program record of 187. The 2020-21 academic year produced the largest number of UNM research athletes, and also marked the ninth straight year in which UNM had more than 100 honors. In addition, 187 was an increase of 59 student-athletes from last year and 10 more than the conference school’s second-highest total.

UNM had seven sports that formed program data for football, women’s golf, soccer, volleyball, swimming and diving, women’s athletics, and women’s tennis.

The MW Scholar-Athlete Award is one of the highest academic awards at the conference. To be eligible, student-athletes must have completed at least two semesters at a member institution, maintaining a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5, and have participated in a Mountain West-sponsored sport.

Three different programs led a conference of research athletes in women’s golf (10), football (24), and women’s tennis (eight), while conference-bound men’s tennis led six.

In addition, men’s golf and women’s athletics ranked second most among research athletes among conference teams with seven and 32 research athletes. Swimming and diving were tied to their sport’s second most research athletes with 20, and football ranked third with the most research athletes with the best program at 24, just behind the Boise State, which leads the two conferences. Football more than doubled the number of research athletes in 2019-2020.

Volleyball and baseball were also among the top three at the conference. Volleyball tied Wyoming’s third-highest-winning nine and baseball tied Nevada third-highest 11.

Sport-by-sport distribution (number of research athletes)
Baseball (11)
Football (24)
Men’s Basketball (1)
Men’s Cross Country Skiing (3)
Men’s Golf (7)
Men’s Tennis (6)
Men’s Athletics (11)
Soft ball (7)
Women’s Basketball (4)
Women’s Cross Country Skiing (10)
Women’s Golf (10)
Football (24)
Swimming and diving (20)
Women’s Tennis (8)
Women’s Athletics (32)
Volleyball (9)

Bold indicates a high level of conference