Dear Aggie Nation,

This is Director of Athletics Mario Moccia writing to you as summer approaches and we turn the page on another academic year.

What a terrific year it has been at NM State. Our teams are excelling at a high level and we continue to do more with less, which fits the blue-collar community our university resides in. We won WAC championships in men's & women's basketball, baseball, women's tennis, women's golf and volleyball on top of our football team defeating I-10 rival UTEP for the second-straight year.

We will continue to push forward to make the best fans in the country, Aggie Nation, proud of their players and programs.

As much attention as the on-the-field success gets, we do not highlight enough what our student-athletes do off the field and in the classroom. Coupling Division I athletics with a world-class higher education institution is an advantage here at NM State, and it is time we shine a light on the amazing work our Aggies are doing outside the field of competition.

Click on the button below for future updates from myself because before you know it, the fall 2019 sports season will be underway!

Let's do this Aggie Nation!
May Commencement is the Perfect Time to Reflect on NM State Scholarships, Championships & Service
May 11 was the culmination of years of hard work, determination and perseverance for some New Mexico State University student-athletes. Numerous student-athletes were able to walk across the Pan American Center stage in front of friends and family to receive their undergraduate degree.

After over 10 months of competition on the field for NM State athletics, commencement marked the end of another successful year and signaled in the beginning stages of preparation for the 2019-20 school year.
Men's Basketball and Both Tennis Programs Secure Perfect APR Scores;
NM State Football Posts Highest APR Score in Program History
A trio of teams from the New Mexico State Athletics Department posted a perfect single-year Academic Progress Rate according to the NCAA for the 2017-18 academic year.

The APR score of a program is perhaps the most prominent of academic assessments in college athletics. It provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention, graduation and provides a measure of each team's academic performance.

The three teams that earned perfect scores of 1,000 at NM State include men's basketball, men's tennis and women's tennis. This is the eighth-straight year women's tennis has secured a perfect single-year APR score.

The men's team has posted a perfect score in three-consecutive years and have achieved the feat five times overall.

Meanwhile, this is the second time in program history the men's basketball team has had a perfect single-year APR score – the other was for the 2015-16 academic year.
Martin Continues Building NM State Football Program the Right Way
It was not long ago that Doug Martin inherited a football program with just 62 scholarship players and a practice reduction penalty due to the football program not meeting the required 930 APR score minimum. Slowly and through recruiting high-character players, the Aggies posted the highest APR score in program history, putting up a 956 during 2017-18 (keep in mind the APR scores assigned to each NCAA program lag by one academic year).

The APR score has improved in each year that Martin has been the head man at NM State.
Numerous Aggies Make All-WAC Academic
Swimming & Diving and Indoor Track & Field Dominate Academic Honors
Thirty-one NM State student-athletes made the winter 2018-19 All-WAC academic team, all hailing from the swimming & diving and indoor track & field teams.

Not only did a majority of NM State's track & field make the All-WAC academic team, they were able to finish second in the WAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Swimming & Diving finished second in the conference championships as well and head coach Rich Pratt was named WAC Coach of the Year.
Indoor Track and Field

Crissey Amberg, Gr.
Jessica Dominguez, So.
Kayli Farmer, Sr.
Corinne Hanson, Sr.
Camira Haughton, Sr.
Kelli Kirkpatrick, Sr.
Elana Kresl, Jr.
Taniya Mitchell, Sr.
Yemisi Oroyinyin, Sr.
Nicollette Pacheco, Sr.
Stephanie Quintero, Sr.
Michaela Romero, Jr.
Leah Salazar, Jr.
Hannah Smith, Sr.
Brooke Wallace, Jr.
Julia Yescas, Sr.
Swimming and Diving

Lilly Araujo, Sr.
Olivia Bender, So.
Lilia De Oliveira Pelaez, Jr.
Katherine Harston, So.
MacKinna Hauff, Sr.
Barbora Krizanova, Sr.
Rachel Langone, Sr.
Grace Laporte, Sr.
Lanie McAlpin, Sr.
Hanna McGowan, Sr.
Lindsey Muiznieks, Jr.
Reagan Nentwich, Jr.
Ashley Reynolds, Jr.
Makena Sutherland, Jr.
Sina Wegel, Jr.
3.0 GPA Achievement Night
More Than Just Athletes
In one of the more special nights during the men's basketball season, we hosted our annual 3.0 Achievement Night, in which each student-athlete that holds at least a 3.0 GPA is honored at halftime. In a game which our men's basketball team beat Texas A&M International 80-42, 246 student-athletes in total were honored.
NM State Baseball Walks to Defeat ALS
NM State Baseball participated in helping a former alumnus who once stood in their shoes raise awareness for ALS.

On the morning of May 4 and just hours before hosting UT Rio Grande Valley in the second game of a pivotal three-game conference series, the team went to Sisbarro Park and spent time at the event with Todd Watkins, a former walk-on for the program and New Mexico native who is now suffering from the disease.
With every program that we have, once you become a part of the Aggie Family, you share that bond well after you leave the campus of New Mexico State University.

Todd Watkins may have rekindled his love affair with Aggie Baseball with his visit back home, but that pales in comparison to the impact spending time with him had for our players, coaches and administrators.

As current Aggie pitcher Brock Whittlesey said best,"Being that he's (Watkins) alumni and played baseball he's always going to be a member of the New Mexico State baseball team. Once you come to NMSU, you're part of the family. You're part of the culture."
Again, thank you for your incredible support over the 2018-2019 academic year! Without your support, our student-athletes' accomplishments - both this year and in the future - would not be possible. We will be in touch soon with more updates on our student-athletes' achievements in the classroom and in our community. AggieUp!
NM State Athletics | www.nmstatesports.com