GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Maverick swimming and diving teams will host many of their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals –present and future— for their first invitational of the season, starting Thursday morning in the El Pomar Natatorium. 
 
The 3-day A3 Performance/CMU Invitational will include eight women's and three men's teams, headlined by the host Maverick women, ranked 12th and the Maverick men, ranked 21st in the latest NCAA Division II College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America/TYR Top 25 Swimming & Diving Polls.
 
Action begins each day with 10 a.m. preliminary sessions.  Final-only sessions will commence at 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday evenings and 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
 
Joining the Mavericks in the eighth annual meet will be the Colorado School of Mines men and women and women's only teams from Adams State University, Colorado State University-Pueblo, Dixie State University, the University of Nebraska-Kearney and Western State Colorado University. Members of the CMU Club Swimming Team will also compete.  Nebraska-Kearney, a former full member of the RMAC, is an associate conference member in the sport of women's swimming.  Dixie State will join the RMAC as a full member next year but currently competes in the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference.
 
Although the RMAC's other two nationally-ranked programs (Cal Baptist, Oklahoma Baptist) will not be competing, the meet will be a mini RMAC-Championship of sorts and should be a good barometer of where the Mavericks in the middle of the season.  It has also been traditionally where the Mavericks start setting NCAA Championship qualifying times.
 
To this point of 2017-18, Maverick Head Coach Geoff Hanson's squads have competed only in dual-meet style events.  The Maverick women have racked up five convincing wins against their RMAC rivals, including a home-and-home sweep of Western State, a neutral-site win over Mines at the Air Force Duals and an away win at Adams State.

The Maverick men, who won last year's RMAC title, have not swum or dove competitively since Oct. 21 at the Air Force Duals, where they defeated Mines, 184-56, but did partake in an intra-squad scrimmage right before the Thanksgiving break in conjunction with the women's 197-65 home victory over Western.
 
The Maverick men have won the team crown in all but one of the previous seven years of the meet's history, eclipsing the 1,000 point mark six times as well.  They appear poised to do so again and have the top seed in 17 of the 22 men's events on the docket. 

Leading that list is Jacob Dexter, the top entrant in the 400-yard individual medley and both the distance freestyle (1000 and 1650) events.  Preseason All-RMAC pick Nico Tscherner is the top seed in both the 200 IM and 200 backstroke.
 
Hanson can also usually count on Preseason RMAC Swimmer of the Year Sam Bryant for big points as well.  Bryant has won individual events in each of the last two years of the meet, setting the 1650 free meet record of 15:48.82 in 2015 before winning the 400 IM last year.  He is entered in both those events as well as the 500 and 1000 free this year and could have some interesting intra-squad battles with Dexter and Torsten Rau in those.
 
Other storylines to watch include Sky Hirsch will be looking for his third straight 50 free title after setting the meet record of 20.75 seconds last year.  He also claimed the 100 free victory last year and will try to defend that title as well.
 
Chris Radomski, also a Preseason All-RMAC selection, will also be trying to defend his titles in both the 100 and 200 butterfly while Eric Berg will try do the same in the 200 backstroke.
 
Sage D'Ambrosia, who set a NCAA qualifying mark in the season-opening Intermountain Shootout, is expected to lead the Maverick men's divers.
 
The Maverick women, who have won four A3 Performance/CMU Invite crowns, also have the top entrant in 11 of the 22 events and will be looking to defend their 2016 team title, which they claimed with 996 points to easily out-pace runner-up Colorado Mines and the rest of that field, similar to this year's.
 
They then went on to take second at last year's RMAC Championships.
 
Reining RMAC Swimmer of the Week Danielle Jefferies is the top seed in three events (100 breast, 100 fly, 200 fly) while Isabelle Hansson is the top seed in both the 1000 and 1650 free.
 
Meanwhile, Grace Payton is the favorite in both backstroke events while RMAC Preseason Diver of the Year Kelsey Vreeman, who has already earned two RMAC Diver of the Week honors while qualifying for the national championships this season, is expected to highlight the diving competition.
 
Other women to watch include Western's Randi Yarnell, the meet record holder in the 50, 100 and 200 free as well as the 100 fly.  Mines' Mia Wood will also be looking to defend her 500 and 1000 free victories from last year.