GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. – Sam Bryant won the 1,650 free to lead the Colorado Mesa University men's swimming and diving team to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Title Saturday (Feb. 11).
Colorado Mesa won the team title with 987.5 points over California Baptist who finished second with 955 points. The RMAC title is the second for CMU who won its first back in 2014.
Head coach
Geoff Hanson was named the RMAC Men's Coach of the Year.
Sam Bryant won the 1,650 in an RMAC and pool record time of 15:36.68. Bryant was named the RMAC Swimmer of the Meet and RMAC Swimmer of the Year after winning four events (500 free, 1,000 free, 1,650 free and 400 individual medley) at this year's championships. He has won eight individual RMAC titles in his career and has not lost an RMAC individual final in his career.
Mary Saiz repeated as the RMAC Champion in the 200 back in a time of 2:00.78.
Cassie Blakeman, who was named the RMAC Diver of the Year, finished second on the three-meter with a score of 451.15.
CMU broke the school record in both the women's and men's 400 free relays.
Marissa Bradley, Madelaine McClaine, Sam White and Mary Saiz finished second in 3:28.11, breaking the previous record by over three seconds.
The men's relay of Noah Beaver, Morgan Bean, Sky Hirsch and Sam Bryant finished third in 3:00.05.
Brittany Dixon placed fourth (424.90), and Kelsey Vreeman was fifth (408.40) on the three-meter.
Katelin Staab swam a strong second half to finish second in the women's 1,650 free in a time of 17:40.17.
Marissa Bradley broke the school record in the 100 free to finish sixth in a time of 52.19.
Eric Berg battled back to finish second in the 200 back (1:49.96), and Ryan Gifford placed second in the 200 breast (2:01.64).
Miranda Reetz and Sam White finished third (2:20.44) and sixth (2:21.27) in the 200 breast, and Josh Bedford was fourth in the men's (2:02.02).
In the 1,650 free, Landon Ellis was fourth (16:13.81) and Aidan Mercer finished seventh (16:24.55). Kat Gerstmar finished fifth in the women's in a time of 17:58.65.
Sky Hirsch placed fourth in the men's 100 free (44.97).
Ethan McNally finished fifth (1:52.02), and Daniel Lawley was eighth (1:53.39) in the 200 back (1:53.39).
California Baptist won the women's title with 1,067 points. Colorado Mesa was second with 796.
Colorado Mesa will compete at the NCAA Div. II Swimming and Diving Championships in Birmingham, Ala. March 11-14.
