GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Coming off their best ever national finishes, the Colorado Mesa University men's and women's swimming and diving programs will commence their 2018-19 seasons this weekend when the Mavericks host NCAA Division I opposition in the ninth annual Intermountain Shootout.
Action will commence in the Mavericks' El Pomar Natatorium at 5 p.m. Friday and resumes at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. The 2-day meet also includes the Air Force men, the Colorado State women and men's and women's teams from BYU.
Team scores will be kept in a double-dual format and a total of 19 swimming events for each gender will be contested. Divers will also be competing concurrently with the swimming events on both the 1 and 3-meter boards.
The complete schedule can be seen in the meet information packet, linked above.
A live stream of the swimming events only and live results of the meet can be accessed at the links above as well.
The Maverick men finished 16th at last year's NCAA Division II National Championships and crowned their first ever individual national championship in
Ammar Hassan, who is back for his redshirt sophomore campaign. Hassan, who won the title on both the 1 and 3-meter boards while setting a national championship record of 624.80 points on the 3-meter board, was named as the RMAC Preseason Diver of the Year after picking up NCAA Division II Diver of the Year honors in March.
He was also joined on the Preseason All-RMAC team by fellow diver
Noah Macomber, the 3-meter national runner-up, as well as swimmers
Morgan Bean,
Torsten Rau newcomer
Matthew Barrett.
The Maverick men have been picked to finish second in the RMAC's Preseason Coaches' Poll after winning the title in 2017 before taking third in 2018.
CMU's women took 17th at last year's national championships and came just 5 1/2 points shy of now Division I Cal Baptist of winning what would have been their first RMAC title in February, the closest ever finish in conference history. They have been picked to win the RMAC this year, according to the coaches' poll, and have three Preseason All-RMAC selections in divers
Brittany Dixon and
Kelsey Vreeman and sophomore swimmer
Sierra Forbord, all of whom earned NCAA Division II All-America honors last year. Dixon was named as the RMAC's Preseason Diver of the Year.
The BYU Cougars will also be opening their season this weekend. Their men finished third at last year's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships while the women placed fourth.
The CSU Rams finished fifth at the Mountain West Championships in 2018 and finished with an 8-3 dual record, their best since 2009-10.
The Air Force Falcons finished fourth at last year's Western Athletic Conference Championships.
