GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After an extended break for finals, the holidays and training that resumed right after Christmas, the nationally-ranked Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams will return to competition pool this weekend as they begin the second half of the season in metropolitan Denver.
A contingent of 11 Maverick (7 men, 4 women) divers will compete in a Friday afternoon dual against Division I Denver in the Pioneers' El Pomar Natatorium. The men's and women's 1 and 3-meter events, which will be contested with the 6-dive format, begin at Noon.
Meanwhile, the Maverick swimmers will contest a 2-day Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual in Golden against the Colorado School of Mines in the Orediggers' natatorium. Sessions begin Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m. and will be streamed. A total of 17 events for each gender will be contested.
Friday and Saturday's dual with the Orediggers will be the only remaining dual of the season for the Maverick men, who will enter the weekend ranked ninth in the TYR/CSCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll. They also faced the Orediggers on Oct. 20 at the Air Force Duals, defeating them 208-86 and finishing well ahead of them at the A3 Performance Invite, which CMU hosted Nov. 16-18 in what was their last competitive action. The Mavericks set a new meet record by scoring 1,754 points to defeat the runner-up Orediggers by 999, also a meet record for margin of victory.
Meanwhile, the Maverick women will enter the weekend ranked 11
th nationally. They have also seen the Orediggers twice this season, winning 237-62 at the Air Force Duals before winning the A3 Invite with a meet-record 1,385 points. The Orediggers finished second with 630.
CMU's women will also carry a 3-year long streak of 14 straight dual meet wins over RMAC foes into the weekend. They will also host Western Colorado University, which only has a women's team, next Friday (Jan. 18) at 10 a.m. before the Maverick swimmers turn their attention to the RMAC Championships in February.
The Maverick divers will also compete at the Air Force Diving Invitational on Feb. 1 before the conference meet.
CMU's men enter the weekend with the RMAC leader in 13 of the 15 individual swimming events and have combined to post 23 NCAA Division II Championship "B" cut times. A pair of male divers in
Ammar Hassan and
Chandler Livingston have also set national qualifying scores as well.
Highlighting the list of conference leading swimmers is
Torsten Rau, named as the swimmer of the meet at the A3 Performance Invite. He leads the RMAC in all three distance freestyle (500, 1000, 1650 events) and is ranked third nationally in the 1,000 (9:16.64) and fifth in the 1,650 (15:33.01).
Newcomers
Mahmoud Elgayar and
Pedro Terres Illescas are also ranked in the top 10 nationally with Terres Illescas setting an altitude-adjusted school-record time of 1:48.15 in the 200 butterfly to sit sixth nationally. Elgayar also sits sixth in the 100 breast at 54.46 seconds.
Hassan, the defending national champion, leads the nation in both 1 and 3-meter events.
On the women's side, the Maverick women have a pair of RMAC individual swimming leaders in
Grace Payton (200 Back; 2:01.28) and freshman
Bella Walters (200 Fly; 2:04.93), who are amongst the 11 different Maverick women's swimmers who have combined for 18 NCAA "B" cut times.
Sierra Forbord has three of those and ranks fifth nationally in the 200 free at 1:50.03.
Six CMU women's divers, including three expected to compete this weekend in
Brittany Dixon,
Ali Lange and
Abby Smith, have also surpassed the NCAA qualifying standards thus far in 2018-19.
Event Schedule for Mines Dual (Jan. 11-12)
Day 1 (Friday; 5 p.m.)
200 Free Relay
200 IM
-15 Minute Break-
500 Free
100 Breast
200 Back
-15 Minute Break-
100 Free
200 Fly
-10 Minute Break-
400 Medley Relay
Day 2 (Saturday; 10 a.m.)
200 Medley Relay
1000 Free
-15 Minute Break-
50 Free
100 Back
200 Breast
-15 Minute Break-
100 Fly
200 Free
-10 Minute Break-
400 IM
400 Free Relay
