GOLDEN, Colo.— The nationally-ranked Colorado Mesa University men's and women's swimming teams broke five more pool records and won all but one of the 18 events contested on Saturday as they wrapped up convincing Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual meet wins over the host Colorado School of Mines Orediggers here in the CSM Natatorium.
The Maverick men, ranked ninth nationally, won each of the nine events on Saturday and 15 of the 17 overall to win the dual, 208-107. Meanwhile, the No. 11 CMU women were victorious in eight of the nine events on Saturday and 14 overall to claim their 15
th straight dual meet win over a conference foe by an even larger 228 ½-86 ½ margin.
The Maverick women broke five pool records over the 2-day meet, which had started Friday evening, with
Sierra Forbord leading the way. The sophomore out of Olympia, Washington, posted a record-breaking time of 1:54.91 to take the 200-yard freestyle by 1.28 seconds, bettering the 10-year old natatorium mark of 1:55.46, set in 2009 by Colorado State's Jennifer Lamb.
Forbord also led a 1-5 sweep in the 50 free, sprinting to a time of 24.57 seconds before leading off the 400 relay team to a winning time of 3:34.52. She had also set the pool record in the 100 free with a time of 52.51 on Friday night and helped the Mavericks set pool records of 1:38.73 (200 Free Relay) and 3:57.64 (400 Medley Relay) then.
Meanwhile, the Maverick men's squad of
Lane Austin,
Mahmoud Elgayar,
Morgan Bean and
Zander Minano won Saturday morning's 200 medley relay in a natatorium record time of 1:33.88 to better Wyoming's mark from last season before Minano came back to smash the 50 free record. He flew to a time of 21.20 to win the 50 free by 0.69 seconds and break the former mark of 21.46, set in 2015 by Wyoming's Kyle White.
Minano also swam the second leg of CMU's winning 400 free relay effort that also included
Arthur Cury,
Justin Fell and
Morgan Bean. The quartet finished in 3:08.16, nearly three seconds faster than the former mark 3:11.11, held by Mines since 2014.
Elsewhere,
Logan Ellis won the 1,000 free in 10:03.54, edging teammate
Torsten Rau (10:03.75) in an exciting race.
Austin also won an individual event taking the 100 back in 52.68 seconds while Elgayar won the 200 breast in 2:08.33.
Bean also scored an individual win claiming the 100 fly in 51.89 seconds while 200 fly Maverick record holder
Pedro Terres Illescas was second in 52.46.
Cury, a Brazilian who just joined the program, then won his third individual event of the weekend, posting a time of 1:44.14 in the 200 free to win that event by a wide 2.36 second margin.
Rau also got into the winner's circle with a time of 4:16.97 in the 400 IM.
On the women's side,
Grace Payton also had a fine day taking the 100 back in 59.60 seconds to lead the Mavericks to each of the top six places in that event. She also won the 400 IM in 4:44.07 ahead of
Kennedy Bright (4:47.42).
Payton also teamed with
Samantha White,
Danielle Jefferies and
Maddie Pressler to win the 200 medley relay in 1:50.55.
Bright won the 200 breast in 2:30.70 with White touching just four tenths later in 2:31.10.
Jefferies then won her third individual event of the dual, taking the 100 fly in 57.91 seconds ahead of
Candice Rosen, who finished second in 59.53.
Pressler,
Natalie Saul and Jefferies then teamed with Forbord to put an exclamation point on the women's meet in the 400 free relay.
The Maverick women, now 4-0 in RMAC duals this season, will host their final one of the season on Friday taking on Western Colorado University. The Maverick men's swimmers, unbeaten in an RMAC dual in three years to the day, are now off of competitive action until the Feb. 13-16 RMAC Championships in Lewisville, Texas although the Maverick divers will compete on Feb. 1 at Air Force.
