DENVER— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks won three of the four diving events to highlight their efforts in inter-divisional men's and women's swimming and diving duals at the University of Denver Pioneers on Saturday afternoon here at the El Pomar Natatorium.
On the men's side, both senior
Noah Macomber and junior
Ammar Hassan won events and set NCAA Division II championship qualification marks. Meanwhile,
Brittany Dixon won the women's 1-meter and took second on the 3-meter board after setting an NCAA qualifying mark during last week's season-opening Intermountain Shootout.
However, those diving victories would not be enough to stop the defending Summit League and NCAA Division I Pioneers, who claimed a 202-77 women's victory and a 210-88 men's triumph.
Hassan made his season-debut and won the men's 1-meter diving competition with 290.18 points on six dives to surpass the NCAA qualifying standard of 285 points. Macomber was second in that event with 270.90 points while
Chandler Livingston took third with 225.30.
Meanwhile, Macomber won the 3-meter with 322.20 points while Hassan was second with 316.05 as both easily surpassed the NCAA standard of 295. Livingston also took third in that event with 287.25.
The Mavericks also went 1-2 on the women's 1-meter board as Dixon took the event with 226.80 points to edge teammate
Natalya Dahlke by three points. In the 3-meter, Dixon scored 236.78 points, less than one shy of Denver's Sammy Walker, who won the event with 237.75. CMU's
Ali Lange place third with 235.43 points.
In the swimming events, the Mavericks managed 16 top-three finishes while
Torsten Rau and
Samantha White both turned in a pair of runner-up finishes to lead the Mavericks.
Rau placed second in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:45.29 and then came back to take second in the 200 backstroke at 1:52.63, just a tenth of a second slower than DU's Patrick Groters. Freshman
Alex Bruce also took third for the Mavs in 1:56.31.
Meanwhile, White finished second in both breaststroke events finishing the 100 in 1:06.08 and the 200 in 2:25.03.
Elsewhere,
Lane Austin took second in the men's 100 back with a time of 51.81 while
Sarah Fillerup finished second in the women's 200 back at 2:08.95.
Pedro Terres Illescas also tallied a second place finish in the 100 butterfly at 51.21 after finishing third over the 200-yard distance with a time of 1:55.07.
Rau also finished third in the 500 free, touching in 4:45.83 while
Mahmoud Elgayar placed third in the 100 breast after touching in 57.87 seconds.
Junior
Noah Vallee, a transfer from Wayne State (Mich.) also placed third in the 50 free at 21.72.
The Mavericks will continue to face Division I opposition on Friday (Oct. 18) when they travel to Provo, Utah for an encounter with the BYU Cougars.
