GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The nation's tenth ranked Colorado Mesa University Women's Swimming & Diving team will look to extend their 16-dual winning streak against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opponents into a fifth different season when they hit the road for match-ups at Western and Adams State on Thursday evening and Friday afternoon, respectively.
 
The Mavericks, who have thus far competed solely against Division I opposition thus far in 2019-19, will take on the Mountaineers in Gunnison and the Paul Wright Natatorium at 5 p.m. on Thursday evening before heading to Alamosa to face the Grizzlies in the Plachy Hall Pool at noon on Friday.
 
The 11^th-ranked Maverick men will also dual Adams State on Friday.
 
Streaking
 
The Mavericks have won all of their duals against RMAC opposition in each of the last three seasons.
 
In 2018-19, they went 5-0 defeating the Colorado School of Mines and Western twice each as well as winning at Adams State.  They went 6-0 against other RMAC foes in 2017-18 and were 4-0 against them in 2016-17.  They also won their last conference dual of the 2015-16 season at home to Western.
 
CMU's last RMAC dual meet defeat was on Jan. 12, 2016 to then associate conference member Lindenwood.
 
The Mavericks have six duals against RMAC foes on the schedule this year.
 
Meet details
 
Both duals will follow the NCAA's 16-event dual format although diving will only be contested on Thursday against the Mountaineers as Adams State does not have divers, so only 14 events will be contested in Friday's dual.
 
An order of events for Thursday's dual can be seen below
 
200 medley relay
1000 free
Break (5 min.)
200 free
100 back
Break (5 min.)
100 breast
200 fly
50 free
Diving break (15 min.)
100 free 
200 back
200 breast
Break (5 min.)
500 free
100 fly
Diving break (10 min.)
400 IM
400 free relay

Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks competed last Friday at Division I BYU in Provo, Utah.    They had had a pair of second place finishes but dropped the contest, 222-76.
 
The Mavericks were led by runner-up efforts from Brittany Dixon on the 1-meter diving board and the 400 free relay team of Lauren White, Maddie Pressler, Davy Brown and Natalie Saul.  They posted a time of 3:35.77 while Dixon scored 261.90 points to re-qualify for nationals.
 
Pressler also finished third in the 200 free at 1:59.33 after Roby Naze did the same in the 1000 free with a time of 10:53.91.

White, a freshman, also had two individual third place finishes in both the 100 back (57.79) and 100 free (53.62) while Isabelle Hansson put down a time of 2:13.05 in the 200 fly to take third as well.
 
Sarah Fillerup, competing in her home state, was third in the 200 back (2:07.74) while Kennedy Bright was an equal placer in the 200 IM with a time of 2:14.12.
 
Last Time We Met
 
On Jan. 18, 2019 the Mavericks won 13 of 16 events and racked up seven NCAA Division II Championship qualifying marks en-route to a 192-67 Senior Day win over the Western Mountaineers.  The win was their 16^th straight dual meet victory against RMAC foes, seven of which have come over the Mountaineers.
 
Returning Mavericks Brittany Dixon, Robyn Naze and Grace Payton were all double winners on the day.  Now CMU student assistant coach Danielle Jefferies was also a double winner on her senior day.
 
Last Time we Met Part Two
 
The then No. 8 Mavericks won 10 of 11 events and swept the top three places in six of them to dominate Adams State, 161-44, on Oct. 26, 2018 in Alamosa.  CMU had seven different individual winners and won both relay events as well.
 
Dominating the Mountaineers
 
The Mavericks hold a 12-1 lead in the all-time dual series against Western.  They are 6-1 against them in Gunnison and have won each of the last seven duals.  Western's only win in the series came nearly four years ago on Oct. 30, 2015.
 
After winning a 155-144 home dual against the Mountaineers later that season (Jan. 22, 2016), to split the season series, the Mavericks have scored at least 180 points in each of their last six wins while not conceding 100 points in any of them.
 
Taming the Grizzlies
 
The Mavericks have also enjoyed a run of recent success against Adams State winning the last five duals dating back to the 2015-16 season.  The last four of those victories have come in the Grizzlies' Plachy Hall Pool by a combined 570-209 margin.  Before not facing off in 2014-15, the teams split a pair of 2013-14 duals.
 
Double-Sweeping the Awards
 
After claiming both the RMAC Swimmer and Diver of the Week honors on the initial set of honors on Oct. 9, the Mavericks have done it again as freshman Lauren White received the second RMAC Swimmer of the Week honor of the season on Wednesday while Brittany Dixon repeated as the Diver of the Week.
 
Both of those awards were based on a combination of performances from the past two weeks as the RMAC did not bestow any such honors on Oct. 16 as less than half of the RMAC's teams had competed on the weekend prior.
 
White, who leads the RMAC in both the 100-yard freestyle and backstroke, turned in three third place finishes in Oct. 12 and 18 duals at Division I Denver and BYU to lead the Mavericks.  The Golden High School product has altitude-adjusted season-best times of 52.69 (100 free) and 57.79 seconds (100 back).
 
Meanwhile, Dixon set another NCAA qualifying score, her second of the season, against BYU last Friday tallying 261.90  points to finish second on the 1-meter.  She also claimed victory on the 1-meter and finished third on the 3-meter against Denver.   The senior out of West Fargo, North Dakota now has won eight career RMAC Diver of the Week honors.
 
Maverick freshman Davy Brown was the initial RMAC Swimmer of the Week on Oct. 9.
 
RMAC leaders
 
Although it is young in the season, the Mavericks are dominating the conference performance lists as reported to the NCAA through USA Swimming. The Maverick women have the top time in 13 different individual swimming and four relay events they have competed in this season.
 
Here is a listing of the Mavericks' conference leaders.
 
100 Free- Lauren White -52.69
500 Free- Grace Payton-5:12.41
1000 Free- Isabelle Hansson- 10:37.51
1650 Free- Robyn Naze- 17:41.01
50 Back- Davy Brown- 27.35
100 Back- Lauren White- 57.69*
200 Back- Brown- 2:06.44
50 Breast- Samantha White- 31.04
100 Breast- Samantha White- 1:05.73
100 Fly- Candice Rosen-58.93
200 Fly- Isabelle Hansson- 2:11.79
200 IM- Brown- 2:09.38
400 IM- Brown- 4:33.17
200 Free Relay- Lauren White, Samantha White, Bret Congdon, Natalie Saul- 1:37.86
400 Free Relay- Lauren White, Saul, Noel Scott, Maddie Pressler- 3:34.14
200 Medley Relay- Sarah Fillerup, Samantha White, Candice Rosen, Lauren White- 1:48.88
400 Medley Relay- Davy Brown, Samantha White, Candice Rosen, Lauren White- 4:00.32
 
*- Denotes time set in Friday's dual at BYU.  All times are altitude-adjusted
 
Mavs' New Head Coach
 
A veteran with nearly 30 years of collegiate coaching experience, Mickey Wender is beginning his tenure as the Mavericks' Head Swimming & Diving and Triathlon teams this year after being announced as the fourth head swimming coach in the program's history in July. 
 
Wender replaced Geoff Hanson, who resigned for a similar position at Division I Southern Illinois.
 
Wender has already racked up more than 400 wins in his 27 years as a collegiate head coach, mostly recently serving at Division I Army West Point, where he coached the Black Knights from 2006-19.  He had also been the head coach at the University of Washington from 1998-2006 after a 1992-98 stint at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 1992-98 and served as an Head Coach for American Samoa at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
 
Wender has developed swimmers to qualify for NCAA Division I Championship meets in every event and was named as the Patriot League Swimming Coach of the Year three times at Army West Point, most recently in 2017.  His swimmers have broken all of the existing school records at every school he coached and have earned conference championships in over 50 different events.
 
He has also produced several swimmers who ranked in the Top 100 in the world and has coached swimmers at every U.S. Olympic Trials since 2000.
 
Returning Assistants
 
Although Wender is new to CMU, he will have the aid of some experienced CMU assistants.  Logan Pearsall, who has been named as the CSCAA NCAA Division II Men's Diving Coach of the Year in each of the past two years is back as the team's diving coach for his sixth season and Justin Hastings, a former CMU all-American and school record holder is back from his fourth season on the CMU Coaching staff and played a major role in recruiting for this year's squad.
 
Defending Champs
 
The Mavericks are competing in 2019-20 as the defending Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champions on both the men's and women's side. 
 
The Maverick men broke their own 5-year old championship record for team points, scoring 1,261 to win their third conference crown in program history (2014, 2017).  The Mavericks won 16 individual vents and finished 320 points ahead of runner-up Oklahoma Baptist.
 
Meanwhile, the Maverick women relied on their depth to score 1,019 ½ points to earn their first conference title in program history.  They won just two out of 21 individual events but had a vast number of other high finishes to defeat Oklahoma Baptist and the rest of the 9-team field by an impressive 230 ½ points.
 
Polling No. 1
 
Both Maverick teams were unanimous picks to defend their RMAC titles in 2019-20, according to the conference's preseason coaches' poll, which was announced last Friday morning.  The Maverick women received all eight possible first place votes to take the poll with 64 points.  Dixie State was picked second with 50 points while 2019 runner-up Oklahoma Baptist was tabbed third with 47 ahead of the Colorado School of Mines (43) and the rest of the nine women's teams.
 
In the men's poll, CMU's men received all four possible first place votes to take the poll with a maximum 16 points while 2019 runner-up Oklahoma Baptist was second with 12.  Oklahoma Christian and Mines tied for third with eight ahead of Adams State, re-starting their men's program this year.
 
The nine women's coaches ranked their opposition 1-8 without voting for their own squad while the five men's coaches ranked their opposition 1-4.  Wender's first place votes went to the Dixie State women and Oklahoma Baptist men.
 
Program bests
 
The Mavericks came just short of finishing in the top 10 at last year's NCAA Division II Championships for the first time in program history.  However, the Mavericks did record their best ever finishes in 2019 as the Maverick men finished 11^th while the women took 16^th.
 
National Poll
 
The Mavericks debuted in the top 10 of this year's CSCAA/TYR Division II Preseason Top 25 Coaches' Poll, which was announced last week.  Checking in tenth with 105 points in the poll, the Mavericks are the only RMAC team in the top 25 although Oklahoma Baptist received seven points to fall just three spots out of a top 25 spot.
 
About the Mountaineers
 
The Mountaineers opened their season last Saturday going 3-0 in the CSU-Pueblo 4-Way Dual with victories over Adams State, Colorado College and the host ThunderWolves.  Savannah Tice (100 back) and Arden Tesch (500 free) both set pool records in the process as the Mountaineers won six of the 15 events.
 
About the Grizzlies
 
The Grizzlies went 0-3 at the CSU-Pueblo 4-Way after opening their season with a fourth place finish out of four teams at the Oct. 5 Denver Relays.  Madison Rincon (1000 free) and Megan Dudden (50 breast) both rank tenth in the RMAC for their respective events.
 
Road stretch of a home-friendly schedule
 
This week's dual continues CMU's lone road stretch of the entire season in what is a very home friendly schedule overall.  The Mavericks have already paid Division I Denver and BYU visits over the last two weeks and will be at the Air Force Duals on Nov. 1 before returning home to prepare for the A3 Performance Invitational, which they will host from Nov. 20-24.
 
That meet, which will include long course time trials on the final day, will be CMU's last of 2019.
 
In 2020, the Mavericks will open with a 2-day home dual against Mines and the Dixie State women on Jan. 10-11 and a Jan. 18 contest re-match with the Western women.
 
The Mavericks will then host the RMAC Championships for the first time since 2017 from Feb. 12-14 and will have another set of long course time trials on Feb. 15.
 
CMU's lone road trip in 2020 will be to the Mar. 10-14 NCAA Division II National Championships.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will head to the U.S. Air Force Academy's Cadet Natatorium on Friday, Nov. 1 to compete against the host Falcons and RMAC rival Colorado School of Mines in a triangular.