GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Swimming & Diving teams had another impressive day as they combined to win nine of the ten Thursday events while racking up 35 total national qualifying performances and another relay meet record to cap Day 2 of the A3 Performance Invitational, which continued here at the El Pomar Natatorium.
 
The Maverick men have won each of the seven events at the meet thus far, including all three relays with meet record times, and have opened a 243 point lead over second place Colorado School of Mines.  The Mavs also racked up 24 more national qualifying marks on the day and have scored 636 points through eight contested events.  Mines has 393 to easily out-pace the rest of the 5-team field.
 
Meanwhile, the Maverick women also claimed four victories and on the day and now have 519 points, good for a 228-point cushion over Mines, which is in second place with 291.  Dixie State is third with 264 while Western is fourth in the 7-team field with 223.
 
Momentum is certainly in the Mavs' favor as Lane Austin, Mahmoud Elgayar, Pedro Terres Illescas and Zander Minano won the day-ending 400-yard medley relay in three minutes, 16.19 seconds, 2.4 quicker than last year's former meet record of 3:18.59.  Thursday's time also went well under the NCAA qualifying standard of 3:16.98.
 
Austin's 100 backstroke split of 48.81 also surpassed the NCAA "B" standard.
 
Earlier, Elgayar won the 200 individual medley in 1:50.93 to join freshman teammate Ethan Fox (1:51.50) in setting NCAA "B" cut times.  Both had also done that in the morning prelims.  The Mavs also placed six of the top seven swimmers in the event, which along with the 1-meter diving, contested during the afternoon, was the CMU's most complete domination.
 
On the diving board, Ammar Hassan won with 577.60 points as four different Mavs went over the national qualifying standard of 440.  Noah Macomber finished second with 469.80 points after tallying 487.85 in the preliminary rounds.
 
Meanwhile, Chandler Livingston set his first NCAA marks of the season scoring 450.85 points to take third in the finals.  Tanner Belliston also surpassed the necessary national qualifying standard with 441.10 points to finish fourth.
 
In the evening's first event, the 500 free, sophomore Jackson Wuthrich won for the second straight day as he touched in 4:33.54 to lead a 1-2-3 Maverick sweep.  The sophomore had won the 1,000 free on Wednesday. 
 
Torsten Rau (4:34.12) and Logan Ellis (4:34.70) were right behind in the 500 with provisional national qualifying times as well.
 
Minano also claimed an individual win as he sprinted to the 50 free title in 20.56 seconds, just 0.02 off his better NCAA qualifying time of 20.54 in the morning preliminary session. Austin finished second in 20.69 after leading all qualifiers with a NCAA "B" cut time of 20.40 in the morning.  George Durin also recorded an NCAA time of 20.74 in the prelims before taking sixth in the finals.
 
On the women's side, the biggest highlight of the entire night came from Mines' Mia Wood, who obliterated her own meet record while crushing a 3-year old pool record in the 500 free.  She won the event by more than 14 seconds in 4:51.11, which was more than five seconds quicker than the former pool record of 4:56.11.  Wood also bettered her own meet record of 4:56.77 and was more than four seconds quicker than the NCAA Automatic qualifying standard.
 
The race was quite fast overall as five other women in the championship final set NCAA "B" cut times, including Maverick sophomore Abbey Selin, who finished third in 5:07.75 after going slightly faster (5:06.85) in the morning preliminaries.  Fellow CMU sophomore Robyn Naze also set an NCAA "B" Cut time of 5:09.06 to easily win the consolation heat and place ninth overall.
 
Maverick freshman Davy Brown then claimed the 200 IM in 2:05.90 to set her second of three total provisional qualifying time on the day.  The Aspen product had been the top qualifier in 2:06.34.  Candice Rosen (2:07.80) and Grace Payton (2:08.31) finished third and fourth, respectively.
 
Fellow Maverick freshman Bret Congdon then joined Brown in the winner's circle and on the national qualifying list in the 50 free.  She won the final in 23.91 as the Mavs took each of the top four places.  Meanwhile, Lauren White finished second in the finals at 24.06 after setting a NCAA "B" cut time of 23.88 in the morning.
 
Natalie Saul (24.06) and Maddie Pressler (24.08) were right behind White in the finals.
 
Later, senior Brittany Dixon won the 3-meter diving competition with 478.20 points as the Mavs took each of the top four places.  Sophomore Jolynn Harris also set her first NCAA qualifying mark as a Mav in the prelims, scoring 435.70 points before finishing second to Dixon in the finals with 397.45.  Ali Lange (391.65) and Natalya Dahlke (376.25) finished third and fourth, respectively.
 
The Mavs then went 1-2 in the 400 medley relay to end the night with a big 74-point event.  Brown, Samantha White, Rosen and Lauren White won in 3:47.35 while the "B" squad of Sarah Fillerup, Sydney Dolloff-Holt, Noel Scott and Pressler won their heat and finished second overall with a time of 3:51.85.
 
Brown's 100 backstroke opening leg split of 56.47 seconds was also good for a NCAA provisional qualifying time.
 
Friday's portion of the meet, which will include seven events for each gender, will begin with a 10 a.m. preliminary session with diving to follow.  The finals session will begin at 5 p.m.