GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The nationally-ranked Colorado Mesa University women's swimming and diving team will conclude a fourth straight perfect season of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference duals when they host Western Colorado University on Saturday at the El Pomar Natatorium.
 
The tenth-ranked Mavericks, winners of 21 straight duals against RMAC opposition since starting the streak on Jan. 22, 2016 against the Mountaineers, will take them once again in a 16-event format beginning at noon.  Prior to the dual, the Mavericks will honor their six seniors, who will be competing in their final career dual.   
 
Meet Format
 
The meet will include 14 swimming events as well as concurrent diving action on both the 1 and 3-meter boards, beginning at noon.  The Maverick men will also swim and dive in the same events in an intra-squad format as the Mountaineers do not have a men's program.
 
Live streaming (natural sound & swimming events only) and live results (women only) can be accessed at the links above throughout the meet.
 
Here is a complete listing of the schedule of events.
 
200 Medley Relay
1650 (w)/1000 (m) Free
200 Free
100 Back
100 Breast
200 Fly
50 free
15 Minute Break
100 Free
200 Back
200 Breast
500 Free
100 Fly
10 Minute Break
200 IM
400 Free Relay
*1 & 3-meter Diving held concurrently with the swimming events
 
Last Time Out
 
The Maverick women won 10 events in 2-day dual wins over the Colorado School of Mines and Dixie State University last Friday and Saturday.  Defeating Dixie State, 185-132 and Mines, 175-148, in the 2-session, 20-event meet, the Mavericks ran their conference winning streak to 21 consecutive duals while improving to 5-0 in RMAC action this year.
 
With the victories in hand, the Mavericks exhibitioned each of the final four events and had the fastest time in one of those as well.
 
The Maverick men won 15 events and won a dual with Mines, 185-149 to wrap up their dual meet portion of the schedule with a perfect 3-0 RMAC record.
 
National Poll
 
The Maverick men moved up seven spots to a program-best matching sixth in the latest TYR/CSCAA Division II Coaches' Poll, which was announced Thursday morning.  They had been ranked 13^th in previous poll, which had been announced back on Nov. 12.  Meanwhile, CMU's women held on to a top-10 spot dropping one spot to tenth.
 
Those polls were designed to weigh head-to-head strength.
 
Although unofficial and reliant on schools submitting results to the web site, the Maverick men also sit sixth in the CollegeSwimming.com Division II Dual Team Rankings with 732.95 points.  The Maverick men are 12^th with 686.85 points.  The Western Colorado women are ranked 46^th with 616.30 points.
 
Senior Day

As mentioned above, the Mavericks will honor their six women's seniors prior to Saturday's dual.  The six seniors, who will all be competing in their final dual meet of their career are Ginger Bryant, Tally Danielson, Brittany Dixon, Maggie Hellard, Candice Rosen and Samantha White. 
 
The Maverick men's seniors were recognized prior to the final session of last weekend's dual with Mines.  They are Noah Beaver, Noah Macomber and Filip Dolk.  Fourth-year Redshirt junior Nico Tscherner was also recognized.
 
Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner
 
The Maverick women spread the wealth in terms of individual wins last week with seven different individuals combining to win eight different individual events.  They also won two relays.
 
Candice Rosen, who won both the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard individual medley, was CMU's only double individual winner although freshman Lauren White led the Mavs with three overall wins, taking the 100 back while swimming legs on both the winning 200 free and 400 medley relay teams.  Maddie Pressler also swam on both of those relay teams.
 
CMU's other individual winners were Davy Brown (200 IM), Grace Payton (400 IM), Sarah Fillerup (200 Back), Jolynn Harris (1m Diving) and Brittany Dixon (3m Diving).    Bret Congdon and Natalie Saul swam with Pressler and White on the 200 free relay while Samantha White (breast), and Noel Scott (fly) matched up with Lauren White (back) and Pressler (free) for victory in the 400 medley relay.
 
Samantha White also posted the fastest time in the 200 breast, one of the events the Mavericks gave up their team scoring opportunities in at the end of the meet.
 
Lane Austin won three individual and six total events to lead the Maverick men.  Justin Fell, Torsten Rau and Ammar Hassan each won two individual events as well to supplement the cause.

For complete recaps of both days of the action, please visit the links below:

Day 1 (Friday, Jan. 10)
Day 2 (Saturday, Jan. 11)
 
Diving Records
 
Sophomore Jolynn Harris won the 1-meter diving competition last Friday scoring 478.57 points on 11 dives to break nearly 3-year old school and pool records in one swoop.  The former records of 468.07 points were held since Jan. 16, 2017 by Maverick all-American Kelsey Vreeman.
 
Meanwhile, Ammar Hassan smashed his own school and pool-record on the 1-meter board recording 623.17 points on 11 dives on Friday.  That mark bettered his own marks of 599.95, which he had set at the 2018 A3 Performance Invitational.  He won that event by 117.24 points over four other NCAA qualifiers.
 
Hassan also broke his own school-record with his 6-dive sub-set score of 385.50 points in his optional dives.
 
Diving honors
 
Thanks largely to those efforts, Harris and Hassan were both named as the RMAC Divers of the Week on Wednesday.  Harris, a transfer from the University of Iowa, has now received the honors three times this year, matching teammate Brittany Dixon for the conference lead in that category.
 
Hassan also earned the honor for the third time this season and the seventh in his career.
 
As a unit, the Mavericks have now won 11 of the 12 RMAC Diver of the Week awards this season.
 
Double-Digit Diving list
 
The Mavericks had two more divers set NCAA qualifying marks on Friday as Isaiah Cheeks and Kaylee Eakman joined the list of now 11 Maverick divers who have done so this year.   In his Maverick debut, Cheeks scored 483.15 points over 11 dives off the 1-meter board on Friday before tallying another NCAA score of 487.20 points on the 3-meter on Saturday.  He is the sixth Maverick men's diver to have set a qualifying score this season.
 
Meanwhile, Eakman finished with a 1-meter score of 394.87 points to surpass the 11-dive qualifying standard of 390 and become the fifth Maverick woman to reach the standard this year.
 
Thus, and if selected by diving coach Logan Pearsall, Cheeks and Eakman are now eligible to compete in the pre-championship qualifying meet which will be held on Tuesday, March 10, the day before the official championships begin in Geneva, Ohio.
 
The Mavericks' other diving qualifiers thus far are Tanner Belliston, Ammar Hassan, Chandler Livingston, Noah Luna, Noah Macomber on the men's side and Natalya Dahlke, Brittany Dixon, Jolynn Harris, Ali Lange.
 
From the pre-qualification meet, 18 men and 22 women will be selected for the official championships.
 
The only qualifier
 
As the Mavericks have been putting in lots of practice hours in the pool since returning from the holiday break, times in last weekend's meet were somewhat conservative, especially in comparison the A3 Performance Invitational, which the Mavs tapered for.
 
However, the training did not stop Maverick junior Torsten Rau from setting the meet's lone NCAA qualifying time in the dual against Mines.  The Sandhausen, Germany native won the 1,000-yard freestyle in a time of 9:33.05 defeating his closest opposition by more than 25 seconds.  With the 11.4 second altitude adjustment, that time converts to 9:21.65 and moved him to 16^th on the national performance list and just .20 seconds behind teammate Jackson Wuthrich for the RMAC lead.
 
Streaking around the RMAC
 
Including last week's two victories, the Maverick women have won 21 straight duals against RMAC foes in a winning streak which has now spanned into five seasons.  They have won all of their duals against RMAC opposition in each of the last three seasons and are a perfect 5-0 against RMAC foes this year.
 
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 Maverick men have also gone unbeaten by RMAC foes since facing Lindenwood on that same day (Jan. 12, 2016) but as sponsorship of men's swimming and diving in the RMAC, especially in Colorado, has been sporadic, they have faced RMAC foes just eight times since.  Seven of those match-ups have come against Mines.
 
In 2016-17, CMU's men defeated Mines in their lone RMAC dual before beating them twice in each of the last three seasons.
 
A near sweep
 
The Maverick men have the conference leader in all but one of the 21 swimming events, including three that will not be contested at the RMAC Championships.  The Maverick women are nearly as impressive and have the conference leader in 15 events, including all five relays.
 
Here is a listing of the Mavericks' conference leaders, as of Tuesday according to the USA Swimming Top Times Report.  Nearly all of these times were set at the A3 Performance Invitational and are altitude-adjusted.
 
Men
50 Free- Zander Minano- 20.33
200 Free- Jackson Wuthrich- 1:38.62
500 Free- Wuthrich- 4:28.54
1000 Free- Wuthrich- 9:21.45
1650 Free- Torsten Rau- 15:36.06
50 Back- Lane Austin-22.15#
100 Back- Austin- 48.71
200 Back- Rau- 1:47.35
50 Breast- Mahmoud Elgayar- 26.16#
100 Breast- Elgayar- 54.38
200 Breast- Elgayar- 1:58.07
50 Fly- Jake Simmons- 23.37#
100 Fly- Pedro Terres Ilescas- 47.67
200 Fly- Terres Ilescas- 1:45.34
200 IM- Elgayar- 1:49.73
400 IM- Ethan Fox- 3:56.40
200 Free Relay- Minano, Elgayar, Austin, Noah Vallee, 1:20.54
400 Free Relay- Austin, Elgayar, Jordan Smith, Vallee, 2:59.61
800 Free Relay- Wuthrich, Justin Fell, Logan Ellis, Noah Beaver- 6:42.14
200 Medley Relay- Austin, Elgayar, Terres Illescas, Minano- 1:28.00
400 Medley Relay- Austin, Elgayar, Terres Illescas, Minano- 3:15.79
 
*- Tied for the conference lead
#- Non Championship event
 
Women
50 Free- Bret Congdon- 23.75*
100 Free- Maddie Pressler- 51.65
100 Back- Lauren White- 55.03
200 Back- White- 1:59.71
50 Breast- Samantha White- 31.04#
200 Fly- Bella Walters- 2:04.95
200 IM- Davy Brown- 2:04.70
400 IM- Isabelle Hansson- 4:24.80
200 IM- Brown- 2:07.06
400 IM- Brown- 4:33.17
200 Free Relay- Congdon, Lauren White, Logan Anderson, Natalie Saul- 1:34.44
400 Free Relay- Lauren White, Pressler, Noel Scott, Saul- 3:27.60
800 Free Relay- Lauren White, Pressler, Abbey Selin, Hansson- 7:34.09
200 Medley Relay- Sarah Fillerup, Samantha White, Candice Rosen, Congdon- 1:43.71
400 Medley Relay- Brown, Samantha White, Rosen, Lauren White, 3:46.95

Looking forward to March
 
Heading into this weekend, here is a listing of all of the Maverick swimmers who have reached the NCAA "B" cut standard in the various swimming events along with their national rank as of Monday.
 
If a swimmer with one of these provisional qualifying times is selected for the NCAA Division II National Championships in any single event, he or she is then eligible to swim in any event in which they have reached the "B" standard.
 
As a guide, the "invited" line was drawn at 26/27 (depending on the event) for the women and at 21 for the men in 2019.
 
Men
50 Free- Zander Minano (22^nd, 20.33), Lane Austin (T-29^th, 20.40), George Durin (T-62^nd, 20.74)
100 Free- Austin (T-47^th, 45.45)
200 Free- Jackson Wuthrich (16^th, 1:38.62), Logan Ellis (41^st, 1:39.74), Justin Fell (42^nd, 1:39.75)
500 Free- Wuthrich (18^th, 4:28.54), Torsten Rau (23^rd, 4:29.12), Ellis (24^th, 4:29.70)
1000 Free- Wuthrich (12^th, 9:21.45), Rau (16^th, 9:21.65), Ellis (33^rd, 9:30.61)
1650 Free- Rau (11^th, 15:36.06), Ellis (25^th, 15:48.55)
100 Back- Austin (12^th, 48.71)
200 Back- Rau (9^th, 1:47.35), Austin (11^th, 1:47.55), Alex Bruce (26^th, 1:48.93)
100 Breast- Mahmoud Elgayar (8^th, 54.38), Matthew Barrett (29^th, 55.51)
200 Breast- Elgayar (3^rd, 1:58.07), Barrett (14^th, 2:00.39)
100 Butterfly- Pedro Terres Illescas (5^th, 47.67)
200 Butterfly- Terres Illescas (3^rd, 1:45.34), Tucker Adams (12^th, 1:48.91), Jake Simmons (1:49.64)
200 IM- Mahmoud Elgayar (14^th, 1:49.73), Ethan Fox (21^st, 1:50.30),
400 IM- Fox (18^th, 3:56.40), Nico Tscherner (28^th, 3:59.35)
 
Women
50 Free- Bret Congdon (T-49^th, 23.75), Lauren White (T-71^st, 23.88)
100 Free- Maddie Pressler (T-39^th, 51.65), Lauren White (62^nd, 52.06)
200 Free- Pressler (25^th, 1:51.43), Lauren White (43rd, 1:52.19)
500 Free- Abbey Selin (41^st, 5:01.85), Robyn Naze (67^th, 5:04.06)
1650 Free- Naze (27^th, 17:17.96)
100 Back- Lauren White (12^th, 55.03), Sarah Fillerup (25^th, 56.01), Davy Brown (30^th, 56.37)
200 Back- Lauren White (8^th, 1:59.71), Brown (T-24^th, 2:01.90), Fillerup (26^th, 2:01.95), Jordyn Beem (33^rd, 2:02.68)
100 Breast- Sam White (20^th, 1:03.28)
200 Fly- Bella Walters (29^th, 2:04.95)
200 IM- Davy Brown (24^th, 2:04.70)
400 IM- Isabelle Hansson (T-17^th, 4:24.80), Brown (29^th, 4:28.25), Grace Payton (T-31^st, 4:29.34)
 
National Qualifying Relays
 
The Maverick men have also set NCAA qualifying times in three different relay events.  Assuming they have at least one "invited" individual swimmer, the Mavericks would then be eligible to swim these events at the national championships using a combination of the individual swimmers and up to four "relay only" swimmers, who would be chosen up the Maverick coaching staff.
 
200 Free- 1:20.54 (7^th)
200 Medley- 1:28.00 (3^rd)
400 Medley- 3:15.79 (4^th)
 
Mavs' New Head Coach
 
A veteran with nearly 30 years of collegiate coaching experience, Mickey Wender is beginning his tenure as the leader of Mavericks' Head Swimming & Diving and Triathlon programs this year after being announced as the fourth head swimming coach in the program's history in July. 
 
He replaced Geoff Hanson, who resigned in order to take a similar position at Division I Southern Illinois in May.
 
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 does 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 events 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. 
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks have dominated the Mountaineers winning all but one of the 14 duals they have contested.  The Mavericks have won eight straight overall and all six duals at home since 2012-13 when the Mountaineers began their program.
 
Earlier this season on Oct. 24, the Mavericks posted the fastest time in every swimming event while setting six pool records in a 196-95, triple-digit win over the Mountaineers in Gunnison.  The Mavericks exhibitioned each of the final four events in that dual.  That victory was the first of the season for the Mavericks and the first at CMU for new head coach Mickey Wender, who has more than 400 career wins in total in his veteran career.
 
Click here for a complete recap of that meet. 
 
Home sweet home
 
This weekend's meet will continue a stretch of home events for the Mavericks, who have not had to travel since the first weekend of November.  They will not have to travel again until the Mar. 10-14 NCAA Division II National Championships.
 
After Saturday's meet, The Mavericks will then turn their attention to the defense of the conference titles as they will host the RMAC Championships for the first time since 2017 from Feb. 12-15.