GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's and women's swimming and diving teams will attempt to defend their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference crowns, starting Wednesday morning at the El Pomar Natatorium.
 
The Mavericks, who are hosting the RMAC Championships for the first time since 2017, will also host a short and small long course meet on Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 11) at 2 p.m., before beginning the 4-day conference meet at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
 
Meet Format
 
A total of nine women's and five men's teams will gather for the conference championships.  A total of 44 events, 22 for each gender, will be contested over the four days. 
 
Preliminary swimming event sessions begin at 9:30 a.m. each morning.  Diving preliminaries will be held at noon each day while the finals will be contested at 5 p.m. each night.  Except in the 1,000 and 1,650-yard freestyle events, those finals will include the top 16 swimmers in each individual event from the morning preliminaries.  A bonus consolation, non-scoring heat for eight additional swimmers will also be contested in the women's individual events.
 
The top eight seeded swimmers in the 1,000 and 1,650 freestyles will swim at night while the others will contest their sections at the end of the Wednesday and Saturday morning sessions, respectively.
 
Live streaming and live results throughout the RMAC Championship can be accessed at the links above throughout the meet.
 
More details and a complete schedule of the meet can be found on the RMAC Championship Website.
 
Long Course Format
 
On Tuesday at 2 p.m., the Mavericks will host their Long Course Invitational.  The pool will be converted to the 50-meter Olympic distance lengths as the entered athletes will gun for times to qualify them for the U.S. Olympic Trials or their various international qualification aspirations.  Swimmers from the Colorado School of Mines and Western Colorado University are expected to join a handful of Mavs in the meet.
 
Live results will be available for that meet, but there will not be any streaming coverage.
 
Tickets
 
Because the meet is an RMAC event, all fans must purchase tickets and no passes will be honored.  A championship pass, which includes admission to all sessions along with a program and heat sheets for each session can be purchased online at cmumavericks.com/tickets or at the ticket table on Wednesday (Feb. 12) only.  Those meet passes are $30 for adults and $15 for seniors/students.
 
Single-day passes, which do not include a program or heat sheets, are $10 for adults and $5 for seniors/students.  Those are also available online or at the El Pomar Natatorium on each day.
 
Programs, which also include a complimentary copy of heat sheets for each session, can be purchased on site for those not purchasing the championship pass.  These will run $10.
 
Blackout Night
 
All Maverick fans, parents and alumni are encouraged to wear Black during next Saturday's (Mar. 15) evening session, the last of the meet as the Mavericks will look to close out championships.  Like the other evening sessions throughout the week, it will begin at 5 p.m.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Maverick women last competed on Jan. 18 as they posted a convincing 193-97 dual win over Western Colorado University to run their conference dual meet winning streak, which dates back more than four years, to 22.  They also finished the year 6-0 in RMAC duals.
 
The Mavericks officially won 12 of the 16 individual events and had the fastest time in three of the four others, deciding to exhibition the final three events to prevent an ever larger margin of victory.
 
Seniors Brittany Dixon and Samantha White, who along with four other seniors were recognized before the Senior Day Dual, each won two individual events as did sophomore Robyn Naze.
 
The Maverick men also held unofficial intra-squad time trials in conjunction with the meet.  Their last competitive action was on Jan. 10-11 as they defeated the Colorado School of Mines, ranked 23^rd nationally at the time, by a 185-149 score.  The Maverick men have now won eight straight conference duals dating back to 2016.
 
National Polls & Rankings
 
The Maverick women will enter the RMAC Championships ranked 11^th in the latest TYR/CSCAA Division II Coaches' Poll, which was announced Thursday morning.  The Maverick men are ranked 16^th.  Although the Mavericks fell from No. 6 in previous edition of the men's poll and No. 10 in the women's, they are still the highest ranked teams in the RMAC.
 
Dixie State is now sitting 19^th while the Colorado School of Mines in 21^st.  In the men's poll, Mines is just one spot behind the Mavs at No. 17 while Oklahoma Baptist is receiving votes.
 
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 Mines men sit 18^th while Oklahoma Baptist is just outside the top 25 in 27^th.  Oklahoma Christian is ranked 30^th.
 
In the CollegeSwimming.com Division II Championship Team Rankings, the Maverick men are ranked tenth while Mines checks in at the No. 14 spot.  Oklahoma Christian also sits 24^th.  In the women's portion of those rankings, the Maverick women sit sixth while Mines is 17^th, one spot ahead of Dixie State.  Western Colorado also cracked the top 30 in the No. 30 position.
 
Title Defense Times Two
 
The Maverick men will be gunning for their fourth RMAC title in program history after winning for the third time in 2019 in Lewisville, Texas.  They also won in 2014 and 2017 crowns at home but have never won back-to-back titles, something they will attempt to change this year.
 
Last year's squad scored a conference-championship record 1,261 points and won by 320 over Oklahoma Baptist.
 
The Maverick women won their first conference crown last year with 1019 ½ points despite winning just two events.  Using some incredible depth, the Mavericks still out-pointed Oklahoma Baptist by 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 released back on Oct. 4.  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.  Maverick Head Coach Mickey Wender's first place votes went to the Dixie State women and Oklahoma Baptist men.
 
The Mavericks have done nothing to disappoint throughout the year winning all nine combined (6 women, 3 men) duals against RMAC foes this year while winning 19 of the 28 RMAC Swimmer and Diver of the Week honors.
 
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 the 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.
 
Former Mavericks standouts Danie Jefferies and Liam Acosta are also on the coaching staff.
 
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.
 
Ready to defend
 
In addition to the team championships that they will be trying to defend, the Mavericks have seven individuals and three relay teams who will be looking to defend their conference titles in 14 events.
 
On the women's side, Brittany Dixon won the 1-meter diving crown last year.  CMU also won the 800-yard freestyle relay and two of those four swimmers are back this year in now juniors Kennedy Bright and Maddie Pressler.
 
The list of returning champions on the men's side is a bit more plentiful as Mahmoud Elgayar (100 breast, 200 breast), Logan Ellis (500, 1000 and 1650 free), Zander Minano (50 free) return after winning titles as a freshman.  Now senior Pedro Terres Illescas also swept the 100 and 200 butterfly titles in his first year as a Maverick last season while divers Ammar Hassan and Noah Macomber won the 1 and 3-meter crowns, respectively, last season.
 
The Maverick men also won the 400 medley and 800 free relays last year and return five of the combined eight legs from those teams.   Lane Austin was a member of the 400 medley relay championship team with Elgayar and Terres Illescas while Ellis and Justin Fell helped win the 800 free relay.
 
Double-Digit Diving list
 
Heading into the RMAC Championships, the Mavericks have an impressive 11 divers who have already set NCAA qualifying marks.
 
Thus, and if selected by diving coach Logan Pearsall, each is already 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' diving qualifiers thus far are Tanner Belliston, Isiaih Cheeks, Ammar Hassan, Chandler Livingston, Noah Luna, Noah Macomber on the men's side and Natalya Dahlke, Brittany Dixon, Kaylee Eakman, Jolynn Harris and Ali Lange.
 
From the pre-qualification meet, 18 men and 22 women will be selected for the official championships.
 
Streaking around the RMAC
 
The Maverick women have won 22 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 four seasons, finishing a perfect 6-0 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 13 events, including all five relays.
 
Here is a listing of the Mavericks' conference leaders, as of Thursday 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
 
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 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
 
*- Tied for the conference lead
#- Non Championship event

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.
 
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-64^th, 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 (14^th, 9:21.45), Rau (16^th, 9:21.65), Ellis (36^th, 9:30.61)
1650 Free- Rau (12^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 (17t, 1:49.64)
200 IM- Mahmoud Elgayar (15^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-50^th, 23.75), Lauren White (T-71^st, 23.88)
100 Free- Maddie Pressler (T-40^th, 51.65), Lauren White (63^rd, 52.06)
200 Free- Pressler (25^th, 1:51.43), Lauren White (44^th, 1:52.19)
500 Free- Abbey Selin (42^nd, 5:01.85), Robyn Naze (68^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 (21^st, 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 (30^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.
 
Men
200 Free- 1:20.54 (7^th)
200 Medley- 1:28.00 (3^rd)
400 Medley- 3:15.79 (4^th)
 
Up Next
 
After the RMAC Championships, the Mavericks will do a bit of "scoreboard" watching as individuals will see where their times put them in the NCAA Division II Championship selection process, outlined above.  The official selections will be announced on Feb. 26 in advance of the championships, which officially begin on Mar. 11 in Geneva, Ohio.