GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving programs will continue their seasons with their final pre-conference championship duals of the campaign this weekend against Division I foes in Utah.
 
Both the Maverick men and women will travel to Provo for a Friday afternoon affair (4 p.m.) against the BYU Cougars before heading to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Utes on Saturday.
 
The women's dual with Utah will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a slate of 11 swimming events.  A coed diving session will begin at 11 a.m. while a men's swimming session is slated for noon or one hour after the women's swimmers have cleared the pool.
 
How to follow the Mavs
 
Due to COVID-19 protocols, neither of the duals are open to the general public although parents will be permitted to attend Friday's dual at BYU through a pre-arranged pass list.
 
Friday's dual will also be live streamed on BYU's You Tube account (new link above).   Utah will not be streaming Saturday's event.

Recaps of both days will be posted on cmumavericks.com.
 
Meet Details/Scoring
 
Both meets will include competition in 13 events, including both diving disciplines.
 
The complete meet formats/event schedules can be found below.
 
Individual athletes are limited to scoring in two individual events and one relay or both relays and one individual event.
 
Friday's BYU Dual Format
 
400 Medley Relay
1000 Free
200 Free
50 Free
200 IM
1-Meter Diving
200 Fly
100 Free
200 Back
500 Free
3-Meter Diving
200 Breast
800 Free Relay
 
Saturday's Utah Dual Format
 
200 Medley Relay
1000 Free
200 Free
50 Free
200 IM
Break
100 Fly
100 Free
100 Back
500 Free
Break
100 Breast
400 Free Relay
Diving- 1 & 3-meter events held at 11 a.m. between the women's (9:30 a.m.) and men's (Noon swimming sessions).
 
Last Time Out
 
Both Maverick teams were in action on Jan. 8 and 9 competing at the U.S. Air Force Academy's Cadet Natatorium.
 
The Maverick women competed in a pair of quad meets against the Falcons, fellow NCAA Division I foe Northern Colorado and the Colorado School of Mines, going 1-2 on each day while extending their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual-meet winning streak to 25 with wins over Mines on both days.
 
The Maverick men finished second in a pair of separate invitational-style scored meets, finishing behind Division I Air Force but ahead of Mines in each.
 
The Mavericks also had some strong individual efforts throughout the two days. 
 
On the women's side, junior Lily Borgenheimer broke three school records and won four events with RMAC-leading times.  Fellow junior Jolynn Harris also won three of the four diving events and qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships.
 
In the men's competition, Torsten Rau (500 Free) and Tanner Belliston (3m Diving) claimed event wins in the first Friday (Jan. 8) meet.  They also won those same events during the second meet on that Saturday (Jan. 9) and were joined by Lane Austin (200 Back) and Mahmoud Elgayar (200 breast) as additional winners.
 
Borgenheimer set new Maverick records in the 100 breast (1:02.54), 200 breast (2:13.47) and 200 IM (2:03.40), all of which were also NCAA Division II Championship "B" Cut marks.
 
RMAC Three-peat favorites
 
Both Maverick teams were picked big favorites to win their third consecutive RMAC title, according to the Preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll, released back in October.
 
After setting a championship scoring record of 1,171 ½ points to claim the 2019-20 RMAC Championship title by 419 ½ points, the Maverick women received all seven possible first place votes and topped the poll with 49 points. in the poll, which asked all eight women's coaches to rank their opposition 1-7 without voting for their own team. 
 
Mines received Maverick Coach Mickey Wender's first place vote and were picked second with 42 points.
 
The Maverick men were also picked to three-peat, receiving all four possible first place votes and 16 points in the poll.  Mines received Wender's first place vote and checked in second out of five teams with 13 points.
 
In 2019-20, the Maverick men won 13 of the 21 individual events to take the conference title with a strong scoring total of 1,166 points.  In 2018-19, the Mavericks set a meet-championship record of 1,261 points.
 
RMAC Honors Sweep
 
For their efforts at the Air Force meets, the Mavericks swept all four the RMAC Athlete of the Week honors, which were announced on Jan. 13.  Lily Borgenheimer was named as the RMAC Women's Swimmer of the Week while Jolynn Harris earned the diving honor.  The honors were the second for each this season as they had also swept the Nov. 2 honors.  Harris also received the honor four times in 2019-20, her first campaign with the Mavericks.
 
Torsten Rau was named as the RMAC Swimmer of the Week for the first time this season and the sixth of his career while Tanner Belliston picked up his first RMAC Men's Diver of the Week plaudit.
 
Although competition has been limited in 2020-21, the Mavericks have also swept all eight honors that they have been eligible for this entire season. 
 
Freshman Katerina Mataskova was named as the RMAC Swimmer of the Week after winning the 200-yard freestyle while placing second in two other events against Northern Colorado.  Diving events were not held in that meet.
 
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Elgayar was named as the RMAC Men's Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 23 after setting three NCAA Division II Championship provisional times during the Maverick Open time trial meet.
 
25 and counting
 
With the Jan. 8 (173-63) and Jan. 9 (147-71) dual wins over Mines, the Maverick women have extended their long RMAC dual-meet winning streak to 25.  That streak dates back five calendar years to Jan. 22, 2016, when the Mavericks defeated Western, 155-144.  They have defeated Mines nine times in that streak.
 
The victories also assured the Maverick women of a fifth consecutive undefeated RMAC dual season.
 
The Mavericks, who are 3-0 in limited competition against RMAC foes this season, went 6-0 in RMAC dual meets last season and in 2017-18 while going 5-0 in 2018-19.  They were also 4-0 in 2016-17 and now sport an impressive 62-7-1 all-time RMAC dual meet mark, good for an .893 winning percentage.
 
CMU's men, who have fewer RMAC opponents to compete against, especially close to home, have won their last eight RMAC duals dating back to the start of the 2016-17 season.  They are 30-10 (.750) all-time in RMAC duals and have posted a winning RMAC dual record in each of their last ten seasons after going 0-3 in their inaugural 2019-20 season.
 
Because the format of the Air Force meets were switched to invitational-style, the Mavericks will not have any RMAC duals on their record this year.
 
Lone Men's Duals
 
In fact this weekend's meets with BYU and Utah are slated to be the only duals that the Maverick men have in this COVID-19 affected season.  The Maverick women are 3-5 overall so far in 2019-20.  All five losses have come against NCAA Division I foes.
 
RMAC Leaders
 
Despite the limited competition opportunities thus far, the Mavericks have combined to hold the fastest times in the conference this season in a league-high 22 different swimming events (14 women, 8 men)
 
An overwhelming majority (17 of those times were set during the meets at Air Force on Jan. 8 and 9.
 
All of CMU's individual leaders with their altitude-adjusted times are listed below.  Complete top time reports can be accessed here.
 
Women
100 Free- Maddie Pressler (53.11)*
200 Free- Lily Borgenheimer (1:54.61)*
1000 Free- Isabelle Hansson (10:40.49)*
50 Back^- Grace Payton (26.77)*
100 Back- Elsa Huebsch (56.74)*
200 Back- Sarah Fillerup (2:03.65)
100 Breast- Lily Borgenheimer (1:02.54)*
200 Breast- Lily Borgenheimer (2:13.47)*
200 Fly- Isabelle Hansson (2:09.89)
200 IM- Lily Borgenheimer (2:03.40)*
400 IM- Grace Payton (4:36.91)*
400 Free Relay- Maddie Pressler, Noel Scott, Natalie Saul, Logan Anderson (3:33.34)*
200 Medley Relay- Grace Payton, Lily Borgenheimer, Noel Scott, Logan Anderson (1:45.49)*
400 Medley Relay- Elsa Huebsch, Lily Borgenheimer, Noel Scott, Logan Anderson (3:50.58)*

Men
1000 Free- Torsten Rau (9:45.10)*
100 Back- Lane Austin (49.46)*
200 Back- Lane Austin (1:52.22)*
100 Breast- Mahmoud Elgayar (54.86)
200 Breast- Mahmoud Elgayar (1:59.26)
200 IM- Mahmoud Elgayar (1:50.47)
200 Free Relay- Ben Sampson, Felipe D'Orsi, George Durin, Lane Austin (1:22.98)*
400 Medley Relay- Lane Austin, Mahmoud Elgayar, Treven Wertz, Ben Sampson (3:19.12)*
 
*-Set during the Air Force Meets (Jan. 8 or 9)
^-Non-Championship Event
 
NCAA Qualifiers
 
Lily Borgenheimer and Mahmoud Elgayar are the two Maverick swimmers that have set NCAA "B" cut times thus far in 2020-21.  They have both done so in three different events.
 
Here are the current national rankings as of Wednesday
 
Women
100 Breast- Borgenheimer (4^th, 1:02.54)
200 Breast- Borgenheimer (2^nd, 2:13.47)
200 IM- Borgenheimer (7^th, 2:03.40)

Men
100 Breast- Elgayar (8^th, 54.86)
200 Breast- Elgayar (3^rd, 1:59.26)
200 IM- Elgayar (15^th, 1:50.47)
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavericks will be looking for their first all-time wins against this week's Division I foes.
 
The Maverick men are 0-11 against BYU and 0-7 all-time against Utah.  CMU's women are 0-8 against BYU and 0-3 against Utah all-time. 
 
The Mavericks faced BYU twice last season, falling by just 13 points (155-142) in an Oct. 18 dual in Provo after facing them at home as part of the Intermountain Shootout on Oct. 4 and 5.  CMU's men last took on the Utes on Oct. 11. 2018, falling 111-81 in Salt Lake City.
 
The Maverick women have faced BYU every season since 2013-14 with all but one of those meetings coming at home as part of the traditional season-opening Intermountain Shootout.  They also faced the Cougars on Oct. 18, 2019 in Provo, falling 222-76, two weeks after the Cougars posted a 293-99 dual win during the Intermountain Shootout on Oct. 4 and 5.
 
The Maverick women last competed against Utah on Oct. 7, 2016 as part of the Intermountain Shootout and all three previous duals have come at home at the El Pomar Natatorium.
 
About the Cougars
 
The Cougars have competed on each of the past two weekends after holding their only fall meet virtually on Halloween against Cal Poly.
 
Last Friday, the Cougar men won all 13 events in a dual at the University of Denver, taking the win 196-39.  The Cougar women won 12 events and claimed a 171-71 win.
 
On Saturday, the BYU men defeated Wyoming, 157-83 and host Air Force, 142-99 in a triangular at the Falcons' Cadet Natatorium.  The BYU women also swept two wins, defeating Air Force, 150-93, and Wyoming 146-96.
 
The Cougars also competed in a time trials meet against Utah on Jan. 8.
 
In 2019-20, the Cougar men finished second while their women took third at the Mountain Pacific Federation Championships.
 
About the Utes
 
The Ute women posted a 140-118 dual win at Washington State in Pullman last Friday (Jan. 15), setting three pool records in the win over the Cougars.   Utah's men have yet to compete in a team-scored meet although both units contested the aforementioned time trials meet on Jan. 8.
 
Utah's divers have also been busy, competing in three diving invitationals thus far in 2020-21, including at UCLA last weekend.
 
In 2019-20, the Utah men went 3-4 in dual meets and took fifth out of six teams at the Pac-12 Championships.  The Ute women were 6-3 in dual meets and finished seventh out of eight teams at the conference meet.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will begin final preparations for their final RMAC Championship defenses.  The Mavericks will host the RMAC Championships for the second straight year, from Feb. 17-21 in the El Pomar Natatorium.