GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Colorado Mesa University men's swimming and diving team members posted the fastest time or best diving score in all 16 events and combined to set ten NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying times and four national-leading marks, while sweeping both legs of a triangular on Saturday during Day 2 action of the CMU Duals here in the El Pomar Natatorium.
The nation's eighth-ranked Mavericks, who had all of their swimmers exhibition each of the final three events, still crushed No. 21 and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Colorado School of Mines, 191-89, and were victorious over Augustana College of Sioux Falls, South Dakota by an even wider 199-77 margin in the double-dual while completing the weekend sweep over both foes.
In the process, the Mavericks improved to 7-1 in duals on the young season. They are 3-0 against RMAC opponents and have now won 11 straight duals against conference opponents dating back to the start of the 2016-17 campaign.
Freshman
Kuba Kiszczak and redshirt freshman
Ben Sampson each set a pair of NCAA qualifying marks in individual events.
Felipe D'Orsi,
Mado Elkady, Matheus Laperreire and
Dejan Urbanek all had one as well while Sampson set two others on relay led-off legs.
Tanner Belliston also won both diving events for the second straight day completing his personal weekend 4-for-4 sweep.
Meanwhile,
Mahmoud Elgayar, Kiszczak, Laperreire, Sampson and Urbanek put on a show that the United Nations would have been proud of as all five, who hail from five different countries, including the United States each claimed two individual wins.
Elgayar was a triple-winner overall, sweeping the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events with times of 56.55 seconds and 2:07.41. The Egyptian (Cairo) also teamed with Sampson, Urbanek and Kiszczak to win the 400 medley relay in a nation-leading 3:17.55 (3:17.15-altitude adjusted) to begin the day.
Kiszczak, a freshman from Mnichowice, Poland, was second behind Laperreire in the 200 free but came back to win the 100 free in 45.30 seconds, a NCAA "B" cut time that moves him to No. 8 spot in program-history for that discipline with the altitude-adjustment of a tenth of a second. He also swam a leg on CMU's 400 free relay team that capped the meet with an exhibition time of 3:01.80, more than five seconds better than Mines' official winning time of 3:07.44. Sampson, Elkady, and D'Orsi were also on that team.
Laperreire, a redshirt sophomore out of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, started his day by winning the 200 free in 1:39.05 as Kiszczak was second in 1:39.61. Both were well under the altitude-adjusted NCAA provisional qualifying standard of 1:41.49 With the 1.2-second altitude-adjustments, they stand first and second in Division II this year. Kiszczak now ranks sixth in program history at 1:38.41 while Laperreire, the Maverick record holder, leads Division II at 1:37.85.
Laperreire then won the 500 free in 4:43.93 before posting the top time of 1:53.39 in the 200 individual medley as an exhibition swim in the final individual event of the meet.
Sampson, a native of Arvada, Colorado who has spent extended time in Costa Rica, led a group of three Maverick NCAA qualifiers in the 50 free with a time of 20.33 seconds to rank third nationally. He then won the 200 back in 1:48.46 and leads Division II by nearly a second with an altitude-adjusted time of 1:47.26. His lead-off 100 back split of 47.54 (altitude-adjusted) also extended his national lead in that discipline. He also opened up the 400 free relay with a NCAA "B" cut split of 45.47.
Urbanek, a true freshman out of Novi Sad, Serbia, won the 200 fly in 1:51.84 and posted the top time of 48.85 seconds in the 100 fly, the first event in which CMU pulled out of the team-scoring push. With the altitude-adjustment that lowers his mark to 47.75, Urbanek ranks second nationally this year and sixth in Maverick lore.
Elsewhere, captain
Lane Austin also had a solid time of 49.83 seconds to win the 100 back ahead of freshman teammate
Jeremy Koch (50.74).
Freshman
Stef Teutsch also won an event for the second straight day, taking the 1000 free in 9:53.01 after winning the 1650 free on Friday night.
Meanwhile, four Mavericks broke the minute mark in the 100 breast during a 1-4 sweep of that event. Elgayar led the bunch while
Noah Maestas (58.45),
George Durin (48.76) and
Lucas Viana (59.59) also posted fast times.
The 50 free was CMU's biggest NCAA qualifying haul as Sampson led the way ahead of Elkady (20.41) and D'Orsi (20.58), who also posted "B" cut marks. Elkady ranks fourth in the country this season and seventh in program history while D'Orsi maintained his No. 9 CMU positioning with his new career-best.
The Mavericks also went 1-4 in the 100 free with Kiszczak leading the way. Elkady (45.99), D'Orsi (47.34) and
Bailey Usey (47.84) were also a part of the sweep.
CMU was even better in the 200 back claiming the top five places. Koch (1:50.95),
Andrew Scoggin (1:51.87), Austin (1:52.21) and
John Walgast (1:54.54) were all a part of that.
Maestas took second behind Elgayar in the 200 breast at 2:08.30 while Teutsch (4:48.29),
Gavin Anderson (4:50.59) and
Jacob Troescher (4:51.66) were a part of a 1-4 finish in the 500 free behind Laperreire.
Belliston was just 1.45 points off the NCAA qualifying standard on the 1-meter diving board as he tallied 283.55 points over six dives. He also scored 293.85 points, just 1.15 away from the qualifying standard, to win the 3-meter. Both scores were new 6-dive career bests.
Freshman
Dylan Apicello was second in both events with scores of 233.20 (1m) and 229.55 (3m).
The Mavericks will be off next week before resuming their season on Friday, Nov. 5 with a 3 p.m. dual at Division I Wyoming at Laramie High School.