GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The nation's fourth-ranked Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams will resume their season on Friday when they travel to the United States Air Force and the Falcons' Cadet Natatorium for an evening meet, their first of 2022 and first in nearly seven weeks.
 
Action will begin at 5 p.m., an hour later than the earlier announced 4 p.m. start time, and can be seen on the Falcons' YouTube site.  Fans are permitted, but must adhere to the academy's COVID policies, listed below.
 
The Maverick women will be one of four teams slated to compete in the 13-event affair, joining the host Falcons, fellow NCAA Division I Northern Colorado and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Colorado School of Mines, ranked 20 spots below and 24th in the latest CSCAA Division II Coaches Poll.

UPDATE AS OF THURSDAY MORNING: Northern Colorado has withdrawn from the meet due to COVID-19 protocols within the Bears' program.
 
The Maverick men will take part in a triangular with the host Falcons and Mines, ranked 16th in Division II.
 
Standard dual meet scores will be calculated for each head-to-head match-up.
 
The Dixie State women were also scheduled to compete in what would have been a 5-team women's meet, but have since withdrawn.
 
Saturday plans
 
The Mavericks were also slated to compete in a men's triangular with the same opponents and a women's dual at Mines on Saturday morning but have since changed those plans upon mutual agreement of the involved teams.  The Maverick squad will instead will participate at a fund-raising event.
 
What's at Stake
 
In addition to attempting to claim a second win over Division I opponents this season, the Maverick squads will try to remain undefeated against Division II opposition and extend long RMAC dual winning streaks in the match-ups with Mines, who will be their final Division II dual opponent of the season.
 
If the Maverick men, currently 7-2 in dual meets this season, are able to win one leg of Friday's triangular, they would match their program record for dual wins in a season.  A Friday sweep would allow the Mavericks to set a new program-record of nine dual wins in a season.
 
The 2011-12 Maverick men went 8-4 while the 2013-14 team was 8-7.
 
The Maverick women are currently 10-6 overall and have reached double figures for wins just once previously, going 13-6 in 2019-10.  If the Mav women were able to sweep their opponents on Friday, they would match that mark.
 
Both CMU teams are also slated to compete in a pair of tri-meets at BYU and Utah on Jan. 21 and 22.
 
Meet Format
 
Friday's swimming events that will be contested are the 200-yard medley relay, 1000 freestyle, 200 free, 50 free, 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 100 free, 100 backstroke, 500 free, 100 breaststroke and 200 freestyle relay in that order.  Diving events will be contested during swimming breaks after the 400 IM and 500 free.
 
There will be two scoring heats in most of the events with some additional non-scoring third heats.  The 1,000-yard freestyle will be only one heat and the higher seeded swimmers for each team will compete in the first heat of the other events.  The Mavericks are slated to swim in lanes 4 and 8 of the women's races and in lanes 4 and 7 during men's events.
 
COVID policies
 
The U.S. Air Force Academy's official language on COVID-19 related protocols for fan attendance is as follows.
 
"Current Department of Defense and Air Force Academy policies require all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, to wear a mask when indoors in all Academy facilities, elevators and restrooms. All individuals who have not been fully vaccinated must also wear masks outdoors at all times while on the installation. Fans who are fully vaccinated and are not required to wear a mask when outdoors. Anyone with a COVID-19 diagnosis within the previous 10 days, or any symptoms suggestive of possible COVID-19, or a recent close contact with an individual known to be positive for COVID-19 should not come to the stadium. These policies will be constantly evaluated and any changes will be communicated."
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavs were last in action during the A3 Performance Invitational, which they hosted from Nov. 17-20 in the El Pomar Natatorium.
 
The Maverick men won all 22 meets throughout the meet, scoring 1607 ½ team points to win their fifth straight and tenth team title.  The CMU women also won 12 of the 21 scored events and shared the team title with NCAA Division I Northern Arizona.  Both the Mavericks and Lumberjacks, the 8-time defending Western Athletic Conference Champions, finished with 1,168 team points as the Mavericks won a thrilling 400-yard freestyle relay to forge the tie at the conclusion of a thrilling 4-day meet.
 
Individually, the Mavericks had multiple impressive efforts as they combined to set 15 new school-records and scores of NCAA Division II Championship qualifying efforts.

Ben Sampson and Lily Borgenheimer led the way as they were named as the Male and Female Swimmers of the Meet.
 
Sampson won all seven of his individual and relay events with meet-record times while NCAA championship qualifying times in ten different disciplines.   His 100 and 200-yard backstroke times continue to lead the country and have automatically qualified him for the NCAA Division II Championships.
 
Borgenheimer won all three of her individual events with meet record and NCAA Qualifying times, including a NCAA Division II leading and automatic qualifying time in her specialty, the 200 yard breaststroke.
 
New Year, New High
 
The Maverick men and women will both begin 2022 with their highest ever national rankings.  Both Maverick squads are ranked fourth in the latest CSCAA (College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America) NCAA Division II polls that were released on Dec. 9. 
 
The Maverick men moved up two spots from sixth in the November poll.  The CMU women had been ranked seventh in the November edition of the poll.
 
The Maverick men are the highest of three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference squads in the top 25 poll with Oklahoma Christian and the Colorado School of Mines occupying the 12^th and 18^th spots, respectively.  The Mines women are ranked 24^th and is the only other RMAC women's squad in the top 25.
 
New rankings are scheduled to be released on Jan. 19.
 
In the clouds
 
The Mavericks are also highly ranked in the Swimcloud rankings, which are based on season-best times submitted to the web site.
 
The Maverick men are ranked fourth in both the dual meet and championship meet rankings as of Monday (Jan. 3).  CMU's women sit seventh in dual meet rankings and are eighth in the championship rankings.
 
Record Book Re-Write
 
The Mavericks certainly got the proverbial red pen out as they re-wrote major portions of their record book, combining to set 15 new school records during the A3 Performance Invite.
 
A listing of all of the new school-records set during the meet can be found below.
 
The Mavericks also set a multitude of other program top-10 performer times during the meet.  The updated top 10 lists can be seen at these links (MEN – WOMEN)
 
Men
100 Back- Ben Sampson (46.36*)
200 Back- Ben Sampson (1:42.71*)
200 Free Relay- Sampson, Lane Austin, Mado Elkady, Felipe D'Orsi (1:20.05)
200 Medley Relay- Sampson, Mahmoud Elgayar, Dejan Urbanek, D'Orsi (1:27.04)
400 Medley Relay- Sampson, Elgayar, Urbanek, Matheus Laperriere (3:12.76*)
50 Back- Sampson (21.75#)
50 Fly- Urbanek (22.39$)
 
Women
200 Free- Lauren White (1:49.18*#)
500 Free- Kelsea Wright (4:55.78*)
1000 Free- Amelia Kinnard (10:10.59*)
100 Back- White (54.92*)
200 IM- Lily Borgenheimer (2:01.94*)
400 Free Relay- White, Ruby Bottai, Wright, Davy Brown (3:23.53*)
800 Free Relay- White, Wright, Katerina Matoskova, Bottai (7:24.42*)
50 Back- White (25.69#)
 
*-Altitude-Adjusted Time
#-Relay Lead-Off Split
$-Beginning Split from Longer Race
 
Fastest-Ever Division II American
 
Ben Sampson's 100-yard backstroke time of 46.46 seconds that he turned in during the A3 Performance Invitational moved him into the No. 6 spot on the all-time Division II top performers' chart.  The Arvada, Colorado native is also the fastest-ever American Division II swimmer as each of the top five and eight of the top 10 swimmers are foreigners.
 
Sampson also leads this year's Division II performers list in the 200 back at 1:42.71.
 
See you in Greensboro
 
While Ben Sampson and Lily Borgenheimer lead Division II with their automatic or "A" standard marks for this year's NCAA Division II National Championships, they are far from the only Mavericks who are in good position to earn a trip to the Mar. 9-12 national meet in Greensboro, North Carolina.
 
A total of 26 (17 men, 9 women) different Maverick swimmers in 26 (all 14 men's, 12 women) different individual events have met the NCAA provisional or "B" cut standard.  The Mavs, who have an impressive 65 such "B" cut or better times from those individuals also have eight different swimmers and two divers who rank in the top 10 nationally.  That group covers 17 different events.
 
Additionally, the Mavericks have set a NCAA qualifying time in eight (5 men's, 3 women's) of the ten different relay events and have four divers in Tanner Belliston, Kyra Apodaca, Jolynn Harris and Ali Lange, who have also locked up a spot at the NCAA Division II Championship pre-championship qualification meet as well.  The results of that meet, held on the eve (Mar. 8) of the national meet, determine the diving qualifiers into the official championship field.
 
Here is the a look at the Maverick individuals who rank in the top 10 nationally as of Tuesday.
 
Men
200 Free- Matheus Laperriere (1:36.43, 3^rd), Kuba Kiszczak (1:37.04, 8^th)
500 Free- Dejan Urbanek (4:23.65, 2^nd)
100 Back- Ben Sampson (46.36, 1^st)
200 Back- Sampson (1:42.71, 1^st)
200 Fly- Urbanek (1:46.13, 6^th)
200 IM- Sampson (1:47.65, 7^th)
1m Diving- Belliston (486.80, 2^nd)
3m Diving- Belliston (496.50, 6^th)
 
Women
200 Free- Lauren White (1:49.18, 3^rd), Kelsea Wright (1:50.34, 6^th)
500 Free- Wright (4:55.78, 10^th)
1000 Free- Amelia Kinnard (10:10.59, 5^th)
100 Back- White (54.92, 9^th)
100 Breast- Lily Borgenheimer (1:01.98, 4^th)
200 Breast- Borgenheimer (2:12.71, 1^st)
200 IM- Borgenheimer (2:01.94, 7^th)
1m Diving- Jolynn Harris (475.11, 1^st); Ali Lange (451.20, 5^th)
3m Diving- Harris (457.80, 5^th)
 
*- All times are altitude adjusted
$- Diving Ranks are based on 11-dive scores submitted to Swimcloud
 
RMAC Dominance
 
The Maverick teams have won the last three RMAC Championship titles and extended their long-standing RMAC dual-meet winning streaks at the CMU Duals at the end of October.
 
The Maverick women have now won 31 consecutive RMAC duals dating back more than five years to Jan. 22, 2016.  The CMU men, who have fewer conference foes to swim against, have now won 11 straight RMAC duals since the start of the 2016-17 campaign.
 
Friday's match-ups with Mines will be the last scheduled RMAC duals of the 2021-22 season as the Maverick squads look to wrap up their sixth straight undefeated RMAC seasons while extending their conference winning streaks to 32 and 12.
 
Conference Leaders
 
The Mavericks appear to be the favorites to repeat their RMAC team titles this year and currently have the RMAC's top performer in 21 of the 28 individual swimming events that will be contested at the RMAC Championships, which the the Mavericks will host for the third straight year from Feb. 9-12 in the El Pomar Natatorium.
 
They also have the top diving performer in all four diving disciplines and the top time in all ten relays events.
 
Here is the look at all of the Mavericks' RMAC leaders entering this weekend.
 
Men
50 Free- Ben Sampson (20.10)
200 Free- Matheus Laperriere (1:36.43)
500 Free- Dejan Urbanek (4:23.65)
1000 Free- Gavin Anderson (9:24.80)
1650 Free- Anderson (15:45.02)
100 Back- Sampson (46.36)
200 Back- Sampson (1:42.71)
100 Fly- Urbanek (48.09)
200 Fly- Urbanek (1:46.13)
200 IM- Sampson (1:47.65)
400 IM- Jake Simmons (3:57.37)
200 Free Relay- Sampson, Lane Austin, Mado Elkady, Felipe D'Orsi (1:20.05)
400 Free Relay- Sampson, Laperriere, D'Orsi, Austin (2:58.77)
800 Free Relay- Laperriere, Kuba Kiszczak, Logan Ellis, John Walgast (6:35.18)
200 Medley Relay- Sampson, Mahmoud Elgayar, Urbanek, D'Orsi (1:27.04)
400 Medley Relay- Sampson, Elgayar, Urbanek, Laperriere (3:12.76)
1m Diving- Tanner Belliston (486.80*)
3m Diving- Belliston (496.50*)
 
Women
50 Free- Julie Day (23.80)
100 Free- Lauren White (51.06)
200 Free- White (1:49.18)
500 Free- Kelsea Wright (4:55.78)
1000 Free- Amelia Kinnard (10:10.59)
100 Back- White (54.92)
200 Back- White (1:59.85)
100 Breast- Lily Borgenheimer (1:01.98)
200 Breast- Borgenheimer (2:12.71)
200 IM- Borgenheimer (2:01.94)
200 Free Relay- Day, Logan Anderson, Ruby Bottai, Izzy Powers (1:34.48)
400 Free Relay- White, Bottai, Wright, Brown (3:23.53)
800 Free Relay- White, Wright, Katerina Matoskova, Bottai (7:24.42)
200 Medley Relay- White, Borgenheimer, Brown, Powers (1:42.47)
400 Medley Relay- White, Borgenheimer, Bella Walters, Brown (3:47.82)
1m Diving- Jolynn Harris (475.55*)
3m Diving- Harris (457.80*)
 
*11-Dive Scores
 
Returning All-Americans
 
After claiming all-time program-best finishes of 11^th (men) and 12^th (women) at the 2021 NCAA Division II National Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, the Mavericks appear to be quite strong once again this season with the return of 17 athletes, who have previous earned all-America honors in 2021 and/or prior seasons.
 
The list of returning all-Americans men includes diving selections Tanner Belliston and Isaiah Cheeks, as well as swimming standouts Lane Austin, Felipe D'Orsi, Mahmoud Elgayar, Logan Ellis and Matheus Laperriere.
 
The CMU women are even deeper with the return of all-Americans Logan Anderson, Lily Borgenheimer, Davy Brown, Sarah Fillerup, Katerina Matoskova, Robyn Naze, Lauren White and Kelsea Wright in the swimming events as well as Jolynn Harris and Ali Lange on the diving boards.  Harris finished second on the 1-meter board at last year's national championships while Borgenheimer and White each won six CSCAA All-America certificates last year to co-set the program record for honors in a single season.
 
Honors Sweeps
 
The Mavericks have swept the RMAC Swimmer and Diver of the Week awards after each of the four times weeks that they competed this season.  Going a perfect 16-for-16 as a team in their opportunities, the Mavericks have also a pair individuals go 4-for-5 while seven different Mavericks have been recognized.
 
Ben Sampson, the 2020-21 RMAC Freshman of the Year, has been named as the RMAC Men's Swimmer of the Week all four times he has been eligible.  The same can be said about Tanner Belliston, who has received the Men's Diver of the Week award on Oct. 7, Oct. 28, Nov. 11 and Nov. 25.   He now has five such career honors.
 
Meanwhile, Lily Borgenheimer was named as the RMAC Women's Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 25, her second honor of the season and fourth of her CMU career.
 
Jolynn Harris was named as the RMAC Women's Diver of the Week for the third time this season and the eighth time of her career after her A3 Performance Invitational efforts.
 
CMU's Lauren White (Oct. 7) and Katerina Matoskova (Oct. 28) had been recognized as the RMAC Swimmer of the Week earlier in the season while Ali Lange was named as the RMAC Women's Diver of the Week on Nov. 11.
 
Defending Champions a plenty
 
The Mavericks have a host of returning RMAC Champions who will look to defend their titles in February.  On the men's side, the Mavericks won 17 events in 2021 and return the champions in ten of  the 12 individual events they won to this year's team.  That list includes Gavin Anderson (1000 & 1650 free), Matheus Laperriere (200 Free, 500 Free, 200 IM), Ben Sampson (50 Free, 100 Back), Mahmoud Elgayar (100 Breast, 200 Breast) and Jake Simmons (400 IM).  The Maverick men also swept all five of the relay events last season and return 18 of the combined 20 legs from those quartets.
 
The Maverick women won a meet-high nine events last season, and like their male counterparts, swept the relay wins.  Lily Borgenheimer (200 IM, 200 Breast) and Lauren White (200 Free) return as do 12 combined legs from the winning relay teams.
 
Scouting the Opponents/Series Histories
 
Air Force (Men)
 
The Mavericks and Falcons will meet for the second time this season.  CMU posted a 206-202 dual meet win over the Falcons during the Intermountain Shootout back on Oct. 1-2, marking the first time in 21 tries that the Mavericks had defeated their military opponents.  The victory was also just the second ever men's win over a Division I opponent.
 
The Falcons' last competitive effort was on Nov. 19 at the prestigious Art Adamson Invitational at Texas A&M.  Senior Adam Grimm set a school-record time of 3:48.50 in the 400 IM while Wen Zhang won the 200 free with a Western Athletic Conference record time of 1:33.74, one of three NCAA Division I Championship B cut times to earn WAC Swimmer of the Week honors.
 
Mines (Men)
 
The Orediggers took part in CMU's A3 Performance Invitational in November finishing second behind CMU.  Harry Smith set two program records and he and Charles Burroughs both scored 61 individual points, equal to second most.
 
The Orediggers, who also competed against the Mavericks in a pair of triangulars with Augustana on Oct. 22 and 23 currently have a 2-4 overall dual meet-record, including a 0-2 mark against the Mavericks and the RMAC.
 
CMU is 21-5 all-time against the Oredigger men in previous dual meets and have won each of the last 15 match-ups since and including 2013.
 
Air Force (Women)
 
The Falcons' last action came on Dec. 21 when they dropped a tight 108-91 Mountain West Conference dual meet decision to San Diego State, which was part of a winter training trip to Coronado Island.  The Falcons won three events and had 14 individual top-three finishes.
 
Earlier, Corbyn Cormack received her third MW Freshman of the Week award after she set an Air Force record and MW leading 100-yard butterfly time of 53.57 and 200-yard individual medley winning time of 1:59.40, which also leads the Mountain West, at Houston's Phil Hansel Invitational.
 
The Falcon women hold a 19-0 all-time dual record against the Mavericks and claimed a 231-179 win as part of the 9-team Intermountain Shootout at the beginning of this season.
 
Mines (Women)
 
The Oredigger women, ranked 24^th in Division II, have been regular opposition of the Mavericks again this season.  They finished third behind CMU and Northern Arizona at the A3 Performance Invitational taking second place in three events. 
 
The Orediggers sport a 4-6 dual-meet record having defeated Western Colorado twice and Augustana once during the CMU Duals on back-to-back days in October. 
 
The Mavericks have dominated the all-time series winning 29 of the 32 duals between the teams, including each of the last 11 meetings since and including 2016.
 
Northern Colorado (Women)
 
The Bears have put together a strong 9-1 dual meet season and took second place out ten teams in their last action at Dixie State's mid-season invitational in their last outing (Nov. 18-20).
 
The Bears won three events during that meet and currently top the WAC Swimcloud Championship meet rankings, edging Northern Arizona.
 
At the Dixie State meet, Madelyn Moore won two individual events, shattered four school records en-route to earning her third WAC Swimmer of the Week award.  She then went on to set the Bermudian national record in the 50 free while representing her country at last month's FINA Short Course (25m) World Championships in Abu Dhabi.
 
The Mavericks and Bears tangled during the Intermountain Shootout to begin the year, with the Bears winning that 2-day meet decision, 250-157 while finishing second overall behind only Colorado State.  In between, UNC has posted WAC dual wins over New Mexico State and Idaho and claimed a 151-148 road win at Wyoming on Nov. 4, the day before the Mavericks faced off against the Cowgirls in Laramie.
 
The Bears lead CMU 8-1 in the all-time dual meet series and have won the last four meetings over the past two seasons after a nearly 4-year gap of no direct head-to-head competition between the programs.
 
Up Next
 
After Friday's meet, the Mavericks will be off for one weekend before returning to action with a pair of triangular meets against NCAA Division I foes in Utah.  They will compete at BYU in Provo on Friday, Jan. 21 and at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Jan. 22.  The University of Denver is also slated to compete in both tri-meets.