GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Diver
Isaiah Cheeks and swimmers
Ben Sampson and
Dejan Urbanek all won multiple individual events while Sampson and Urbanek helped win the 400-yard medley relay to lead the Colorado Mesa University Maverick men to eight event wins in a hard-fought Saturday afternoon swimming and diving dual against Division I Wyoming on Saturday here at the El Pomar Natatorium.
The Mavericks trailed the Cowboys by just two points after a strong late-meet comeback entering the final 800-yard free relay but came up short in that race and the overall 16-event meet by just 11 points (154 ½-143 ½).
Cheeks won both the 1 and 3-meter diving competitions and set NCAA Division II Championship qualifying scores on both boards. Meanwhile, Sampson swept the backstroke events while setting NCAA "B" cut times in both the 200-yard backstroke and 200 IM. Urbanek won both the 100 and 200 butterfly, setting a "B" cut time of his own in the latter.
They also teamed with
Kuba Kiszczak and
Mado Elkady for the meet-starting relay win, touching in 3:20.48.
Urbanek also finished second in the 1000 free just after a short 10-minute break in 9:45.55 while
Jacob Troescher was third in 9:55.00.
The Cowboys then went 1-2 in the 200 free ahead of Kiszczak (1:41.78) before Sampson,
Lane Austin and
Andrew Scoggin turned in a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 back. Sampson was clocked in 49.47 seconds while Austin was timed in 50.78, just ahead of Scoggin (50.95).
Leading by eight at the time, the Mavericks then saw the Cowboys turn in a 1-2-3 sweep of their own in the 100 breast before Urbanek turned in a "B" cut time of 1:51.07 (1:49.87-converted) to win the 200 fly ahead of four Cowboys.
Elkady was second in the 50 free at 21.23 seconds before
Matheus Laperriere tied for third in the 100 free at 46.92 on both sides of the first intermission.
Sampson then got the Mavs back to their winning ways, taking the 200 back in 1:50.48 (1:49.28-converted) ahead of teammate
Jeremy Koch, who was second in 1:52.65.
The Mavs trailed by six points through ten events but fell further behind as Wyoming went 1-2 in the 200 breast and 1-2-3 in the 500 free.
However, the Mavs won the final three individual events, starting with Urbanek's 100 fly win in 49.61 seconds. CMU Sophomore
John Walgast was second in 50.39.
Sampson then won the 200 IM by 1.90 seconds, turning in a NCAA provisional time of 1:52.02 (1:50.82-converted) to do so. The Mavericks also had the third, fourth and fifth place finishers in that event with
Lucas Viana, Kiszczak and
Mauricio Posadas.
Meanwhile, Cheeks was faring quite well in the diving well. He edged Wyoming's Payton Lee with just 1.1 points over six dives on the 1-meter before going on to set an 11-dive NCAA qualifying score of 458.45 points in a time trial event as the Cowboys only attempted six dives.
Cheeks, the reigning 3-meter NCAA Division II national Champion, then dominated that event, scoring 331.30 points on six dives as the Mavericks had four of the top five finishers in both events.
Trailing by 28 points through 12 events, Cheeks, Sampson and Urbanek's wins helped the Mavs slice the deficit to just two points, meaning the meet came down to the final relay.
Wyoming then hung on to the win, going wire-to-wire in the 800 free relay, taking it in 6:44.87. CMU's "A" squad of Walgast, Kiszczak, Koch and Laperriere was second in 6:56.83.
The Maverick women also won nine events in Saturday's dual but came up 12 points shy of the Cowgirls.
Both Maverick squads will resume their competitive season when they host the TYR CMU Invitational from Nov. 16-19.
