GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University swimming teams will gun for a multitude of national-qualifying times in their first prelims/finals format meet of the season when they host the TYR/CMU Invitational, beginning Wednesday evening at the El Pomar Natatorium.
 
The 3 ½-day meet, which will include seven women's teams and four men's squads, runs through Saturday afternoon and has typically been a bonanza of fast times for the nationally-ranked Mavericks, who hope for the same this week.
 
Wednesday's action, which will include timed files in three events will begin at 6 p.m.
 
Preliminary heats will then be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings, beginning at 10 a.m.  Finals on Thursday and Friday will begin at 5 p.m. while Saturday's finals session will commence an hour earlier at 4 p.m.
 
A complete schedule can be found in the Meet Information packet.
 
Live results can be accessed here and with a subscription to the MeetMobile app.
 
A Live stream can be seen on the RMAC Network.
 
Meet Format & The Opposition
 
This week's meet will only include swimming events as the Maverick divers will be heading to Flagstaff, Arizona for the Lumberjack Diving Invitational, hosted by Northern Arizona.
 
Meanwhile, the Division I Lumberjacks' women's swimmers will head to Grand Junction to battle the Mavericks for the second straight year.  The two teams tied at last year's meet.
 
The meet will also serve as a mini-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship preview as all five full RMAC members will be competing this week.  Adams State and the Colorado School of Mines will have both men and women while CSU Pueblo and Western Colorado only sponsor women's programs as does Northern Arizona.
 
The CMU Club Team will also compete this week.
 
The RMAC's affiliate members Nebraska-Kearney, Oklahoma Christian and UT Permian Basin will not compete in the El Pomar Natatorium this week, but will make the trip in February for the Feb. 8-11 RMAC Championships, which will be CMU's next home meet.
 
A total of 19 swimming events, including five relays will be contested this week.  The relays and long-distance freestyle events (1000 & 1650) will be contested as finals against time.  The other 12 events will have morning preliminaries to shape the field for the evening finals session.  A total of 16 swimmers will advance to the finals in each of those events with the top 8 qualifying for the "A Final" while the 9^th-16^th qualifiers will contest the "B Final".
 
Team points will be awarded to the top 16 finishers and relay teams under the standard invitational scoring method.  Relay finishes are worth double.
 
Individual swimmers are limited to four individual and seven total events for team-scoring purposes but are also allowed to swim additional events as an exhibition swimmer and are permitted one time trial opportunity in each event to potentially set national-qualifying marks.  Time trials will be held at the end of each session.

Senior Day
 
A group of 17 Mavericks will be recognized during Senior Day festivities on Friday, prior to that evening's finals session at 4:45 p.m.
 
The list includes Logan Anderson, Lane Austin, Kyle Benjamin, Portia Blackert, Lily Borgenheimer, Ruby Bottai, Davy Brown, Felipe D'Orsi, Mahmoud Elgayar, Sarah Fillerup, Adam Hartwell, Amelia Kinnard, Matheus Laperriere, Emily Moreland, Lauren White and Kelsea Wright as well as student assistant coach Bailey Usey.
 
Blackert, Brown, D'Orsi, Hartwell, Laperriere, Moreland, Usey and White are all eligible to return in 2023-24 with the NCAA's automatic COVID-related eligibility waiver should they choose while the rest are taking advantage of that waiver and are in their fifth collegiate seasons now.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks were last in competitive action on Oct. 22, hosting Division I Wyoming in their first dual format meet of the season.
 
The Mavericks won a majority of the events but came up just short of the Cowboys and Cowgirls in the team scoring.
 
The Maverick women won both relays nine of the 16 events overall but came up just 12 points short (156-144) in the overall team tally.  Lily Borgenheimer led the Mavericks winning all three of her individual events with NCAA "B" cut times after teaming with Lauren White, Kiara Borchardt and Logan Anderson for a 400-yard medley relay. 
 
Meanwhile, Diver Isaiah Cheeks and swimmers Ben Sampson and Dejan Urbanek all won multiple events for the Maverick men, who fell just 11 points shy (154 ½-143 ½) of the Cowboys.

Wyoming Meet Recaps: Men - Women
 
CMU Invitational History
 
This week's meet will be the 12^th mid-season invitational that the Mavericks have hosted annually since 2010 although the 2020 version was canceled due to COVID issues.
 
For sponsorship reasons, the name has been changed to the TYR/CMU Invitational.
 
The Maverick men have won ten of the previous 11 titles, including each of the last five since 2016.  They set a meet scoring record of 1,754 points and won by an incredible 999 points in 2018.  Mines has been second to the Mavs in each of the last five years.  Former Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Cal Baptist won the 2015 title.
 
The Maverick women have been just as dominant as of late winning five straight and eight of the previous 11 meets.  The Mavs set a scoring record of 1,465 points in 2019 and won by more than 700 points in both 2018 and 2019 before sharing the title with Division I Northern Arizona last year as incredibly both teams finished with 1,168 points.
 
Mines has been third at each of the last two meets after taking second in the previous four.

Cal Baptist's women won in 2013 and 2015 while Wyoming claimed the 2014 victory.

Click here to view a breakdown of previous meet team scores.
 
Defending & Past Champions
 
The Mavericks have three women who will be looking to defend their individual event wins in five combined events.
 
Lily Borgenheimer won the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM last year, all with meet record times, and was named as the Women's Swimmer of the Meet a year ago.  Amelia Kinnard (1000 Free) and Lauren White (200 back) are also back to defend their titles.  White also set the 100 back meet record in the preliminary heats last season and won that event as a freshman in 2019.
 
Davy Brown is also a former winner, claiming the 200 IM in 2019.
 
Meanwhile, Ben Sampson won Men's Swimmer of the Meet honors last season after setting meet and pool record times in both the 100 and 200 back.  He also set meet records in the 50 free and 200 IM prelims.

Dejan Urbanek also won three events last year, taking the 500 Free, 100 Fly and 200 Fly, setting a meet record in the 200 fly.
 
Matheus Laperriere (100 Free and 200 IM) and Gavin Anderson (1000 & 1650 Free) were also 2-event winners a year ago.  Lane Austin (50 Free), Kuba Kiszczak (200 Free) also return to defend after the Mavs won every event at last year's meet.
 
Austin had also won both the 100 and 200 back in 2019 while Elgayar will be gunning for his fourth 100 breast victory and third 200 breast win after graduated teammate Matt Barrett won that event last year.  Elgayar also won the 200 IM in 2019.

To view all of the previous event champions and meet records, please click here.
 
Going for 4

Mahmoud Elgayar will be looking for his fourth straight CMU Invitational victory in the 100 breast this weekend and would become just the third swimmer, the first Maverick and first man in meet history to win an individual event four times if he is able to.  He is seeded third behind teammates Aron Jonsson and Mauricio Posados on the pre-meet psych sheets.
 
The previous 4-time winners are:

Randi Yarnell, Western Colorado (50 Free, 2015-18)
Randi Yarnell, Western Colorado (200 Free, 2015-18)
Mia Wood, Colorado School of Mines (500 Free, 2016-19)
Mia Wood, Colorado School of Mines (1000 Free, 2016-19)
 
Top Seeds
 
Maverick swimmers enter the meet as the top seed in 24 different events, including 18 of the 19 men's events.  Lily Borgenheimer is the top seed in all four of her individual events while Ben Sampson is in each of his three individual events.
 
Here's a look at all of CMU's top seeds on the pre-meet psych sheets:
 
Men
200 Medley Relay (1:31.27)
1000 Free- Jacob Troescher (9:51.96)
500 Free- Kyle Benjamin (4:43.26)
200 IM- Ben Sampson (1:52.02)
50 Free- Kuba Kiszczak (21.23)
200 Free Relay (1:22.77)
100 Fly- Dejan Urbanek (49.61)
400 IM- Ben Sampson (3:59.45)
200 Free- Kuba Kiszczak (1:41.36)
100 Breast- Aron Jonsson (57.84)
100 Back- Lane Austin (50.78)
400 Medley Relay (3:20.48)
1650 Free- Jacob Troescher (9:51.96*)
200 Back- Ben Sampson (1:48.61)
100 Free- Mado Elkady (46.18)
200 Breast- Aron Jonsson (2:06.88)
200 Fly- Dejan Urbanek (1:51.07)
400 Free Relay (3:04.30)
 
*Seeded based on season-best 1,000 Free Times
 
Women
1000 Free- Amelia Kinnard (10:25.65)
200 IM- Lily Borgenheimer (2:05.40)
200 Free Relay (1:37.64)
400 IM- Lily Borgenheimer (4:33.03)
100 Breast- Lily Borgenheimer (1:03.14)
200 Breast- Lily Borgenheimer (2:16.56)
 
Awards Sweep
 
The Mavericks swept the Wednesday, Oct. 26 RMAC Athlete of the Week awards after the dual with Wyoming on the previous Saturday.  Dejan Urbanek was named as the RMAC Men's Swimmer of the Week while Isaiah Cheeks claimed his third Men's Diver of the Week award and is still the only RMAC athlete to have won the honor this season.
 
Meanwhile, Lily Borgenheimer was named as the RMAC Women's Swimmer of the Week in a CMU sweep alongside Kyra Apodaca, who picked up the diving accolade.
 
Early Qualifiers & NCAA leaders
 
Six different Maverick swimmers have already set 14 total NCAA provisional qualifying or "B" cut times in the Mavs' early season meets.
 
Included in that group are three national-leading times from Lily Borgenheimer (two) and Ben Sampson. 
 
Here is a listing of all the Mavs' "B" cut times and their current national rank, according to Swimcloud:

Men
200 Free- Jakub Kiszczak (1:40.16, 10^th)
100 Back- Ben Sampson (49.15, 7^th)
200 Back- Ben Sampson (1:47.41, 3^rd)
200 Fly- Dejan Urbanek (1:49.87, 7^th)
200 IM- Ben Sampson (1:50.82, 5^th)
400 IM- Ben Sampson (3:54.45, 1^st)
 
Women
200 Free- Olivia Hansson (1:52.82, 8^th)
500 Free- Olivia Hansson (5:01.04, 6^th) & Amelia Kinnard (5:03.48, 10^th)
100 Breast- Lily Borgenheimer (1:03.04, 1^st)
200 Breast- Lily Borgenheimer (2:15.36, 1^st)
200 IM- Lily Borgenheimer (2:04.20, 3^rd)
400 IM- Lily Borgenheimer (4:28.03, 5^th) & Amelia Kinnard (4:30.43, 10^th)
 
Polling High
 
The initial set of CSCAA NCAA Division II Top 25 Dual Meet Rankings were released on Oct. 14 and saw the Maverick women achieve a No. 3 ranking, the highest in program history.  CMU's men were ranked fourth, equal to their highest-ever ranking, which had initially come last winter.
 
The polls, voted on by a panel of coaches and select media outlets, are designed to evaluate teams in a hypothetical dual meet setting and are not a pure prediction of NCAA Championship finishes.
 
The next release of the monthly poll is scheduled to be released during this week's meet on Friday (Nov. 18), but will be based on results to date not including this week's meet.
 
Speaking of Polls
 
Unsurprisingly, the Mavericks have been picked to win their fifth successive titles this year, according to the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, announced on Sept. 21.  Both Maverick teams were unanimous picks atop the poll.
 
The CMU women received all seven possible first place votes to top the poll with 49 points.  CMU's men received all four possible first place votes to top the poll with 16.
 
The eight women's coaches each ranked their opposition 1-7 without voting for their own squad while the five men's coaches did the same, ranking their opposition 1-4. 
 
Maverick Coach Mickey Wender's first place votes went to the Mines women and Oklahoma Christian men, who were both second in the poll.
 
Oklahoma Christian's men are ranked ninth in the initial CSCAA Dual Meet Rankings poll while new RMAC affiliate member UT-Permian Basin is ranked 24^th.  Mines is also receiving votes.
 
Oklahoma Christian's women are ranked 23^rd.
 
Defending NCAA Champs
 
The Mavericks return both of their national champions from 2022 in women's 200-yard breaststroke champion Lily Borgenheimer and men's 3-meter diving winner Isaiah Cheeks. 
 
Borgenheimer, a fifth-year senior taking advantage of the NCAA's automatic COVID eligibility waiver, the first Maverick swimmer (male or female) to ever win a national title. 
 
Cheeks, a redshirt junior, joined 6-time national champion Ammar Hassan on the illustrious list of Maverick national diving champions and was named as the CSCAA NCAA Division II Men's Diver of the Year last spring.
 
Program Records
 
Led by those efforts and several other notable performances at the national championships, both Maverick teams set new program-records for their highest national finish while claiming the first top-10 finishes in program history.  Both squads also smashed the CMU marks for and national championship point scores in March in Greensboro, North Carolina.  The Maverick women finished fifth with 241 team points while the CMU men took sixth place with 221 points.
 
Four-Peat
 
The Maverick teams also swept the RMAC Championship team titles for the fourth straight year in 2022.  The CMU women set a new RMAC Championship scoring record of 1,323 ½ points and won the title by a commanding 548 points over the Colorado School of Mines.  They won 19 of the 21 individual events.
 
CMU's men also won their fourth straight and sixth overall RMAC title, scoring 1,225 points to win by 350 ½ over Mines.  The Mavs claimed 11 gold medals.
 
All-Americans a plenty
 
The Mavericks roster or returning all-Americans is quite lengthy and impressive.
 
Nineteen (10 women, 9 men) of the Mavericks who earned CSCAA All-America honors in 2022 return to this year's lineup.  That group earned a combined total of 55 (28 women, 27 men's) all-America honors, which go to the top 16 finishers in each event at the national championships, last season.  The top eight finishers earn first team honors while the ninth through 16^th place finishers are Second Team/Honorable Mention selections.
 
Ben Sampson earned seven honors as a redshirt freshman, the maximum possible.  He was the national runner-up in the 200-yard backstroke in March and was named as the RMAC Men's Swimmer of the Year.
 
Lauren White and Lily Borgenheimer each earned six honors last year.  White is the most decorated Maverick athlete (all sports) with 16 NCAA career all-America honors while Borgenheimer has won 12 at CMU and 15 in her career, which began at Minnesota State.
 
Mahmoud Elgayar (13) and Lane Austin (10) also return for the fifth years with double-figure career all-America honor totals to their credit.
 
Here's a list of CMU's returning all-Americans along with the number of honors each received in 2022 and the total number in their career.
 
Women
Logan Anderson (3 in 2022/4 career)
Kyra Apodaca (2/2)
Lily Borgenheimer (6/15 (12 at CMU)
Ruby Bottai (2/2)
Davy Brown (2/5)
Amelia Kinnard (2/2)
Katerina Matoskova (2/6)
Izzy Powers (1/1)
Lauren White (6/16)
Kelsea Wright (2/7)
 
Men
Lane Austin (4/10)
Isaiah Cheeks (2/4
Felipe D'Orsi (2/4)
Mahmoud Elgayar (3/13)
Mado Elkady (1/1)
Kuba Kiszczak (2/2)
Matheus Laperriere (2/3)
Ben Sampson (7/7)
Dejan Urbanek (4/4)
 
Up Next
 
Following this weekend's meet, the Mavericks will focus on training, academic and holiday family time before returning to competitive action early in 2023, when they will travel to Salt Lake City for a 2-day dual (Jan. 6-7) at Division I Utah.