GREENSBORO, N.C.— Six Colorado Mesa University divers took care of business on Tuesday as they successfully qualified for the official NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships after performing well in the pre-championship qualification diving meet here at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
 
Freshman Kyra Apodaca as well as fourth-year redshirt juniors Jolynn Harris, Ali Lange all got the qualification out of the way early on the women's side as they all placed amongst the top-11 on the 3-meter board, thus guaranteeing one of the 22 women's spots in the official championships, which begin Wednesday.
 
Meanwhile, Tanner Belliston and Isaiah Cheeks did the same in the men's 1-meter competition before Noah Luna joined them with a strong 3-meter performance to lock up one of the 18 men's diving spots.
 
All six will now be eligible to compete on both boards in the championship meet, which will include one diving event each day.  The men's 1-meter competition will be contested Wednesday while the women will start with the 3-meter on Thursday.  The men will then contest the 3-meter on Friday before the women close out diving competition on Saturday with the 1-meter competition.
 
Preliminary round 11-dive events will begin at 2 p.m. EST (Noon Mountain) one each of those days.  The top eight divers will then repeat their six optional dives in the evening finals sessions, held in conjunction with swimming finals.  Those sessions begin at 6 p.m. EST (4 p.m. Mountain) each day.
 
The Mavericks will now have a program-record 29 total athletes, including 16 (9 men, 7 women's) invited swimmers along with seven additional relay-only swimmers in the 4-day championship as they look to secure their best-ever finishes in program history.
 
On Tuesday morning, Cheeks scored 271.05 points over six dives on the 1-meter to finish third amongst 25 divers.  Belliston was seventh with 257.15 points while Luna scored 230.25 points to place 13^th.
 
With only the top nine from each discipline guaranteed a spot in the official championships, Luna then had the pressure on in the afternoon 3-meter competition but delivered with a solid eighth place finish and score of 283.15 points.  Cheeks (311.55) and Belliston (289.15) fared even better taking fourth and seventh, respectively.
 
All three are previous CSCAA Division II All-Americans, who have safely progressed from "Black Tuesday" twice.
 
On the women's side, Harris led the group of three qualifying Mavericks with a 3-meter score of 249.20 points, fifth best in the 46-woman field.  Lange was ninth with 242.20 points while Apodaca took 11^th with 239.60 points to snag the lest direct qualification spot in her NCAA pre-championship debut.
 
Redshirt freshman Marissa Stahl, the only Maverick in action who did not qualify, tied for 34^th with 193.10 points in her NCAA pre-championship debut.
 
In the afternoon 1-meter competition, Lange placed fourth with 230.20 points while Apodaca was seventh with 217.70.  Harris, the NCAA Division II Championships runner-up in 2021, finished 19th with 205.25 points, dropping from third place after five rounds.  Lange is a 2020 NCAA Championship qualifier and 2-time All-American.

Stahl finished 39th with 177.90 points.