GREENSBORO, N.C.— Ben Sampson set three Colorado Mesa University swimming records and earned his first three all-America honors while he and divers Isaiah Cheeks and Noah Luna led the Maverick men's team to a fifth place standing after the first of four days at the NCAA Division II Championships, which got underway here at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
 
Meanwhile, Lily Borgenheimer and the women's 200-yard freestyle relay team Ruby Bottai, Julie Day, Logan Anderson and Izzy Powers earned all-America honors putting the Maverick women in 15^th place through five scored events.
 
Sampson posted a school-record lead-off 50-yard backstroke split of 21.51 seconds as the Maverick men went on to place sixth in the 200 medley relay with a program-record time of 1:27.00.  Sampson then came back an hour later to set the 200 individual medley record of 1:46.41 as he finished second in the consolation final and tenth overall.
 
In between, Borgenheimer placed fifth in the women's 200 IM with a mark of 2:01.17 while Amelia Kinnard finished 20^th in the women's 1,000 free with a time of 10:19.88.
 
Later in the evening session, Cheeks posted a score of 440.55 points to finish fourth in the 1-meter diving competition.  He had finished eighth in the afternoon preliminaries to earn his spot in the final.  Cheeks, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship Diver of the Meet, had finished tenth on the 1-meter and fourth on the 3-meter at the 2021 National Championships, and is now a 3-time all-American.  The same can be said for Luna, who scored 424.35 points in the finals after qualifying with a score of 436.65 points in the afternoon.
 
Tanner Belliston also scored teams points for the Mavericks picking up second team all-America plaudits with a 12^th place finish in the afternoon.  He scored 387.60 points on 11 dives and is also a 3-time career all-American.
 
The evening session had started on a disappointing note as the Maverick women's 200 medley relay team of Lauren White, Borgenheimer, Davy Brown and Day was disqualified for an early take off.
 
However, the mood changed quickly as Sampson, Mahmoud Elgayar, Dejan Urbanek and Lane Austin combined for their school-record setting effort in the men's half of the event.  Their sixth place finish was the highest ever finish for a Maverick men's relay team at a national championship and was plenty good enough for the swimmers to earn first team all-America plaudits.  Elgayar is now an 11-time all-American while Austin picked up the seventh of eight total career certificates, two of which he earned on Wednesday.
 
Urbanek, a freshman from Novi Sad, Serbia, is making his national championship debut this week. 
 
The Mavs' time of 1:27.00 was slightly quicker than the Mavs' national championship qualifying time of 1:27.04 that Sampson, Elgayar, Urbanek and Felipe D'Orsi had posted in November.
 
After the relays, Kinnard made her national championship debut in the 1,000 free.  She was swimming in the evening session as one of the top eight seeds but slipped back in the timed final event that saw times from the five morning preliminary heats merged together with the final heat to determine the final placement of all 41 swimmers.
 
Meanwhile, Gavin Anderson ended up 25^th in the men's 1,000 free.  He posted a time of 9:25.22 in the morning preliminary session.  Urbanek and fellow freshman Jacob Troescher had also competed in the morning.  Urbanek ended up 31^st at 9:33.93 while Troescher was 33^rd with a time of 9:38.48.
 
Borgenheimer then got the Maverick women on the team scoreboard with her fifth place finish in the 200 IM.  She has now earned seven career all-America honors at CMU and ten total Division II honors in her collegiate career, including three earned as a freshman and sophomore at Minnesota State.
 
Sampson's 200 IM time of 1:46.41 was 0.82 seconds quicker than the former Maverick standard of 1:47.23, which had been turned in by Arthur Cury at the 2019 national championships.  He now holds the CMU record in four individual and seven total events.
 
After diving, attention turned back to the relays as Bottai, Day, Anderson and Powers finished 12^th in the 200 free with a time of 1:33.89, just off the 2-plus year old Maverick record of 1:33.82.  The quartet scored ten team points for the effort as each swimmer earned second team all-America honors.  Anderson also earned the same recognition in 2020 while the others are first time all-Americans.
 
Sampson, Austin, Mado Elkady and Felipe D'Orsi then finished the men's 200 free relay in 1:20.33, good for 13^th place finish and eight team points.  Elkady, a freshman, was in his first national championship race and earned his initial all-America honor.  D'Orsi has now earned three relay awards in his time as a Maverick.
 
Picking up 34 team points in the two relays and 33 in diving along with seven from Sampson's 200 IM record, the Maverick men have 74 team points through six events.  Meet hosts Queens won three events on the opening day and leads the way with 181 as the Royals are pushing for a seventh consecutive national title.  UIndy went 1-2-3 in the diving competition and is in second place with 154 points while champions Drury stand third with 144.  McKendree is just ahead of the Mavericks with 79 while Lindenwood and Findlay are tied for sixth with 71.
 
The Maverick women scored 24 points on the opening day of the meet, 14 of which came from Borgenheimer.
 
Queens also leads the women's chase with 157 while Nova Southeastern is second with 129.  Queens and UIndy, which is in third with 126, both won two national titles on Wednesday.
 
Thursday's portion of the meet begins with a preliminary swimming session at 10 a.m. EST (8 a.m. Mountain).  The Mavericks have 12 total entries in The women's 3-meter diving preliminaries will begin at 2 p.m. EST (Noon Mountain) while the evening finals session, including competition in the 100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free individual swimming events will begin at 6 p.m. EST (4 p.m. Mountain).  The 400 medley relays and diving finals will also be held at the end of the night.