INDIANAPOLIS— The Colorado Mesa University Swimming & Diving teams will send a program-record 35 student-athletes, one of the nation's biggest, to the site of next month's NCAA Division II National Championships here at the Indiana University Natatorium on the IUPUI campus.
 
The Mavericks qualified a school-record 24 invited swimmers (12 men, 12 women), selected by the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Committee, which released its selections on Wednesday afternoon, an increase over the former record of 16 from last year.
 
Additionally, the Mavericks will take seven divers (5 men, 2 women), who will participate in a pre-championship qualifying meet on Tuesday, Mar. 7 in order to qualify for the official championships, which begin later that evening.
 
The Mavericks also plan to bring four relay-only swimmers, who can help the Mavericks fill out relay lineups during the meet.  The Mavericks are qualified to swim in all ten relay events (5 men's, 5 women's) and are expected to have representation 37 of the 38 swimming events and possibly all four diving disciplines, should divers get through the pre-championship qualifier.
 
Men's Swimming
 
The Mavs' contingent of 12 individual swimmers is the third largest of any team in the country, short of only Indianapolis (15) and Drury (13).
 
Those men were amongst the top 20-21 (depending on event) entered swimmers in the various individual events and accumulated 24 qualifying times in 13 different events.  Additionally, each may also compete in other events that they set a NCAA Championship "B" cut time during the season, which expands the Mavericks' event representation to all 14 individual and all 19 swimming events.

Individual swimmers are limited to four individual and seven total events.
 
Highlighting the list of Maverick qualifiers is redshirt sophomore Ben Sampson, who is the top seed in all four of his individual events (100 Back, 200 Back, 200 IM, 400 IM).
 
Sophomore Dejan Urbanek (100 Fly, 200 Fly, 200 Free, 500 Free) and graduate transfer Kyle Benjamin (400 IM, 500 Free, 1000 Free, 1650 Free) were also invited in four events.  Urbanek is seeded third in the 200 fly while Benjamin is seeded fourth in the 1650 free.
 
Notably, Mahmoud Elgayar, a 13-time CSCAA All-American, will be making his fifth straight national championship appearance.  He was invited in both breaststroke events.
 
The Mavs' other returning qualifiers are Gavin Anderson, Kuba Kiszczak, Matheus Laperriere and Jacob Troescher.
 
Mado Elkady and Andrew Scoggin were also selected after serving as relay-only swimmers last year and will be joined by first-time individual qualifiers Aron Jonsson and Jeremy Koch.
 
Jackson Moe was named as the third of ten men's alternates to the meet and will serve as a relay-only swimmer if not ultimately entered in the meet.  Ten-time All-American Lane Austin and 4-timer Felipe D'Orsi will be the Mavs' other two relay-only swimmers.

Women's Swimming
 
The Mavs' group of 12 women's invited swimmers were invited a combined 29 times in 13 of the 14 individual events.  Tampa (18) and Indianapolis (16) have the only other larger contingents.
 
CMU's qualifier list, made up of the 27 or 28 top entered swimmers in each events, includes defending national 200-yard breaststroke Lily Borgenheimer, the national leader this year.  She was invited in four events (100 Breast, 200 Breast, 200 IM, 400 IM) and has claimed a dozen all-American honors in her two previous years at CMU and 15 overall, including three honors in two years at Minnesota State.  She will be making her fifth combined national championship appearance for both institutions and is also seeded second in the 100 breast and 400 IM and fifth in the 200 IM.
 
Veterans Lauren White, the most decorated CMU athlete of all-time in all sports with 16 NCAA all-America honors, Amelia Kinnard and Katerina Matoskova were all invited in four events as well.
 
Other veterans Logan Anderson and Ruby Bottai were also chosen as invited swimmers for the first time after serving as relay-only swimmers in previous NCAA championships. 
 
Meanwhile, five CMU newcomers in sophomore Carson-Newman transfer Sophia Bains and true freshman Kiara Borchardt, Olivia Hansson, Maddi Moran and Ada Qunell will be making their national championship debuts as will sophomore Ellie Wilke, who narrowly missed selection last year.
 
Izzy Powers will be a relay-only swimmer for the second consecutive year.
 
Hansson is seeded second in both the 500 and 1000 free events while Kinnard is amongst the top five sides in both as well.  Matoskova is also seeded fourth in two of her events.
 
Men's Diving
 
The Mavericks will take five men's divers, who will compete in the pre-championship qualification meet, which will see 26 men fighting out for the 18 available spots in the official championship meet.
 
No other school has more than three qualification meet participants.
 
Isaiah Cheeks highlights the Maverick group and is the defending national champion on the 3-meter.  He also finished fourth in the 1-meter last year and has swept both events at each of the last two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships.
 
Cheeks is ranked second in the country on both boards, according to Swimcloud.
 
The Mavs' other four qualifiers will all be newcomers to the national stage and are redshirt sophomore Josh Thomas as well as true freshman Devon Gordon, Wyatt Hermanson and Dawson Wilson.  Thomas redshirted last year after transferring from Division I Old Dominion and is in his first competition year with the Mavs. 
 
Women's Diving
 
Both RMAC Championship Co-Divers of the Meet will represent the Mavericks as sophomore Kyra Apodaca, a returning all-American, and freshman Kenya Meyer will compete in the pre-qualification meet.  A total of 41 women will vie for the 22 spots in the official championship from that qualifier.
 
Apodaca finished ninth on the 3-meter and 15^th on the 1-meter at last year's national championships and claimed the 1-meter title at the 2023 RMAC Championships while taking second on the 1-meter behind Meyer, who in turn had finished second behind Apodaca on the 3-meter.
 
Apodaca has the highest 11-dive, 1-meter score (479.65) in the country, according to Swimcloud.