INDIANAPOLIS— Ben Sampson emerged as the top qualifier in the men's 200-yard individual medley while Lily Borgenheimer advanced to the consolation final in the women's version of the discipline, two highlights of the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks' performance during the morning preliminary session of the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships on Wednesday morning here in the IU Natatorium.
 
Graduate transfer Kyle Benjamin also guaranteed himself of an all-America honor, the first in his time as as a Maverick and his second overall, in the 1,000-yard freestyle.
 
Sampson, the top seed coming into the meet in four events, including the 200 IM, posted a time of one minute, 45.16 seconds in the preliminaries to earn the center lane in the evening finals.  Kuba Kiszczak also finished 16^th in the preliminaries to gain a spot in the consolation final after winning a swim-off over Drury's Alejandro Villarejo in 1:48.28.  Both men had posted identical times of 1:48.21 in the preliminary round.  That time Kiszczak's new career-best and moved him up two spots to third in program history behind Sampson (1:43.76) and 2019 all-American Arthur Cury (1:47.23).
 
Meanwhile, Borgenheimer placed ninth in the preliminary heats of the women's 200 IM with a time of 2:02.30.  Teammate Sophia Bains was 17^th and just one spot shy of joining her in the consolation final after touching in 2:03.69, just off her qualifying and career-best mark of 2:03.57.
 
In other preliminary round action, Matheus Laperriere finished 26^th in the men's 200 IM with a time of 1:49.63 while Mahmoud Elgayar placed 30^th in 1:50.16.  Jeremy Koch finished 43^rd in 1:53.26.  Mado Elkady then placed 35^th in the men's 50 free with a time of 20.54 seconds.
 
Meanwhile, Logan Anderson led three CMU women in the 50 free.  She tied for 18^th with a career-best time of 23.41 seconds, moving to third in program-history.   Ruby Bottai finished 26^th in 23.56 seconds while Ada Qunell tied for 31^st after touching in 23.64 seconds.
 
The opening heats of the 1,000 yard freestyle were also held during the morning session.
 
The Maverick men had three competitors as Benjamin set a career-best time of 9:10.77 to move up three spots to second in school-history.  He stands in fourth place with the top-8 seeded swimmers still to compete at the start of Wednesday's evening session.  The Concordia University Irvine graduate is guaranteed of at least 12^th place and will earn his second overall all-America honor after picking up honorable mention honors with a 13^th place finish in the 400 individual medley as a Golden Eagle freshman in 2019.
 
Meanwhile, CMU's Jacob Troescher stands in 12^th place after swimming to a time of 9:21.12.  Gavin Anderson currently stands in 20^th place after posting a time of 9:33.82.
 
The top eight overall finishers in each event earn First Team All-America honors from the CSCAA while the ninth through 16^th place finishers earn second team plaudits.
 
The Mavericks' two representatives in the women's 1000 free— Olivia Hansson and Amelia Kinnard— will swim this evening.  They are seeded second and fourth, respectively, and now know the times that they will need to beat.   To guarantee a top-8 finish, they will need to beat 10:02.06, the mark posted by current leader Keeley Durkin of West Chester.  Ten minutes, 11.75 seconds will be the mark to beat in order to guarantee a top-16 finish and team points.
 
Sophomore diver Kyra Apodaca will also contest the preliminary round of the 1-meter diving event at 1 p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Mountain) on Wednesday.  The finals of that event will be held during the evening finals session, which gets underway at 6 p.m. Eastern (4 p.m. Mountain).  The 200 medley relays will cap that session.  The Maverick men are seeded sixth in that event coming in while the women are seeded seventh.