INDIANAPOLIS— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks advanced three swimmers to Thursday night's championship finals and another five into the consolation finals after some solid efforts during the morning preliminary heats on the middle day of the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships here at the IU Natatorium.
Freshman
Kiara Borchardt got things rolling on Thursday morning as the youngster finished 15
th in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.61 seconds.
The Maverick women then had two of the top eight finishers in the 400 individual medley as
Sophia Bains qualified fifth in 4:21.98 while
Lily Borgenheimer finished ninth in 4:22.52 to grab the last available lane in the "A" final.
Amelia Kinnard, coming off an eighth place finish in the 1,000 free on Wednesday night, finished that event in 26
th with a time of 4:28.52.
The Mavericks also qualified two women for the consolation final in the 200 free as
Katerina Matoskova finished 11
th in 1:49.52 while
Lauren White qualified 14
th in 1:49.85.
The Mavericks also had four others in that event as freshmen
Olivia Hansson and
Ada Qunell finished 20
th and 22
nd in 1:50.33 and 1:50.39, respectively. Meanwhile, fifth-year senior
Logan Anderson finished 24
th in 1:50.70 while fourth-year Maverick
Ruby Bottai tied for 27
th in 1:50.97. Both of those veterans set new career-best times. Anderson now ranks eighth in program history while Bottai snuck into the last spot of the program's all-time top-10.
Meanwhile, Maverick redshirt sophomore
Ben Sampson qualified fifth in the men's 400 IM. He was coming off Wednesday night's national-title winning swim in the 200 IM and cruised to a time of 3:51.21 to grab a lane in Thursday's final.
Graduate transfer teammate
Kyle Benjamin also reached the consolation final, placing 14
th in the prelims with a time of 3:54.82.
Matheus Laperriere also reached the consolation final in the 200 free, placing tenth in 1:36.69.
In other preliminary round action,
Dejan Urbanek finished 25
th in the 100 fly (48.32) while
Aron Jonsson finished in the same place in the 400 IM with a time of 3:59.42.
Jacob Troescher also competed in that event, placing 27
th in 3:59.67.
In the 200 free,
Kuba Kiszczak finished 17
th in 1:37.27, missing out on the consolation finale by a single hundredth of a second.
Jeremy Koch also finished 31
st in 1:39.59 while Urbanek placed 35
th in 1:40.70.
Four Maverick men, including defending national champion
Isaiah Cheeks, will be in 3-meter diving preliminary round action at 1 p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Mountain). The finals in nine total events (5 men's, 4 women's), including the 400 medley relay get underway at 6 p.m. Eastern (4 p.m. Mountain).
