GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.—Three event wins from reigning NCAA Division II National Swimmer of the Year Ben Sampson and a 1-2-3 finish in the women's 200-yard freestyle highlighted a very strong season-opening session for the Colorado Mesa University Maverick swimming and diving teams on Friday during day one action of the Intermountain Shootout here at the El Pomar Natatorium.
 
The Maverick swimmers combined for four event wins, nine NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying marks and 16 total top-3 finishes while 2022 national diving champion Isaiah Cheeks recorded his first NCAA qualifying mark right out of the shoot, placing second in the men's 1-meter event to lead the Maverick divers, who had two other top-3 finishes.
 
At the half-way point of the 44-event meet, the Maverick women are leading Division I Air Force, 116-89 and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival CSU Pueblo, 172-29 in a series of head-to-head dual meet team scores against the other four teams.  The Mavericks are also within striking distance of the Big XII's BYU Cougars, 112-93 and Pac 12's Utah, which holds a slim 107-95 lead over the Mav women.
 
The Maverick men are well in front of Air Force, 165-40, but are trailing Utah by ten points (106-96) and BYU by 46 points (125 ½-79 ½).  CSU Pueblo does not have a men's team.
 
Sampson won all three of his events on Friday, taking the 400 individual medley in 3:57.48 (3:52.48-altitude adjusted) before winning the 100 backstroke in 48.49 seconds after going even quicker (48.35/48.25-altitude adjusted) as the lead-off leg on the Mavs' 400 medley relay team in the opening event of the meet.
 
Sampson also won the 100 IM in 50.65, breaking his own school-record of 50.72 in the non-championship discipline.  His 400 IM and 100 back times were both well under the NCAA "B" cut standards.
 
In the diving competition, Cheeks scored 296.85 points over six dives, easily going over the NCAA standard of 285 points, finishing just 4.05 points behind BYU's Mickey Strauss, a 5-time conference champion.
 
Meanwhile, Katerina Matoskova, Ada Qunell and Olivia Hansson swept the top places in the women's 200 free as all three went under the NCAA "B" qualifying standard.  Matoskova finished in 1:53.71 (1:52.51-adjusted) while Qunell (1:54.11/1:52.91-adjusted) out-touched Hansson (1:54.18/1:52.98-converted) by 0.07 seconds.
 
Hansson, a sophomore, had just come off a fourth place finish in the preceding 1,000 freestyle.  The Swede set a NCAA "B" cut time of 10:29.93 (10.18.53-converted) to do so.
 
Qunell had also anchored the Mavs' 400 medley relay team to a strong second place finish in a time of 3:50.78.  Lauren White, Maddi Moran and freshman Amber Siverts had swum the earlier legs.
 
The Maverick women also had three other runner-up finishes as Division I transfer Benedict Nagy turned in a time of 4:31.03 (4:26.03-converted) in the 400 IM.  The former University of Nevada-Reno swimmer who won the last three Mountain West Conference titles in that event moved into the No. 8 spot of Maverick history with that time, which was more than 4 ½ seconds under the NCAA "B" cut standard.
 
Maverick junior Sophia Bains also set a NCAA time of 4:31.58 (4:26.58-converted) to place third in the 400 IM.
 
Later, Moran took second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:04.62 while Kiara Borchardt placed second in the 50 butterfly with a time of 25.86 seconds.
 
Matoskova also placed third in the 100 IM (1:00.03) while freshman diver Jenna Hurley did the same in the 3-meter competition with a 6-dive score of 238.50 points in her collegiate debut.
 
The Maverick men also had a pair of second place and two other third place finishes in the swimming events to support Sampson and Cheeks.
 
Kuba Kiszczak had one of those second place finishes, completing the 50 fly in 22.40 seconds after setting an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:40.94 (1:39.74-converted) to place fourth in the 200 free.  Kiszczak, freshman Jameson McEnaney, Jackson Moe and Austin Patterson also finished second in the 200 free relay with a solid time of 1:22.46, just behind BYU's winning mark of 1:22.17.
 
Sampson, Mauricio Posadas, Dejan Urbanek and Moe also combined to finish third in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:21.11 after McEnaney tied for third in the 50 free with a time of 21.01 seconds in his first collegiate meet. 
 
Saturday's portion of the Mavs' season-opening meet will get underway at 10:30 a.m.