GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Hot off a historic win over Division I Wyoming and their first dual victory of the young season, the Colorado Mesa University men's swimming & diving team will take on another yet another Division I opponent this Saturday as they head to Denver to take on the University of Denver Pioneers for an inter-divisional dual meet.
 
Action in the Pioneers' El Pomar Natatorium will begin with diving competitions on the 1 and 3-meter boards at Noon.  The swimming events will begin at 2 p.m.
 
Live results can be seen with a subscription to Meet Mobile.
 
A live stream on YouTube can be found at https://www.youtube.com/live/tspaL1PzViI.
 
The Maverick women will also be in action on Saturday up in Fort Collins, taking on Colorado State University, which does not have a men's team.
 
Meet Format
 
Saturday's dual will feature 16 total events.  The full event schedule can be seen below.
 
Points in each individual event will be awarded on a 9-4-3-2-1 basis in the individual events and on a 11-4-2 scoring structure for the relay events.  Teams are limited to three scorers in each individual event and to two scoring relays but can enter as many individuals and relays as they wish.
 
Individual swimmers are allowed to score in four events each day and are further limited to three individual events.
 
The full swimming event schedule can be seen below.
 
400 Medley Relay
1000 Freestyle
200 Freestyle
100 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
50 Freestyle
10 minute BREAK
100 Freestyle
200 Backstroke
200 Breaststroke
500 Freestyle
100 Butterfly
10 minute BREAK
400 IM
200 Free Relay
 
Last Time Out
 
The Maverick men claimed their first ever dual-meet win over Wyoming on Saturday, doing so in dominant fashion.  The Mavericks won 11 of the 16 events and took the dual by 106 points, 203-97.
 
They also set six NCAA Division II "B" Cut times in the swimming events and had four different divers set NCAA Pre-Championship Qualification scores.
 
The Maverick women also competed against Wyoming last Saturday, falling 185-115 to the Cowgirls.
 
For a complete meet recap, please click here.
 
Olympian Debut
 
Maverick freshman Harry Stacey, who represented Ghana in the 2024 Paris Olympics, made his collegiate debut on Saturday, doing so in style.  He won all four of his events taking individual victories in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle while also swimming on the Mavs' winning 200 Medley and 400 Free Relays to book-end the dual win over Wyoming.
 
He set a NCAA "B" Cut time of 44.99 seconds to lead a 1-4 Maverick sweep in the 100 Free before posting an even quicker time of 44.87 seconds (44.77-converted) as the lead-off on the Mavs' 400 Free Relay team.  He ranks eighth in CMU history with that time.  Stacey also led a 1-2-3 CMU sweep in the 50 Free, touching the wall in 20.45 seconds in his first individual event.
 
Triple Winner
 
Maverick captain Andrew Scoggin, who was named as the RMAC Men's Swimmer of the Week on Oct. 9 after winning two events at the Intermountain Shootout, continued his winning ways in Saturday's dual against Wyoming.  He swept the individual backstroke events taking the 100 Back in 49.14 seconds and the 200 in 1:49.97 after posting a 50-yard split of 22.69 seconds as the Mavs won the meet-opening 200 Medley Relay.
 
Going the Distance
 
The Mavericks also shined in the distance freestyle events during Saturday's dual taking the top three spots in the 1000 Free and the win in the 500 Free.  Senior Jacob Troescher won the 1000 as he and freshman Braden Felio, both set NCAA "B" Cut times.  Felio then claimed his first collegiate win in the 500.
 
Diving In
 
The Mavericks swept the diving victories in Saturday's dual as Ty Mitton won the 6-dive, 1-meter competition with a score of 301.65 points before Wyatt Hermanson won the 3-meter event with a score of 331.95 points.  Both set NCAA Championship qualification scores as did Jax Juarros (299.03) in the 1-meter.  David Roethlisberger (324.15), Mitton (314.85) and Ryan Campbell (306.68) also did so on the 3-meter and all went on to set 11-dive qualifying scores as well in that exhibition event.
 
Juarros and Campbell have now set their necessary 6-dive and 11-dive scores in two different meets to allow them for the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Division II Championship Qualification meet on Mar. 11.

About the Pioneers
 
Denver's men will enter Saturday's dual with a 1-0 mark after claiming a 155-145 win over Air Force on Oct. 19.  They had earlier placed second out of three teams at the Oct. 4-5 Front Range Invite before taking second out of four teams at Cal State Bakersfield's Sprint Classic on Oct. 11 and first out of five teams at the Roadrunner Invitational a day later.
 
Last year's Pioneer squad finished with a perfect 7-0 dual meet mark and won a 10^th Summit League title in the last 11 years.
 
Senior swimmer Brandon Chapman and diver Zyad Morsy were named as Summit League Peak Performers of the Week on Tuesday.  Morsy has three such awards this season and ten in his career and won both boards in the dual with Air Force with his fourth and fifth NCAA Zone Cuts of the season.
 
Chapman has now earned  three career honors and won the 200 Fly with a time of 1:51.20 against the Falcons.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks hold a 2-4 overall dual record against Denver in their history, splitting a pair of 2021-22 decisions on back-to-back days in double-dual meets with BYU and Utah on Jan. 21 and 22 of that season.
 
The Pioneers have on the other three full meet duals in 2017, 2018 and 2019, all in Denver although the Mavs won a diving only dual against the Pioneers, 28-10 on Jan. 11, 2019.

In the polls
 
On Oct. 18, the Maverick women were selected first in the initial CSCAA NCAA Division II Top 25 Dual Meet Poll of the 2024-25 season.  The CMU men were slotted sixth.
 
The monthly polls are conducted by 11-member committees of CSCAA member coaches.  The committees evaluate and ranks the nation's top 25 dual meet teams based on several factors. These include head-to-head dual meet results, performances since the last rankings, season-long achievements, dual meet records, roster changes (such as injuries), and data from the SwimCloud Simulator. It's important to note that the poll is not intended to predict top finishers in a championship meet format.
 
Top of the Group
 
Earlier last week, both Maverick squads were picked first in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Preseason Coaches' Polls.  The Mavericks will be gunning for their seventh straight RMAC title sweep when they host the RMAC Championships in February.
 
CMU's men were a unanimous selection at the top of the poll, claiming all five possible first place votes to top the poll with 25 points.
 
CMU's women received seven first place votes from the eight they were eligible to receive and topped their poll with 63 points.
 
A look back to 2023-24
 
The Mavericks continued to climb the national ladder, recording their best national championship performances in March.
 
The Maverick women combined to win seven events, including three relays, at the NCAA Division II National Championships and took a program-best second place in the final standings at the national meet.  The Maverick men matched their best ever effort with a fifth place finish.  They also set a new program record for national championship team points with 279 and received four individual national championship performances from Ben Sampson.
 
At the conference level, the Mavericks swept the RMAC team titles for the sixth consecutive year while dominating the meet.  The Mavs won 30 of the 42 events throughout the meet, taking all ten relays and all four diving events.
 
Award-Winners
 
Fittingly, the Mavericks brought in quite a haul of post-season awards at both the national and conference level last year.
 
Mickey Wender was named as the CSCAA (College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America)'s NCAA Division II Women's Swimming Coach of the Year while Ben Sampson was named as the National Men's Swimmer of the Year for the consecutive year after winning all four of his individual events, two with national record times.
 
Sampson was also named as the RMAC Men's Swimmer of the Year for the third consecutive year while diving teammate Isaiah Cheeks claimed the conference's men's diver of the year award for the third straight season as well.
 
Agata Naskret, who won a CMU all-sports record five national titles in the same year, was named as the RMAC Women's Swimmer of the Year while Jenna Hurley claimed the RMAC Women's Diver of the Year award.
 
Jameson McEnaney was also tabbed as the RMAC Men's Freshman of the Year while Wender claimed RMAC Women's Coach of the Year honors as well.
 
Record Setting Relays
 
The Mavericks re-wrote much of their record book in 2023-24, setting new school records in all ten relay events at least once during the year.  Six of the ten current records were set during the NCAA Division II National Championships, where the Mavs won their first three relay titles in program history, taking the 400 Medley, 200 Free and 400 Free Relay titles on the women's side.
 
National Champions
 
The Mavericks swam to 11 national championships in 2023-24 after winning three events in the previous two years, their first swimming national titles.  The Maverick men have also won seven national diving event crowns since 2018.
 
The Mavericks will return one of their three individual national champions from 2024 in Agata Naskret, who won both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke titles, doing so with school-record times.
 
Naskret was also a member of all three of the aforementioned championship winning relay teams, which all set school-records as well.
 
In total, the Mavericks return ten of the combined 12 legs from those relay teams this year.  Ada Qunell was also a member of all three winning relays while Elli Williams swam on the 200 and 400 Free teams.  Maddi Moran and Kiara Borchardt were the middle breaststroke and butterfly legs on the 400 Medley Relay squad.
 
However, the Mavs will have to replace some of the greatest swimmers in program history, who won titles last year.  Lauren White anchored the 200 and 400 Free Relay teams and ended her 5-year CMU career with 30 all-America honors.
 
The Mavs also graduated 200 and 400 IM champion Benedict Nagy, who is now a volunteer assistant coach for the Mavs after using her fifth year of eligibility with the Mavs.  On the men's side, the Mavs will have to replace Ben Sampson, who completed his bachelor's degree and his 4-year Maverick career with six national titles amongst a multitude of honors.  Sampson is now using his COVID waiver and fifth season of eligibility at Division I Power Texas, under the direction of Coach Bob Bowman.
 
National Championship Run
 
Excluding, 2020 when the national championship meet was canceled 1 ½ days in due to the initial stages of the COVID pandemic, the Mavericks have won at least one national championship event every year since 2018, a streak they will hope to continue into 2025.
 
All-American List
 
The Mavericks roster or returning all-Americans is quite lengthy and impressive.
 
The Mavericks had 21 different individuals combine for 77 CSCAA All-America honors at last year's championships.  The Mavericks return 15 of those people to this year's roster and have 19 total returning all-Americans on this year's roster, including four who earned honors in 2023.
 
The returning group from 2024 earned a combined total of 55 all-America honors last year, which go to the top 16 finishers in each event at the national championships, last season.  The top eight finishers earn first team honors while the ninth through 16^th place finishers are Second Team/Honorable Mention selections.
 
Here's a list of CMU's returning all-Americans along with the number of honors each received in 2024 and the total number in their career.
 
Women
Sophia Bains (2/3)
Kiara Borchardt (3/6)
Olivia Hansson (2/5)
Katerina Matoskova (8/14)
Maddi Moran (4/5)
Agata Naskret (7/7)
Ada Qunell (5/9)
Elli Williams (4/4)
 
Men
Max Ayres (2/2)
Wyatt Hermanson (0/2)
Kuba Kiszczak (5/12)
Matheus Laperriere (0/7)
Jameson McEnaney (4/4)
Jackson Moe (0/1)
Marcos Otero (1/1)
Austin Patterson (1/1)
Andrew Scoggin (4/5)
Dejan Urbanek (3/11)
Dawson Wilson (0/2)
 
RMAC Dual Streak
 
The Maverick women extended their RMAC dual meet winning streak to 36 with the convincing 174-27 and 174-26 wins over CSU Pueblo on both dates of the Intermountain Shootout weekend.
 
CMU's dual meet winning streak dates back nearly nine years to Jan. 22, 2016.
 
Those two decisions over CSU Pueblo are the only RMAC duals on the Mavs' 2024-25 schedule, which will be almost entirely against NCAA Division I competition in the leadup to the RMAC and NCAA Division II Championships.
 
The Maverick men are not slated to have any duals against RMAC foes this season.  They have won 13 straight RMAC duals since the 2016-17 season.
 
Division I Schedule
 
As in recent years, Maverick Head Coach Mickey Wender has built a schedule that will pit the Mavericks against many of the top programs in the Mountain Time Zone and the Western United States as a whole.  The Mavericks are slated to compete against NCAA Division I foes in each of their eight regular season meets leading into the RMAC and NCAA Division II Championships.
 
The Mavericks have already faced off with BYU, Utah and Wyoming, claiming one win over the Utah Utes.
 
Utah, Wyoming and Northern Arizona are amongst the teams that will compete in CMU's TYR Invitational from Nov. 20-23, CMU's next meet.
 
The Mavs will then head to the UNLV Invitational before the holiday break from Dec. 16-18 before coming back from the break to face Utah on Jan. 10.  The Mavs will then wrap up the pre-championship season at the Air Force Dual Meet Invitational, which has now been moved back a week to Jan. 24-25
 
The Maverick divers have also recently added Northern Arizona's Lumberjack Diving Invitational (Nov. 21-23) and the Air Force Diving Invitational (Jan. 30-Feb. 1) to their schedule.
 
The Friendly Confines
 
The Mavericks will once again host the RMAC Championships, doing so for the sixth straight year in February (Feb. 11-15).
 
The Mavs also hosted the championship meet for five straight years from 2013-17 after first hosting in 2011.
 
Including the RMAC Championships and this week's two meets, the Mavericks are slated to take full advantage of the top-level El Pomar Natatorium, as they will home for six different meets this year.