LAS VEGAS— The Colorado Mesa University men's 200-yard freestyle and 400 medley relay teams posted impressive times to lead the Mavericks' efforts on Day 1 of the UNLV FINIS Invitational on Monday here at the Rebels' Buchanan Natatorium.
 
The Maverick men claimed victory in the 200 free relay with a school-record matching time of one minute, 19.09 seconds before taking second behind the NCAA Division I hosts in the 400 medley relay, with a season-best time of 3:10.47 at the end of the swimming session as the Mavericks scored 280 team points throughout the day, good for a strong second place position behind only UNLV, which leads with 294.  The Mavs are ahead of four NCAA Division I opponents in Cal Poly, Cal Baptist, Wyoming and Pacific.
 
2024 Olympian Harry Stacey and team captain Andrew Scoggin were a part of both of those impressive relays and also both advanced to the finals in the 50 free individual event.
 
Stacey popped off three sub 19.7-second times throughout the day, taking second in that event with a time of 19.67 seconds after coming out of the morning preliminaries as the top qualifier in 19.53, just off his weeks-old school-record of 19.49 seconds.  He also posted a 19.69 lead-off split in the 200 free relay and recorded a 42.73 100 free anchor split in the medley relay.
 
Scoggin had a solid 46.83 second lead-off backstroke split on the medley relay and took fifth in the 50 free with a career-best and improved NCAA "B" cut time of 20.24 seconds.  He and middle legs Jameson McEnaney and Richard Schmiedefeld all went under 20 seconds in the free relay as the Mavs matched their TYR/CMU Invitational and school-record performance from last month.
 
The CMU "B" team also finished sixth in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:20.90.
 
Meanwhile, three other Maverick men also qualified for the "A" finals while the Mavs claimed six combined lanes in the "B" finals of the three individual swimming events contested on Monday.

In the 500 free, Jacob Troescher took third in 4:29.20 while Gavyn Tatge (4:34.16) and Gavin Anderson (4:34.65) placed 11^th and 12^th out of the "B" final after turning in slightly quicker times in the morning session.
 
Freshman Ben Vester also set a NCAA "B" cut time of 4:32.50 in the bonus "C" final, which fellow Maverick freshman Braden Felio won in 4:31.28.
 
The Mavericks also fared well in the 200 individual medley as Marcos Otero took fourth in 1:50.07 after posting a quicker time of 1:49.33 in the prelims.  John Walgast also reached the final with a season-best time of 1:50.36 before finishing eighth in the evening with a time of 1:51.11.
 
Max Ayres (1:50.23) and Jason McMechan (1:51.41) also swam in the "B" final, taking tenth and 13^th overall, respectively.
 
Meanwhile, Schmiedefeld won the "B" final in the 50 free in 20.19 seconds while McEnaney took 13^th in 20.54.
 
Scoggin, Forrest Frazier, Dejan Urbanek and Stacey then combined for the improved NCAA qualifying time of 3:10.47 in the 400 medley relay while the Mavs' "B" squad took eighth in 3:16.78.
 
WOMEN'S SWIMMING
 
The Maverick women stand in fourth place amongst eight teams with 112 team points.
 
They qualified two for the "A" final in the 500 free and had seven other "B" final qualifiers in the three first day swimming individual events.
 
They also took fourth in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:32.10, set by Agata Naskret, Elli Williams, Tori Bartusiak and Ada Qunell.  The secondary unit took 11^th in 1:34.84.
 
The Mavs then scored 35 team points in the 500 free as Katerina Matoskova took fifth in 4:56.27, touching just before Olivia Hansson finished sixth in 4:56.35.
 
Meanwhile, Sydnee O'Neil finished 12^th, posting an improved NCAA "B" cut and personal-best time of 4:59.13 in the "B" final while moving into the No. 10 spot of program history.
 
Qunell also had a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 5:03.36 in the morning session before taking 16^th in the evening portion of the event just behind Haven Hinkle, who finished 15^th in 5:03.12.  Hanna Sasivarevic also recorded a notable time of 5:02.94 in the bonus final.
 
The Mavs also had two representatives in the "B" final of the 200 IM as Kate Speerschneider took 11^th in 2:05.79 while Tori Bartusiak turned in a season-best time of 2:06.53 to place 14^th.
 
In the 50 free, Naskret placed 12^th in 23.48 seconds while Elli Williams placed 16^th in 23.82 seconds after qualifying in 23.49.
 
Freshman Kendyll Wilkinson also set an improved NCAA provisional qualifying time of 23.73 seconds in the morning.
 
The Mavs then saw both their "A" and exhibition "C" 400 medley relay teams disqualified for early takeoffs.  The "B" team of Taylar Hooton, Maddi Moran, Anna Beck and Wilkinson did post a respectable time of 3:49.77 to place tenth.
 
DIVING
 
The Maverick men also had three of the eight finalists in the 1-meter diving competition, which featured afternoon preliminary action before the finals were held after the conclusion of the swimming finals. 
 
Ryan Campbell led the Maverick contingent with a fifth place score of 269.80 points on six dives.  Jax Juarros placed seventh with 254.05 points after scoring 263.70 in the preliminary round.  Ty Mitton also reached the finals, placing eighth with 251.10 points after qualifying with 252.05.

David Roethlisberger (236.95) and Wyatt Hermanson (228.80) also competed, placing tenth and 11^th, respectively, in the preliminaries.
 
Meanwhile, the Maverick women competed on the 3-meter board as Jenna Hurley (235.25) placed ninth, narrowly missing out on a spot in the evening's finals.  Talia Datilio also placed tenth with 235.20 points while Emma Lence (230.15) and Kenya Meyer (225.50) placed 12^th and 13^th.

UP NEXT
 
The meet will resume on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. PST (10:30 a.m. Mountain) on Tuesday morning with preliminary competition in five individual swimming disciplines.  The preliminaries of the other two diving events will also be held at Noon PST (1 p.m. Mountain) before finals in seven disciplines, including the 200 medley and 800 free relays will be held during the evening session, which will get underway at 5 p.m. PST (6 p.m. Mountain).

A live stream will be available throughout the day at https://youtube.com/live/Sw1bsCreLwU on the UNLV Athletics YouTube Channel.