LAS VEGAS— Andrew Scoggin won the 100-yard backstroke and led off the Mavs' winning 200 medley relay team while the Colorado Mesa University swimming & diving team claimed four other third place finishes while maintaining their overall team standings positions after the second day of the UNLV FINIS Invitational on Tuesday here at the Rebels' Buchanan Natatorium.

The Mavericks also racked up 20 top-8 finishes throughout the day's events as the CMU men continue to sit in a strong and comfortable second place position in the team standings with 565 points heading into the last of the 3-day meet on Wednesday.  They trail only the host Rebels (634) and lead four other NCAA Division I squads, including third place Cal Poly by 166 points.

The CMU women are still in fourth place out of eight teams, six of which are from the Division I ranks, and now have 311 team points entering the final day.  UCLA, ranked 25^th in Division I and CMU's first ever Big Ten Conference foe, leads the way with 860, 334 ahead of the host Rebels.  Wyoming is third with 405 while the Mavs lead a pair of Division I teams by more than 100 points.

Scoggin has now won three events, including two relays, over the first two days of the meet.  The senior captain out of Greeley, Colorado, teamed with Forrest Frazier, Dejan Urbanek and Harry Stacey to win the 200 medley relay, the first event of the night, in 1:25.96.  He then came back to win the 100 back in 46.91 seconds.

Urbanek also had a strong individual night, leading the Mavs in the 100 butterfly, taking third in 47.79 seconds before posting a NCAA "B" Cut 200 Free time of 1:39.44 on the lead-off led of the Mavs' 800 free relay team that took sixth in 6:38.22.

Frazier also claimed a third place finish in the 100 breaststroke (54.14) while Marcos Otero finished sixth in 55.38 seconds while teaming with Jameson McEnaney and Richard Schmiedefeld in the 800 Free relay.

The Mavs were also especially strong in the 400 individual medley as German freshman Ben Vester touched third in 3:58.36 to lead five Mavericks in the top ten.  Jacob Troescher (4:00.21) and Luka Samsonov (4:02.00) were also in the "A" final and took fourth and seventh, respectively, while Gavyn Tatge (3:58.31) and Jason McMechan (4:01.01) were the first two swimmers to touch in the "B" final to record ninth and tenth place overall finishes.

CMU also qualified two swimmers for the 200 Free "A" Final as McEnaney (1:40.01) took sixth just ahead of Schmiedefeld (1:41.08), who placed seventh.

WOMEN'S SWIMMING

Agata Naskret led the CMU women's efforts with a third place finish in the 100 Back.  The new Division II All-Time record holder in the event finished third in 53.94 while freshman teammate Taylar Hooton took seventh in 55.93 seconds.

Naskret also combined with Antonia Leese, Kiara Borchardt and Elli Williams for a fourth place finish in the 200 Medley Relay with a time of 1:41.39.

Leese enjoyed a career day setting her fastest two 100 breaststroke times of her life.  The sophomore out of Round Rock, Texas, took 11^th in the finals session with a time of 1:03.78 after qualifying out of the morning prelims in 1:03.84.  In the process, the sophomore moved up three spots to fifth in CMU history and surpassed the NCAA Championship provisional qualifying standard in both sessions.

Elsewhere, Sophia Bains took fifth in the 400 IM (4:25.47) while Haven Hinkle (4:34.13) finished seventh after going 1.53 seconds faster in the morning.  Tori Bartusiak also placed tenth overall, finishing second in the "B" final with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:29.53.  She had not swum the 400 IM prior to Tuesday.

The Mavericks also scored well in the 800 Free Relay as the "A" Team of Kendyll Wilkinson, Olivia Hansson, Ada Qunell and Katerina Matoskova combined for a fourth place time of 7:28.10 while the "B" team took seventh in 7:33.09.

Matoskova and Wilkinson had also swum in the earlier 200 free final taking sixth and seventh with respective times of 1:51.14 and 1:51.50, slightly slower than their morning qualifying times.

DIVING

The Maverick divers also competed in the preliminary round of the men's 3-meter and women's 1-meter competitions held in between the swimming sessions.

Sophomores Ty Mitton and Jenna Hurley were both able to advance to the finals, which will be held on Wednesday.  Mitton scored 231.10 points on six dives to finish eighth in the preliminaries while Hurley scored 219.75 points to also take eighth and secure the final available spot in the finals.

UP NEXT

The Mavericks will wrap up the meet and the 2024 calendar year on Wednesday.  Another morning preliminary session will get underway at 9:30 a.m. PST (10:30 a.m. Mountain) with the diving finals to follow at Noon PST (1 p.m. Mountain).  The meet's final session will then begin at 5 p.m. PST (6 p.m. Mountain).