GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Seven event wins. Three championship records. Three school records.
It was certainly another special Friday night for the Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams, who are closing in on a sixth straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship sweep as the Mavs continued to dominate the rest of field here at the El Pomar Natatorium.
The nation's top-ranked Maverick women won four of the six Friday events and claimed 11 medals as
Agata Naskret,
Benedict Nagy and the 200-yard freestyle relay all set new school-records while continuing to pile up the points. The Mavs now have 938 points and sit 444 ½ ahead of second place Colorado School of Mines, which has 493 ½. Simon Fraser is in third place with 452 ½.
The Maverick men, ranked fifth in the country, won three of the night's five events as
Ben Sampson and
Dejan Urbanek continued their stellar meets by winning individual events before CMU capped the evening with another win in the 200 free relay.
The Mavs now have 839 points through four of the meet's five days and lead Mines by 311.
Naskret started the Mavs' winning ways in the women's 100-yard backstroke as she broke her own pool and school record while crushing a 6-year old RMAC Championship record. The sophomore from Poland led a 1-2-3 Maverick podium sweep in 53.02 seconds, going just under her own 3-month old school and pool record of 53.06. In the process, she extended her national lead to 52.92 seconds with the altitude conversion.
Naskret then turned in an impressive 50 free lead-off split of 23.39 seconds as she,
Elli Williams,
Ada Qunell and
Lauren White claimed the 200 free relay in 1:31.83, going well under the Mavs' former school and pool record of 1:32.17 while also breaking their own 1-year old championship record of 1:32.74.
Meanwhile, Nagy won her third individual and fifth total title of the meet, smashing the 200 butterfly school record in a winning time of 2:01.39 (2:00.19-converted), a full 2.6 seconds quicker than Eryn Leonard's previous adjusted record of 2:02.79, which had stood for eight years before Friday. In the process, Nagy led the Mavs to three of the top four places in the event.
The CMU women also claimed the bronze in the 200 fly as
Kiara Borchardt joined Nagy on the podium with a third place time of 2:04.17 while
Sydnee O'Neil placed fourth in 2:04.60.
The Mavs also went 1-2-4 in the women's 3-meter diving event as freshman
Jenna Hurley won her first conference title with a score of 486.96 points, edging sophomore teammate
Kenya Meyer by just 1.53 points. Meyer had won the 1-meter title on Wednesday while Hurley took the silver in that event.
Sophomore
Mimi Licht took fourth with a score of 401.31 points while exhibition diver
Ally Hrncir set a NCAA Championship qualifying score of 448.40 in the afternoon exhibition round.
On the men's side, Sampson broke his own championship record in the 100 back with a time of 46.72 seconds, joining silver medalist
Andrew Scoggin (48.07) on the podium. Sampson now has 20 career RMAC titles to his credit, five of which have come in as many efforts this week.
Later, Urbanek completed his third straight RMAC Championship butterfly sweep while winning his 11
th total RMAC title in the 200-yard distance. He touched in 1:46.95 and has now won both the 100 and 200 fly at each of the last three conference meets.
Kuba Kiszczak,
Austin Patterson,
Andrew Scoggin and
Jameson McEnaney then completed the gold medal haul in the 200 free relay, touching in 1:20.18.
The Mavs also had plenty of other highlights throughout the night.
In the women's 500 free, the Mavs went 2-3-4 with sophomore
Olivia Hansson claiming the silver medal in 4:55.67, ahead of
Katerina Matoskova, who came back to also take third behind Naskret and White in the 100 back. The Czech junior finished the 500 free in 4:59.78 and the 100 back in 55.58 seconds while White finished the 100 back in 54.54.
Meanwhile,
Sophia Bains and O'Neil also reached the 500 free championship final, placing fourth and sixth, respectively.
Haven Hinkle won the consolation final in 5:05.77. In the morning,
Gabriella Stanton turned in an exhibition time of 5:02.44 (4:57.44-converted) to take over the No. 8 spot in program history as one of the Mavs' six NCAA "B" cut setters throughout the day.
The Mavs also picked up a bronze medal in the 100 breaststroke from sophomore
Maddi Moran, who touched in 1:03.23 after
Tori Bartusiak won the consolation final in 1:05.27, one place ahead of teammate
Juliette Benson (1:06.06).
The CMU women also claimed the bronze in the 200 fly as
Kiara Borchardt joined Nagy on the podium
The Maverick "B" 200 free relay team of
Izzy Powers, Hansson, Bartusiak and
Kate Leary also won their section in 1:35.07.
In addition to their three wins, the Maverick men also won three silver medals as
Aziz Ghaffari took second in the 500 free with a time of 4:30.00 (4:25.00-converted) to move into fourth in CMU history.
Gavin Anderson and
Gavyn Tatge joined the Florida State graduate transfer as NCAA "B" cut setters. Anderson was seventh in 4:45.64 (4:40.64-converted) while Tatge took 12th overall, coming out of the consolation final with a time of 4:37.88 (4:32.88-converted).
Scoggin also grabbed a silver, finishing second behind Sampson in the 100 back with a time of 48.07 while Kiszczak finished fourth in 48.35 seconds after moving up to fourth in program history with a preliminary round time of 47.99 (47.89-converted).
Jackson Moe was also in the final and placed sixth in 49.31 seconds.
Freshman
Max Ayres also grabbed a silver in the 100 breast, finishing in 54.65 seconds while
Mauricio Posadas joined him on the podium with a bronze medal-winning time of 55.10.
Marcos Otero also reached the final, placing seventh in 55.52 seconds to move into the No. 6 spot in program history for the discipline.
Ayres, Moe, Otero and
John Walgast also won the "B" heat of the 200 free relay in 1:21.62.