GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams claimed their sixth straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference team title sweep, closing out the 5-day meet in record-setting fashion on Saturday evening in the El Pomar Natatorium.
 
The Mavs won eight of the final day's 11 events and took 30 out of 42 throughout the meet, putting numerous exclamation points on the week and the conference championship careers of some impressive veteran Mavs, who have raised the CMU program to new heights.
 
With the team win, the Maverick women became the first program in RMAC history to ever win six titles, surpassing now Division I Cal Baptist's run of five straight from 2014-18.  The nation's top-ranked squad won 15 events throughout the meet and set three school records, two RMAC Championship records and a pool record on Saturday alone. 
 
They finished with 1,221 points to win by nearly 600 over second place Colorado School of Mines, which finished with 637 ½.  RMAC newcomer Simon Fraser was third with 626 ½.
 
The CMU women also finished the week with 36 total medals.  The rest of the conference won just 27 combined.
 
Meanwhile, the Maverick men also finished with 15 gold medals throughout the meet, including four on Saturday alone.  They also set two new meet marks and a pool record on Saturday.
 
CMU's men, ranked fifth in the country, finished with 1,153 ½ team points, 464 ½ clear of Mines, which failed to win an individual title on the men's side.  Oklahoma Christian, which had the other six event wins, took third with 636 points.
 
In the process, the Mavs became the first men's team to win six straight RMAC crowns, breaking Western Colorado's 5-year streak from 1973-77.  The Mavs, who did not begin their program until the 2009-10 campaign, also won a record-extending eighth overall title after winning their first two crowns in 2014 and 2017.
 
Both Maverick teams were incredibly dominant in the relays and diving events, sweeping all ten relay events while winning all 20 "A" and "B" relay heats throughout the meet.  They also had four different divers win the conference titles and racked up 1-2-3 finishes in three of them while claiming 11 of the possible 12 diving medals throughout the week.
 
The Mavs were also well represented in the individual awards as Ben Sampson was named as the RMAC Swimmer of the Meet after winning all four of his individual and all seven of his overall events.  He also raised his conference title total to 22, a new program record.
 
Isaiah Cheeks also regained his top spot on the diving podium, emotionally claiming the men's 1-meter title for the third straight year en-route to his third straight RMAC Men's Diver of the Meet award.  He is now a 5-time RMAC champion.
 
Two Mavs also shared the RMAC Women's Diver of the Meet awards as freshman Jenna Hurley and sophomore Kenya Meyer both won an event while taking second behind the other on the opposite board.

Simon Fraser's Tori Meklensek was named as the RMAC Women's Swimmer of the Meet, edging CMU's Benedict Nagy on tie-breaking procedures after both took second in their respective events on Saturday night after winning on each of the three previous nights.
 
Meklensek's second place finish on Saturday came thanks to Maverick sophomore Olivia Hansson who started CMU's record setting night in the 1,650-yard freestyle.  The Swede obliterated former teammate Amelia Kinnard's record by nearly ten seconds, despite coming into the night outside of the Mavs' all-time top 10.
 
She finished the longest event of the meet in 17:00.22, which adjusts to 16:40.22 with the altitude conversion.
 
Over the first 1,000 yards, Hansson went stroke for stroke with Meklensek, who had won the 200, 500 and 1,000 freestyle events earlier in the meet.  However, Hansson pulled away from the Canadian in the final third of the race, winning by 8.19 seconds for her fourth RMAC title of the week, which matched her four freshman season wins in 2023.
 
The Mavs also took fourth, fifth and sixth place in the event.  Haven Hinkle led that group in 17:41.41 while Sophia Bains was fifth in 17:46.52.  Freshman Sydnee O'Neil took sixth in 17:48.03, posting her time in an early afternoon section.
 
Maverick sophomore Ada Qunell then continued the record-setting run, establishing the new CMU standard in the 100 free with a winning time of 50.06 seconds (49.96-converted).  Qunell, who also won four relay titles throughout the week, had entered the meet tied with Sierra Forbord atop the Maverick all-time list at 50.25 seconds.
 
Meanwhile, 50 free winner Elli Williams was third in Saturday's 100-yard event with a time of 50.88 seconds.  Izzy Powers also reached the final, placing seventh in 51.87 seconds.
 
Sophomore Agata Naskret then broke the RMAC, pool and school records in the 200 backstroke, posting a time of 1:57.27 (1:56.07-converted), the fastest in Division II this season.  She won by nearly two seconds over teammate Katerina Matoskova.
 
Naskret, who also set the record trio in the 100 back on Friday, took down the previous 200-yard records of 1:58.01, which former CMU great Mary Saiz had held since 2016.  Saiz was the national runner-up in the 200-yard event that year.
 
Matoskova earned her best individual event finish of her 5-medal week with a time of 1:59.26 while Lauren White took fifth in 2:01.66.  Kate Leary also reached the final, placing seventh in 2:04.96.
 
Nagy then took the silver in the 200 breaststroke, finishing in 2:16.55 to move up to second in CMU history behind Lily Borgenheimer, the only individual national champion in CMU women's swimming history.  Nagy, who had not swum the event this season prior to Saturday, held a slight lead over Mines' Jordan Tierney heading into the final lap before the Oredigger sophomore came back to win by 0.67 seconds in 2:15.88.
 
Maverick sophomore Maddi Moran was also in the final and took seventh in 2:23.22 while Tori Bartusiak finished 11^th and moved the top 10 of CMU history with a time of 2:21.68 (2:20.48-converted).

Qunell, Williams, Powers and White then won the 400 free relay in a RMAC meet-record smashing time of 3:21.63, nearly three seconds quicker than Oklahoma Baptist's 2018 championship mark of 3:24.37. 
 
Williams, a sophomore, won four conference titles this week while Powers, a senior, claimed her first of the week and fourth of her career.  White also won three relay titles and finishes her 5-year conference championship career with 19, just one shy of Borgenheimer's women's program record of 20.
 
The Maverick men were once again led by their stars in Sampson and Cheeks, two of the three Maverick men to ever win a national title.
 
Sampson broke his own RMAC Championship record in the 200 back on Saturday, winning in 1:43.56 seconds before teaming with freshman lead-off Jameson McEnaney, Aziz Ghaffari and Andew Scoggin for a RMAC meet record time of 2:55.30 in the 400 free relay.
 
Sampson, last year's national champion in both the 200 back and 200 IM, set six new RMAC Championship records during the week.
 
Meanwhile, Cheeks won the 1-meter diving crown with 570.25 points, leading a Maverick podium sweep ahead of freshman Jax Juarros and sophomore Dawson Wilson.  Juarros was second with 524.00 after leading the preliminary round with 523.55 points.  Wilson scored 495.10 in the finals after winning the 3-meter title on Thursday night while Cheeks placed second.
 
Cheeks, a sixth-year redshirt senior, was quite emotional before his title-clinching final dive in the natatorium, where he won all five of his conference titles over the previous three seasons.  He was the 2022 NCAA Division II National Champion in the 3-meter and will be looking for his seventh and eighth career all-America honors next month.
 
Despite all the veteran pedigree on the CMU rosters, the future of the programs looks just as bright.

As an example, McEnaney, a leading candidate for RMAC Freshman of the Year honors, had a strong night backing up hi 50 free win with his Saturday night 100 free title.  The Charlotte, Vermont native defeated a deep field with a time of 44.20 seconds after posting a 44.06 (43.96-converted) preliminary round time to earn the middle lane for the final.  That morning preliminary time moved him up to second in CMU history behind Sampson.  McEnaney then led off the Mav's winning 400 free relay team with another impressive 44.09 split.
 
Meanwhile, Ghaffari claimed his third individual silver medal of the week in 44.47 seconds to move into the fourth spot of program history with his converted time of 44.37.  The Florida State transfer also won gold in all three of his relay events.  Scoggin also won three relay golds this week.
 
Meanwhile, Kuba Kiszczak also finished fourth in the 100 free with a time of 45.05 seconds while John Walgast was eighth in 45.44.  Freshman Max Ayres also won the consolation heat in 45.46.
 
Earlier, the Maverick men set two NCAA provisional qualifying times in the 1,650 free with Gavin Anderson taking fifth in 15:55.00, just off his career-best of 15:54.62.  Jacob Troescher was right behind, finishing sixth in 16:01.35.
 
Freshman Marcos Otero and sophomore Mauricio Posadas also did well in the 200 breast, placing fourth and fifth, respectively.  Otero, who set the CMU record in a Tuesday night time trial, finished Saturday's championship race in 2:01.57 while Posadas touched in 2:01.99 (2:00.79-converted) as he moved into the No. 6 spot of CMU history.