GENEVA, Ohio—  The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks were able to officially qualify four divers— two men and two women— for the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships after the quartet was able to safely navigate the pre-championship diving qualification meet on Tuesday here at the SPIRE Institute.
 
Veteran Isaiah Cheeks qualified for the fourth straight year and will be joined by three first-time qualifiers in David Roethlisberger, Ally Hrncir and Mimi Licht.
 
Two others in Dawson Wilson and Kenya Meyer were agonizingly close to qualifying as well.
 
Cheeks wasted no time, recording a third place score of 282.50 points over six dives on the 1-meter board finishing high in the 32-man field.  As one of the top nine finishers in that portion of the qualification meet, he was assured of one of the 18 men's spots in the official championships, which got underway later Tuesday night with the 800-yard freestyle swimming relays.
 
Cheeks, a 6-time all-American and the 2022 NCAA Division II 3-meter champion and Diver of the Year, then took fifth in 3-meter qualifying with a 6-dive score of 276.10 points.
 
Roethlisberger, a freshman out of Blacksburg, Virginia, also took care of business from the start, finishing sixth in the 1-meter scoring with a score of 267.85 points.  He later finished 14^th on the 3-meter with 229.70 points.
 
CMU sophomore Dawson Wilson was not as fortunate in his bid to repeat as a 2-event all-American.  He finished 14^th in the 1-meter qualifying stage with a score of 241.20 points, which ended up being just one spot short after five men, including Cheeks, double qualified opening up five additional spots that ended up going to 13^th place.  Wilson later finished 23^rd on the 3-meter with a score of 201.15 points.
 
Meanwhile, Licht, a sophomore from New Fairfield, Connecticut, claimed the last of the first 11 women's spots, as she tallied 216.45 points on the 3-meter board, the first the women contested.  Already assured of qualification, she later took 23rd in the 1-meter competition with 212.35 points.
 
Hrncir was 15^th in 3-meter stage with 213.70 points but was able to earn the sixth extra spot as seven different women finishing amongst the top 11 in both stages.  The Palmer, Alaska freshman then took 46^th on the 1-meter board with 154.25 points and claimed the 21^st of 22 total women's spots to be awarded.
 
Meyer was one spot behind Hrncir on the 3-meter with 211.20 points and missed out on qualification by just one spot as the top 15 in each event ended up qualifying.  Meyer was 38^th in the 1-meter stage with 185.65 points.
 
Maverick freshman Jenna Hurley also finished 36^th in the 3-meter stage with 175.05 points but did not compete in the 1-meter stage.  CMU freshman Jax Juarros was also not able to compete due to injury.
 
The diving portion of the championships will begin on Wednesday with the men's 1-meter event.  The women's 3-meter event will be contested on Thursday.
 
By qualifying men's and women's divers, the Mavericks are now eligible to be represented in all 42 events of the championships, which run through Saturday.