GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Colorado Mesa University standout Ben Sampson was named as the NCAA Division II Men's Swimmer of the Year for the second straight season while Maverick Swimming & Diving Coach Mickey Wender was named as the National Women's Coach of the Year, it was announced Monday night by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America.
 
Sampson, a native of Arvada, Colorado, won all four of his individual events at last week's NCAA Division II Championships in Geneva, Ohio, while setting new NCAA Division II all-time and championship records in both the 400-yard individual medley and 200-yard backstroke.  He was also a CSCAA First Team All-American in those events and all three of the relay events he contested, raising his career all-America total to 21, the most of any Maverick men's student-athlete in institutional history.
 
Sampson had also been named as the 2023 CSCAA National Swimmer of the Year after winning the 200 IM and 200 back titles and was able to successfully defend those titles.  He has now won six titles over the last two seasons, matching former Maverick diver Ammar Hassan for the most national titles for any NCAA athlete at CMU.
 
Meanwhile, Wender received his first national award after leading the Maverick women to seven event national championships, equal to the most of any team in the meet, and a strong second place finish in the final team standings at the NCAA Championships, the highest in program and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference history.
 
CMU won relay titles on each of the final three evenings of the meet after Benedict Nagy swept the 200 and 400-yard individual medleys last Wednesday and Thursday before Agata Naskret took the 100 and 200-yard backstroke crowns on Friday and Saturday.  The Mavs were also victorious in the 400 medley, 200 free and 400 free relays.
 
Naskret was on all three of those relays and won five NCAA Championship titles throughout the week, the most of any CMU athlete in a single year and just one shy of Sampson and Hassan's co-record.
 
The CMU women scored 461 ½ team points throughout the 5-day meet at the SPIRE Institute, finishing second only to defending national champion Nova Southeastern, which also won seven event wins, four of which came from Emily Trieschmann, who was named as the CSCAA NCAA Division II Women's Swimmer of the Year for the second straight year.
 
The Mavs' team score shattered their former program record of 325 points from 2023 when the Mavs claimed a fourth place national finish.  CMU's women have now finished in the top five in three consecutive years while the Maverick men have placed fifth in back-to-back campaigns.
 
Both squads have also won the last six RMAC team titles.