GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams combined for 16 NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying times, three event wins and two other NCAA qualifying marks on the diving boards during a fine season-opening showing on Friday evening here at the Mavs' El Pomar Natatorium.
 
Maverick senior Olivia Hansson won both the women's 200 and 1,000-yard freestyle events while fellow returning all-American Ryan Campbell claimed the men's 1-meter diving event as part of a 1-2-4-5-6 Maverick finish in that event to lead the Mavericks to strong second place finishes in the first of two weekend Intermountain Shootout meets.
 
The NCAA Division I and Big 12 Conference BYU Cougars won both titles.  Their men out-pointed the Mavs, 252-187 while Adams State University finished a distant third with 28 points in the 3-team, invitational-style meet that awarded team points to the top eight finishers, including no more than four individuals and two relay squads per school.
 
The women's scoring chase was much closer as BYU took the win with 224 points, just 18 more than the Mavs.  ASU was third with 15 points.
 
The Mavs got off to a quick start in the swimming events as the women's 400-yard medley relay team of Abby Uhl, Antonia Leese, Kiara Borchardt and Ada Qunell set CMU's first NCAA qualifying mark of the season with a time of 3:44.54 (3:44.14-altitude adjusted) to place second.  Taylar Hooton also led off the Mavs' fourth place "B" team with a 100-yard backstroke split of 55.25 seconds (55.15-converted), which also went under the NCAA "B" cut standard for that event.
 
Hansson then claimed the first of her two wins, holding off a heard of Cougars to take the 200 freestyle win in 1:49.73 (1:48.53-converted), more than four seconds under the NCAA "B" cut standard. 
 
Qunell then continued the momentum with a third place and NCAA "B" cut time of 2:06.56 (2:05.36-converted) in the 200 IM before Hooton took second in the 100 Back with a time of 55.58 seconds.
 
Antonia Leese, a member of the Mavs' national-title winning 400 medley relay team in 2025 alongside Borchardt and Qunell, then posted another NCAA "B" cut and second place time of 1:02.82 (1:01.62-converted) in the 100 breaststroke, finishing ahead of newcomer Maya Clise, a transfer from Division I New Mexico.  Clise was third in 1:05.29.
 
The Mavs also went 2-3 in the 200 butterfly as both Tori Bartusiak and Sydnee O'Neil set NCAA "B" cut times.  Bartusiak touched in 2:04.32 (2:03.12-converted) while O'Neil finished in 2:04.93 (2:03.73-converted).
 
Qunell then claimed another second place finish in the 100 IM with a time of 58.11 as the Mavs had five of the top six finishers, including Hooton who was clocked in 58.91 seconds to take third.
 
Just minutes later, Qunell teamed with Reagan Horn, Borchardt and Bartusiak for a third place time of 1:33.69 in the 200 free relay.
 
The Mavs then saved their best for last as four different Mavericks set NCAA "B" cut times in the 1,000 freestyle, led by Hansson's impressive winning time of 10:08.47 (9:57.07-converted), just 2.26 seconds off her own school record and more than seven seconds ahead of the top BYU swimmer Melissa Turlea. 
 
Clise finished fourth in 10:20.90 (10:09.50-converted) while Melaina Howard (10:30.05/10:18.65-converted) and O'Neil (10:31.56/10:20.16-converted) also set NCAA provisional qualifying times.  Notably, Clise's time moved her into the No. 7 position in Maverick history.
 
The Mavs also had four of the top five finishers in the women's 3-meter diving competition as reigning Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Diver of the Year Kenya Meyer took second with 242.70 points over six dives.  Juli Holt took third with 230.18 points, edging teammate Jenna Hurley, who took fourth with 230.10.
 
The Maverick men were even better on the 1-meter board as Campbell won the 6-dive competition with 309.98 points.  Jax Juarros also eclipsed the NCAA qualifying standard with a runner-up finish and score of 308.85 points.
 
Meanwhile, 2024 French Olympian Guillaume Guth led the Maverick men's swimmers, setting NCAA "B" cut times in both the 50 and 200 freestyle events in his collegiate debut.  He posted a time of 1:38.42 (1:37.22-converted) in the 200 to take over the No. 10 spot in Maverick history for that discipline before coming back to also take second with a time of 20.11 seconds.
 
He then went slightly quicker (20.08) as the leadoff man on the Mavs' 200 free relay squad that also took second in 1:20.32.  His relay split moved him into the No. 7 spot in CMU history for the 50 free.
 
The Mavs also managed a second place finish in the 400 medley relay as Guth anchored the squad that also included Luka Samsonov, Marcos Otero and Oskar Sawicki.  The quartet finished in 3:15.65.
 
Samsonov later finished third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 49.94 seconds while Otero came back to set a 100 breaststroke time of 55.28 (55.18-converted) to finish third in that individual discipline.  Otero's time also eclipsed the NCAA "B" cut standard.  He also finished fourth in the 200 IM at 1:52.17 while Samsonov led the Mavs in the 100 IM with a time of 51.77 seconds to place fourth.
 
CMU freshman Nathan Knobelspiesse also had a nice start to his collegiate career, taking third in the 200 butterfly at 1:51.85, just ahead of fellow freshman Micah Moore's fourth place time of 1:52.16.
 
Former Navy Midshipmen Ethan Gluck also finished fourth in the men's 1000 freestyle, posting a time of 9:48.57.
 
Another slate of 22 events (11 men's, 11 women's) will be contested in the second weekend meet on Saturday, which will begin at 10:30 a.m.  That meet will be scored separately from Friday's and will feature an entirely different slate of events.