GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's and women's swimming & diving teams, ranked second (women's) and fifth (men's) in Division II will continue their challenging slate as the Mavericks head to Salt Lake City for a Halloween afternoon dual against an NCAA Division I and Big 12 Conference foe in the University of Utah Utes.
 
Action in the Ute Natatorium will begin at 1 p.m. on Friday.
 
The meet will not be streamed, but live results can be accessed here or with a subscription to MeetMobile.
 
A full recap will be posted on www.cmumavericks.com on Friday evening.
 
Meet Format
 
Friday's 16-event competition will be held under the normal dual meet format with the 400 medley and 200 free relay events.  Up to three individuals and two relay teams from each team can score in each event.  Points will be awarded on a 9-4-3-2-1 (individual) and 11-4-2 (relay) basis.
 
Last Time Out (Men)
 
The fifth-ranked Maverick men were last in action on Saturday in Golden, Colorado, where they claimed a 132-109 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win over the No. 24 Colorado School of Mines Orediggers.  The Mavericks won seven of the 13 events and set combined to set three CSM Natatorium records.
 
Diver David Roethlisberger swept the diving events with NCAA Championship qualifying scores of 335.55 (3-meter) and 318.45 (1-meter) and set the facility record in the 3-meter.
 
Luka Samsonov (400 IM) and Aron Jonsson (200 Breast) also set pool record times of 4:10.39 and 2:04.64 while winning those events.  Samsonov also led-off the Mavs' winning 200 medley relay team alongside Marcos Otero, Oskar Sawicki and Richard Schmiedefeld, who won the 50 free.  Holden Convertino was second in that event behind Schmiedefeld and won the 100 free.
 
A full meet recap can be seen here.
 
Last Time Out (Women)
 
The Maverick women took on Division I foes in Colorado State and Denver last Friday afternoon in a double-dual in Fort Collins. 
 
Olivia Hansson and Antonia Leese each won an event and took second in another to lead the Mavericks efforts against the Rams and Pioneers.  Hansson won the 1,000 free in 10:27.21 and took second in the 500 free with a time of 5:03.77.  Leese won the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.74 and took second in the 200 with a time of 2:22.03.
 
Kenya Meyer led the Maverick divers, placing fourth in the 1-meter competition with 234.10 points over six dives.
 
A full recap of that double dual can be seen here.
 
National Leaders & Top 10's
 
Maverick senior Olivia Hansson has the top time in NCAA Division II this season in both the 500 Free (4:49.95) and the 1000 free (9:57.07) and leads a group of eight different Maverick women who rank inside the nation's top 10.  She also ranks second in the 200 free at 1:48.53 and eighth in the 400 IM at 4:26.94.
 
Meanwhile, Guillaume Guth is also the NCAA Division II leader in the men's 100 Free at 43.20 seconds.  He also ranks fifth in the 200 Free (1:37.22) and sixth in the 50 Free (20.11). Four other Maverick men also rank inside the nation's top 10 in at least one event.
 
Additionally, the Mavericks have eight relay teams inside the top 10, seven of which rank amongst the nation's top four.
 
Here's a list of the other current Maverick individual swimmers and relays who sit inside the top 10 (championship events only) as of Thursday.
 
Women
100 Free: T4. Ada Qunell (50.55),
1000 Free: 2. Maya Clise (10:09.50)
100 Back: 3. Taylar Hooton (55.15), 7. Abby Uhl (2:02.42)
100 Breast: 3. Antonia Leese (1:02.72)
100 Fly: 6 Kiara Borchardt (55.78)
200 Fly: 8. Tori Bartusiak (2:03.12)
200 IM: 10. Qunell (2:05.36)
200 Free Relay: 4. CMU (1:33.69)
400 Free Relay: 3. CMU (3:25.04)
200 Medley Relay: 3. CMU (1:42.25)
400 Medley Relay: 2. CMU (3:44.14)
 
Men
100 Back: 8. Luka Samsonov (48.95)
100 Breast: 8. Marco Otero (55.18)
200 Breast: 7. Aron Jonsson (2:02.02), 10. Miles Moran (2:03.31)
400 IM: 6. Samsonov (3:58.72)
200 Free Relay: 4. CMU (1:20.32)
400 Free Relay: 2. CMU (2:57.61)
200 Medley Relay: 6. CMU (1:28.30)
400 Medley Relay: 4. CMU (3:15.25)
 
Half-Way to Indiana
 
Five Maverick divers are half way to booking their respective trips to the NCAA Division II Pre-Championship Diving Qualification meet.  In order to do so, they must have both a 6-dive qualifying score and 11-dive qualifying score from two different meets.
 
On the women's side, Senior Kenya Meyer has her 11-dive score of 440.25 points in the 3-meter from the Intermountain Shootout on the opening weekend of the season.  The reigning RMAC Women's Diver of the Year out of Bozeman, Montana is a returning all-American and will now need to just set a 6-dive qualifying score on either the 1 or 3-meter springboard at one more meet in order to book her trip to Evansville, Indiana in March, something that could come as soon as Friday.
 
Meyer has made the trip to the pre-championship qualification meet in each of her first three years as a Maverick, breaking through to the official championship meet for the first time last year.
 
On the men's side, four different men in Ryan Campbell, Wyatt Hermanson, Jax Juarros and David Roethlisberger all have qualification scores.
 
Campbell, last year's RMAC Diver of the Year, and Juarros both have 6-dive score on the 3-meter board, while Hermanson and Roethlisberger have 6-dive scores on both the 1 and 3-meter boards.
 
About the Utes
 
The Utes opened their season last Friday (Oct. 24) with a neutral site dual split against Wyoming at Green River High School.
 
The Utah men topped the Cowboys 196-104 and won 11 events.  The Ute women dropped a 172-128 decision to the Cowgirls but won six events.
 
Caleb Gallagher won both the 100 and 200 breast to lead the Utah men while Rylee McColley won twice for the women, taking the 100 and 200 backstroke.
 
In 2024-25, the Ute men finished third while their women were fifth at their first Big 12 Conference Championship.
 
Then senior Erin Palmer was also named as the Women's Swimmer of the Meet at the CSCAA National Invite in Ocala, Florida while leading a host of successful swims in the post-season meet.
 
In the polls
 
The Mavericks were picked second in the initial monthly edition of the CSCAA NCAA Division II Top 25 Dual Meet poll, which was announced by the coaching organization on Oct. 17.
 
The Maverick women, who took third at last year's NCAA Division II National Championships, received 243 points in the polling of a committee of CSCAA member coaches from Division II institutions, trailing only Tampa's total of 247.

Indianapolis (218), Grand Valley State (217) and Nova Southeastern (213) round out the top five.  Nova Southeastern won the national title last year.

The Mavs are one of three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams in the poll, sitting ahead of No. 18 Colorado School of Mines and No. 25 Simon Fraser.
 
Double No. 2
 
The Maverick women also sit second in both the championship and dual meet rankings, produced by Swimcloud.
 
The Mavericks have 679.95 points in the dual meet rankings, trailing only Tampa's total of 695.70 and have 600.86 points in the championship rankings, trailing only Tampa's total of 653.98.
 
Both rankings are mathematically calculated based on times reported to the website so far this season.
 
The Maverick men are ranked third in the championship rankings with 619.95 points trailing only Grand Valley State (625.82) and Tampa (621.21) and are ranked sixth in the dual rankings.
 
A look back to 2024-25
 
The Mavericks swept the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles for the seventh straight year before going on to post more strong finishes at the NCAA Division II Championships.  The CMU women finished third as a team at the national meet and combined to win three national titles, including defense of their title in the 400 medley relay.
 
CMU's men took ninth place to lead all RMAC teams.
 
The Mavericks competed mainly against NCAA Division I opposition throughout the season seeing only the CSU Pueblo women and the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers in meets during the first half of the season prior to the conference and national meets.
 
At the RMAC Championships, the Mavericks combined to win 27 gold and 62 total medals in the 42 events.
 
The Mavs then claimed 82 total all-America honors at the NCAA meet.
 
Award-Winners
 
Fittingly, the Mavericks brough in quite a haul of post-season awards at both the national and conference level last year.
 
Five Maverick athletes received the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's major awards at the end of the 2024-25 season.
 
On the men's side, team captain Andrew Scoggin, who has since graduated, was named as the RMAC Simmer of the Year while Ryan Campbell was named as the Men's Diver of the Year.  Kenya Meyer was named as the RMAC Women's Diver of the Year.
 
The Mavs also swept the RMAC Freshman of the Year awards with Richard Schmiedefeld and Kendyll Wilkinson receiving the men's & women's awards.
 
The Mavs also brought in a boatload of academic awards as Meyer and Dejan Urbanek swept the RMAC Academic Athlete of the Year honors while leading a group of 19 Maverick First Team Academic All-RMAC selections.
 
The Mavericks also led the country with the maximum eight possible (four men, four women) College Sports Communicators Academic All-America® selections.  Meyer, Kiara Borchardt and Ada Qunell return in 2025-26 from that list.
 
The Mavs also led the country with 39 CSCAA Scholar All-Americans while the Maverick men won the RMAC's Brechler Award for having the highest team GPA in the conference.
 
Returning National Champs
 
Antonia Leese, Kiara Borchardt and Ada Qunell all return as members of the Mavs' women's 400-yard medley relay team that won the NCAA title for the second straight time in 2025.  Borchardt and Qunell were also members of the 2024 winning team
 
Qunell, a 4-time national champion, also helped the Mavs win the 200 and 400 Freestyle relay teams in 2024.  Elli Williams also returns for her senior season after teaming with Qunell and others on those winning teams.
 
National Championship Run
 
Excluding, 2020 when the national championship meet was canceled 1 ½ days in due to the initial stages of the COVID pandemic, the Mavericks have won at least one national championship event every year since 2018, a streak they will hope to continue into 2026.
 
All-American List
 
The Mavericks roster or returning all-Americans is quite lengthy and impressive.
 
The Mavericks had a program-record 30 different individuals combine for 82 CSCAA All-America honors at last year's championships.  The Mavericks return 20 of those people to this year's roster and have 21 total returning all-Americans on this year's roster, including one who earned honors in 2023.
 
The returning group from 2025 earned a combined total of 44 all-America honors last year, which go to the top 16 finishers in each event at the national championships, last season.  The top eight finishers earn first team honors while the ninth through 16^th place finishers are Second Team/Honorable Mention selections.
 
Here's a list of CMU's returning all-Americans along with the number of honors each received in 2025 and the total number in their career.
 
Women
Kiara Borchardt (3/9)
Talia Datillo (1/1)
Olivia Hansson (5/10)
Taylar Hooton (1/1)
Reagan Horn (1/1)
Antonia Leese (3/3)
Mimi Licht (1/1)
Kenya Meyer (1/1)
Sydnee O'Neil (2/2)
Ada Qunell (4/13)
Hanna Sasivarevic (1/1)
Kendyll Wilkinson (3/3)
Elli Williams (3/7)
 
Men
Ryan Campbell (2/2)
Wyatt Hermanson (0/2)
Marcos Otero (1/2)
David Roethlisberger (2/2)
Luka Samsonov (3/3)
Richard Schmiedefeld (5/5)
Gavyn Tatge (1/1)
Ben Vester (1/1)
 
Preseason Polls
 
Both Maverick teams were unanimous selections to win their eighth straight RMAC crowns according to last week's Preseason Coaches' Polls.  The Maverick women received all eight of the possible first place votes they could receive to top the poll with 64 points ahead of Simon Fraser, which had 56 points and the first place vote from CMU Coach Mickey Wender.
 
Eight points were awarded for first place votes as each of the conference's nine coaches were asked to rank their opposition 1-8 without voting for their own squad.
 
The Maverick men picked up all five of their possible first place votes to top the poll with 25 points ahead of Mines, which took second in the poll with 20 points while receiving Wender's first place vote.  There are six men's teams in the conference and coaches were asked to rank their opposition 1-5.
 
The CSCAA's National Dual Meet Polls are slated for release once per month, beginning on Oct. 17.
 
Preseason All-RMAC
 
The RMAC also announced a Preseason All-RMAC team, made up of the top returning finisher in each individual event from last year's RMAC Championships.
 
Nine Maverick women combined for 14 of the 16 possible spots on the team while the Maverick men had four selections.
 
The Friendly Confines
 
The Mavericks will once again host the RMAC Championships, doing so for the seventh straight year in February (Feb. 10-14).
 
The Mavs also hosted the championship meet for five straight years from 2013-17 after first hosting in 2011.
 
Including the RMAC Championships and this week's two meets, the Mavericks are slated to take full advantage of the top-level El Pomar Natatorium, as they will home for six different meets this year.
 
Colorado Mesa turns 100
 
The CMU Century Celebration stands as the cornerstone of Colorado Mesa University's year-long centennial celebration. This ambitious initiative unites our community in honoring a rich heritage while boldly envisioning the next hundred years of academic excellence.

Led by the Steering Committee and six specialized sub-committees, we're orchestrating a transformative experience that will resonate through generations. Each committee brings unique expertise to create an unforgettable commemoration of our past, present and future.
 
To learn more about Colorado Mesa's 100-year celebration, visit cmucentury.com.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will return home to prepare for their TYR CMU Invitational, which they will host from Nov. 19-22.  That mid-season invitational has been a bonanza of fast and NCAA Championship qualifying times in previous years, a trend the Mavs will hope to continue this year.
 
This year's meet will also include the Maverick divers.
 
The meet will be smaller than in years past as the Colorado School of Mines will be the Mavs' only competition on the men's side.  Mines and Division I Northern Arizona make up the women's field.