GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams are poised to host this week's 15^th annual TYR/CMU Invitational, which has proven to be a bonanza of NCAA Division II Championship qualifying efforts in previous years.
 
The 3 ½-day prelims/finals format meet begins Wednesday evening and will run through Saturday evening at the Mavs' El Pomar Natatorium.
 
The Colorado School of Mines men and women and the Division I Northern Arizona women will provide the opposition in what is a smaller meet than in previous years.
 
Wednesday's action, which will include timed finals in three events will begin at 6 p.m.
 
Preliminary swimming heats will then be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings, beginning at 10 a.m each day.  Finals on Thursday and Friday will begin at 5 p.m. while Saturday's finals session will commence an hour earlier at 4 p.m.
 
Diving will also be included at this year's meet and will feature noon sessions on both Thursday and Friday.  The 3-meter finals will also be contested as part of the overall finals session on those evenings.
 
A separate diving dual meet for the Maverick men against Mines is also planned for Saturday afternoon at Noon.  The men will contest a 3-meter event over 11 dives during that meet.  The Maverick women will host an intrasquad exhibition 11-dive, 1-meter event during that session.
 
A complete schedule of the main meet can be found in the Meet Information packet.
 
Live results can be accessed here and with a subscription to the MeetMobile app.
 
Live streams of all the events can be seen with a subscription the RMAC Network.
 
Meet Format & The Opposition
 
A total of 19 swimming events, including five relays, and both the 1 and 3-meter diving disciplines for each gender will be contested this week.  The relays and long-distance freestyle events (1000 & 1650 Free) will be contested as finals against time.  The other 12 events will have morning preliminaries to shape the field for the evening finals session.  A total of 16 swimmers will advance to the finals in each of those events with the top 8 qualifying for the "A Final" while the 9^th-16^th qualifiers will contest the "B Final".
 
Team points will be awarded to the top 16 finishers and relay teams under the standard invitational scoring method with 20 points going to the winner.  Relay finishes are worth double.
 
Individual swimmers are limited to four individual and seven total events for team-scoring purposes but are also allowed to swim additional events as an exhibition swimmer and are permitted one time trial opportunity in each event to potentially set additional national-qualifying marks. 
 
Time trials will be held at the end of each session.
 
RMAC Network News
 
The RMAC Network has moved to a pay-per-view model for the upcoming 2025-26 season.  This season, all RMAC athletic events broadcast by its 15 full-member institutions and associate members will only be available for purchase via a single-game pass or a monthly or annual subscription. Revenue generated by the network will be redistributed to the league's membership to enhance their programs.
 
RMAC fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them with access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription costs $130. Single-day passes are available for $10, which grants access to a particular day of coverage and are valid for 24 hours from the time of purchase.
 
Additionally, a discounted annual subscription price will be available to students, faculty, and staff of each member institution throughout the year. Purchasing options and pricing for individual RMAC Championships will be announced closer to each event.

Senior Day
 
A group of 22 Maverick athletes will be recognized during Senior Day festivities on Saturday at 3:45 p.m., prior to that day's finals session.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks were last in action on Oct. 31, competing against Division I Utah in a Halloween afternoon dual in Salt Lake City.
 
Olivia Hansson won two events while Kiara Borchardt, Aron Jonsson, Ada Qunell and Richard Schmiedefeld all won once to lead the Mavs' efforts.
 
A full meet recap can be found here.
 
CMU Invitational History
 
This week's meet will be the 15th mid-season invitational that the Mavericks have hosted annually since 2010 although the 2020 version was canceled due to COVID issues.
 
For sponsorship reasons, the name has been changed to the TYR/CMU Invitational, a change made in 2022.
 
The Maverick men have won 13 of the previous 14 titles, including each of the last eight since 2016.   They set a meet scoring record of 1,754 points and won by an incredible 999 points in 2018.  They won last year's meet with 1,425 points, nearly 550 ahead of second place Wyoming.  The Colorado School of Mines took third out of five teams with 573 a year ago.
 
CMU's women will be looking to return to the top spot of the standings after taking second behind Wyoming at last year's meet.  The Mavs had won the previous seven meets, sharing the title with Northern Arizona in 2019.
 
The Lumberjacks are making their fifth straight appearance and took third last year with 638 ½ points.  Mines was fourth out of five teams with 405 points and has competed in all but one (2013) of the previous renditions of the meet.

A complete team scoring breakdown of the meet's history can be found here.
 
Faster and Faster
 
The meet record book has been re-written in recent years as only four of the 38 event records in the swimming disciplines were set prior to 2023.  Only one record, the women's 100-yard freestyle mark of 49.82 seconds, set by Western Colorado's Randi Yarnell in 2018, is more than three years old.
 
Eighteen records were set last year alone. The Mavs did more than their part, setting 15 of those records.
 
Junior Marcos Otero is the only individual returning record-holder after posting a record time of 1:58.03 in the men's 200 breast.  He was also on one of the Mavs' eight record-setting relay teams from a year ago.
 
Otero and Braden Felio (500 Free) are the Mavs' two returning individual champions from last year's meet.
 
RMAC Awards Haul
 
The Mavericks have won a combined nine (5 men, 4 women) RMAC Swimmer and Diver of the Week awards throughout their first three weekends of action this season.
 
The Maverick men have won all three possible Diver of the Week honors with Jax Juarros claiming two of them on Oct. 9 and Nov. 6 while David Roethlisberger won the Oct. 30 honor.  Guillaume Guth (Oct. 9) and Aaron Jonsson (Nov. 6) have received the men's swimming honors.
 
Olivia Hansson and Kenya Meyer have swept the women's honors on both Oct. 9 and Nov. 6.
 
In the polls
 
The Mavericks were picked fifth (women's) and sixth (men's) in the latest and November edition of the monthly CSCAA (College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of American) NCAA Division II Top 25 Dual Meet polls that were released last Friday (Nov. 14).
 
The Maverick women received 219 points in the poll and dropped three spots after sitting second in the October edition.  The Maverick men dropped one spot from fifth and received 199 points in the latest poll.
 
The Mines women are ranked 18^th while the Oredigger men are receiving two votes.
 
The poll committees, consisting of Division II coaches, assesses, and ranks the nation's top 25 dual meet teams in monthly polls.  Their evaluation considers head-to-head dual meet outcomes, performances since the last rankings, season-long performances, dual meet records, roster changes (such as injuries), and data from the SwimCloud Simulator. It is important to note that the poll's objective is not to predict the top finishers in a championship meet format.
 
New Diving Rankings
 
The US Professional Diving Coaches Association (US PDCA) has unveiled a new PDCA "Top 25", a brand new ranking dedicated to celebrating and recognizing the best in NCAA diving. "For too long, diving has been an afterthought in swimming-centric rankings, where the success of a diving program is often lost in the overall team score.  The PDCA Top 25 changes that, providing a comprehensive and accurate measure of excellence for both individual divers and diving programs across the nation," the PDCA said the unveiling earlier this month.
 
The Maverick women are tied for second nationally in the coaches' poll with 28 points while the men are ranked third with 28.7.  The Mavs are third in the composite rankings with 28.3 points.
 
Power rankings, powered by data collected from DiveMeets.com were also produced for the teams and for individuals in each of the four total diving events.
 
To see the various polls, rankings and methodology, please click 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 seven different Maverick women who rank inside the nation's top 10.  She also ranks third in the 200 free at 1:48.53 and ninth 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 seventh in the 200 Free (1:37.22) and sixth in the 50 Free (20.11). Two other Maverick men also rank inside the nation's top 10 in at least one event heading into this week.
 
Additionally, the Mavericks have eight relay teams inside the top 10, seven of which rank amongst the nation's top five.  The Mavs have not yet contested the 800 Free Relays this season.
 
Here's a list of the other current Maverick individual swimmers and relays who sit inside the top 10 (championship events only) as of Tuesday.
 
Women
100 Free: T4. Ada Qunell (50.55),
1000 Free: 5. Maya Clise (10:09.50)
100 Back: 3. Taylar Hooton (55.15), 9. Abby Uhl (2:02.42)
100 Breast: 4. Antonia Leese (1:02.72)
200 Fly: 8. Tori Bartusiak (2:03.12)
200 Free Relay: 5. CMU (1:33.69)
400 Free Relay: 3. CMU (3:25.04)
200 Medley Relay: 5. CMU (1:42.25)
400 Medley Relay: 2. CMU (3:44.14)
 
Men
100 Back: 10. Luka Samsonov (48.95)
200 Breast: 9. Aron Jonsson (2:01.54)
400 IM: 8. Samsonov (3:58.72)
200 Free Relay: 4. CMU (1:20.32)
400 Free Relay: 3. CMU (2:57.61)
200 Medley Relay: 7. CMU (1:28.30)
400 Medley Relay: 5. 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.
 
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, has a 6-dive score on the 3-meter board, while Hermanson, Juarros and Roethlisberger have 6-dive scores on both the 1 and 3-meter boards.
 
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 brought 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 Datilio (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 compete in another invitational next month, competing at the Dec. 15-17 UNLV Invitational in the days following final fall semester exams.