GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University swimmers continued to fly while the divers joined in on the NCAA Division II Championship qualifying party as the Mavericks won eight of the day's ten events while combining for a pair of meet records, 27 NCAA Division II Championship "B" cut times and 13 diving qualification marks during Thursday action of the TYR/CMU Invitational here at the El Pomar Natatorium.
 
In the process, the Maverick men opened up a 232-point (674-442) lead over Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Colorado School of Mines in the men's team standings while the Maverick women now lead Division I Northern Arizona by 120 points, 494-374.  Mines is in third with 307 after two of the four days of action.
 
For the second straight night, the Mavs punctuated the night with a meet, pool and school-record trifecta in a men's relay.  The international quartet of French Olympian Guillaume Guth, Polish senior Oskar Sawicki, German sophomore Richard Schmiedefeld and American junior Holden Convertino combined for a time of 1:18.81 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, breaking the 1-year old pool and meet record time of 1:19.09 and the months-hold record of 1:19.07, that Schmiedefeld was a part of at the 2025 NCAA Championships in March.
 
Guth led off Thursday's record-setting effort in 19.59 seconds, the second fastest 50 free time in Maverick history and fastest in Division II this season.
 
Meanwhile, Kenya Meyer broke her own meet record in the women's 3-meter diving event, racking up 522.30 points in the 11-dive format as all six CMU women in the field surpassed the NCAA qualifying standard of 420.00 points.  Jenna Hurley took second in the group with 489.85 points.
 
The men's divers were on 1-meter duty on Thursday afternoon as seven of the eight Mavericks surpassed the NCAA qualifying mark of 440.00 points, a group led by Jax Juarros, who posted a personal-best score of 573.90 points to win by 44.45 points over teammate Ryan Campbell.
 
After a strong preliminary round session that saw multiple "B" cut times, the Maverick swimmers continued the momentum throughout the evening session, claiming six of the eight swimming event wins.
 
Swedish senior Olivia Hansson claimed the first, taking the 500 free in 4:55.12 (4:50.12-altitude adjusted just off her national-leading mark as one of six different Mavericks to post a NCAA provisional qualifying time throughout the day.  Hanna Sasivarevic finished third in a personal-best 5:01.06 (4:56.06-converted) to take fourth and rank sixth in CMU history. 
 
Swedish freshman Linnea Sjöberg (5:04.73/4:59.73-converted) finished fifth while Haven Hinkle won the consolation final in 5:07.18 (5:02.-18 converted).  Maya Clise and Melaina Howard also posted "B" cut times in the preliminaries.
 
In the men's 500 free, Ben Vester touched second in 4:29.05 (4:24.05-converted) to move into the No. 4 spot of CMU history as one of five NCAA provisional qualifiers.  He gained on Mines sophomore Vlad Kazakin throughout the second half of the race as Kazakin won his second event of the meet in 4:27.89.
 
Meanwhile, Jonas Friess took third in 4:30.30 (4:25.30-converted) and now ranks ninth in Maverick history.  Conrad Fawcett also just missed out on a spot in the updated top 10, taking fourth in 4:32.24 (4:27.24-converted).  Gavyn Tatge and Braden Felio, the 2024 event winner also set NCAA provisional qualifying efforts in the preliminaries while taking fifth and sixth in the final, respectively.
 
Three Maverick women set NCAA "B" cut times in the 200 IM as sophomore Taylar Hooton led the group in a third place time of 2:04.17 (2:02.97-converted) to take over the fifth spot in CMU history.  Ada Qunell, who smashed the Maverick record in the 200 free on Wednesday night, also swam a personal-best time of 2:04.89 (2:03.69-converted) to take over the No. 7 spot in CMU history while freshman Abby Uhl won the consolation final in 2:05.67 (2:04.47-converted) to move into a tie for eighth place in Maverick lore.
 
Northern Arizona's Cydnie Perkins won the race in 2:03.24.
 
The Mavs then won the remaining five events of the evening, starting with the men's 200 IM as Micah Moore led a 1-5 Maverick sweep with a time of 1:48.73 (1:47.53-converted) as the first of four Maverick NCAA Championship provisional qualifiers.  The freshman now ranks fourth in CMU history.   Marcos Otero took second in 1:49.08 (1:47.88-converted) while Luka Samsonov also claimed a NCAA "B" cut time of 1:49.18 (1:47.98-converted).  Aron Jonsson was fourth after posting his "B" cut time in the preliminaries.
 
Maverick sophomore Reagan Horn then sprinted to the women's 50 free victory in 23.33 seconds, moving into the No. 7 spot of CMU history with her NCAA "B" qualifying time.
 
Meanwhile, the Maverick men swept the top three places and claimed a trio of NCAA marks with Schmiedefeld winning in 20.05 seconds ahead of Sawicki (20.28) and Convertino (20.34).
 
After the women's diving domination, the Maverick women's 200 free relay quartet of Qunell, Tori Bartusiak, Kiara Borchardt and Horn then combined for a national championship qualifying time of 1:32.52.  Qunell also picked up her 50 free cut time of 23.31 as the lead-off swimmer.
 
Otero also landed a 50 free "B" cut time of 20.25 seconds as the lead-off on the Mavs' "B" relay team that took third in 1:20.67 behind the aforementioned record-setting primary men's squad.

The meet will resume at 10 a.m. on Friday with preliminary heats in ten different swimming events followed by diving at Noon.  A jam-packed finals session will then begin at 5 p.m.