GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams will look to sweep the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles for the seventh straight year while continuing to take "an important step along the way", as Head Coach Mickey Wender describes the team goals of the conference meet towards hopeful national championship success a month down the road.
 
The Mavericks, ranked first (women) and second (men) in the the current Swimcloud Championship rankings and first (women) and fourth (men) in the latest edition of the monthly CSCAA NCAA Division II Top 25 Dual meet polls and in will once again host the RMAC Championships in the El Pomar Natatorium, next Tuesday through Saturday (Feb. 11-15).
 
Single day or full 4 ½ day championship tickets as well as championship gear can be purchased through the championship website, which also has a complete event schedule.
 
All 13 sessions of the meet, can be seen on the live stream (subscription required) at www.cmumavericks.com/tv. 
 
Live results can also be accessed here and will also be available for MeetMobile subscribers.
 
Daily recaps will be posted on www.cmumavericks.com as well.
 
A Note From the RMAC

As was the case last year, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference has continued a subscription model to all 2024-25 RMAC Championship broadcast on the RMAC Network.
 
The policy comes from support from league leadership in the summer to 2023 to implement the pay-per-view concept as a manner to offset the league's broadcasting initiatives and operations associated with championship events.

Fans will be able to purchase day passes for each day of tournament play, priced at $9.95 per day or $30 for the entire championship. An all winter-championship pass option is also available for $70.  An elevated pass, which includes access to all championships, is also available for $100.
 
To purchase a pass, or for more information, please visit https://rmacsports.org/sports/2024/10/31/GEN_1031242634.aspx.
 
Meet Format
 
For the third straight year, this year's championships will run over five days to mirror the NCAA Championship format.  The 800-yard freestyle relays will now be held on Tuesday evening in a brief 6 p.m. session.
 
The other four days (Wednesday-Saturday) will include preliminary swimming heats at 10 a.m., diving preliminaries at 2 p.m. and a nightly swimming and diving final session at 5:30 p.m.
 
A new wrinkle to the 2025 championship, will be that the inclusion of a "C" final for the women's individual events and that the top 24 individual swimmers will score team points, with 32 points now going to championship winner instead of the previous 20 under the previous 16-scorer format.  The full scoring structure for the women's events will be (32-28-27-26-25-24-23-22-20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1).
 
The men's finals will still only include 16 swimmers in championship "A" and consolation "B" finals with 20 points going to the winners, the same as in the past.  The full scoring structure is (20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1).
 
Diving events will also be scored in the same manners.
 
The 1000 and 1650 freestyle events do not have preliminary rounds and will be seeded in sections by entry time.  The top eight seeded and scoring-eligible swimmers will swim during the evening sessions on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.  The slower sections will be held at the end of the morning preliminary sessions.

Relay events, which also do not have preliminary heats, will be scored with 40 points going to the winning team on the men's side, while 44 will be awarded to the first-place women's teams.  All of the "A" relay teams will score ahead of the "B" teams.
 
Individual swimmers are allowed to score in up to four individual and seven total events, and each team is limited to 18 scoring athletes.  Athletes that compete in only diving events count as one-third of a person toward that team-scoring total, although teams are permitted to enter others as exhibition swimmers and divers.
 
Exhibition C and D relays are now allowed, using only exhibition swimmers, and will be contested at the end of the morning sessions.
 
Time trials will also be held at the end of each session.
 
The Opposition & Look Back in 2024
 
As was the case in 2024, this year's RMAC Championship field will include nine women's teams and six men's squads.
 
Full conference members that CMU will compete against are Adams State, Colorado School of Mines, CSU Pueblo (women only) and Western Colorado (women only).  Oklahoma Christian, Simon Fraser, UT Permian Basin and Nebraska-Kearney (women only) are the associate members for swimming and diving.
 
The Mavericks will certainly enter the meet as the favorites and with the pedigree of claiming team title sweeps in each of the last six years.  CMU also finished second (women's) and fifth (men's) at last year's NCAA Division II National Championships.
 
However, the rest of the RMAC has plenty of talented swimmers and divers who will contend for individual titles while also attempting to pressure the Mavs in the team scoring chase.
 
On the women's side, Simon Fraser, is ranked 13^th in the CSCAA Poll while Mines is ranked 18^th.  The Simon Fraser men are ranked 18^th while Mines is 23^rd.
 
In 2024, the Mavericks won 30 events and 63 of the total medals en-route to the title sweep.
 
The women won 15 events, including all five relays, and scored 1,221 points to win by nearly 600 over Mines, which finished with 637 ½.  Simon Fraser was third with 626 ½.
 
The CMU men also won 15 events, including all five relays, and finished with 1,153 ½ team points, 464 ½ clear of Mines.  Oklahoma Christian, which won the other six events, was third with 636 points.
 
Awards
 
The Mavs also won four of the five post-meet awards in 2024 but have graduated two of those award-winners.
 
In 2024, Maverick women's divers Jenna Hurley and Kenya Meyer shared RMAC Co-Diver of the Meet honors after each won a diving event while finishing second behind the other in the other event.  They both return in 2025.
 
Ben Sampson, who has moved on to Division I power Texas as a graduate student, was tabbed as the RMAC Men's Swimmer of the Meet after winning all four of his individual events and seven overall events.  Isaiah Cheeks, who graduated in 2024 was also named the Men's Diver of the Meet for the third straight year after winning a fifth conference title.
 
Simon Fraser's Tori Meklensek, who is back this year, edged now CMU volunteer assistant coach Benedict Nagy for Women's Swimmer of the Meet honors on tie-breaking procedures.
 
Those awards will once again be awarded in 2024 following the meet and will be given to the highest point earners in the swimming and diving events, respectively.
 
The RMAC All-Academic honorees and Summit Award winners will also be recognized prior to the Friday evening session, and the conference's seniors will be recognized before Saturday's finals session.
 
The RMAC Swimmer, Diver, Freshman and Coach of the Year awards will once again be released in March following the national championships and a vote of the league's coaches.  In 2024, CMU's Ben Sampson and Agata Naskret swept the Men's & Women's Swimmer of the Year awards while Isaiah Cheeks and Jenna Hurley swept the Diver of the Year Awards.
 
Mickey Wender, who was also the National Women's Coach of the Year, won the RMAC Women's Coach of the Year award in a vote of his peers while now CMU sophomore Jameson McEnaney claimed RMAC Freshman of the Year honors.
 
Medals & All-Conference
 
The top three finishers in each event — both individual and relays— will claim gold, silver and bronze medals in the various podium presentations that will feature the top eight finishers.
 
In addition, the top two finishers will each garner First Team All-RMAC honors, with the third and fourth place finishers recognized as Second Team All-RMAC performers.  The Mavericks combined for 103 all-conference certificates, including 79 first team honors last season.
 
Defending Champions
 
Although they lost some of their event winners from a year ago due to graduation, the Mavericks are once again loaded with top-end talent and have eight athletes, who will look to defend titles in 11 different individual events.  Three of those 2024 wins came with RMAC Championship record performances.
 
The Mavericks also won all ten relay events in 2024, including eight with championship record times, and return 30 of the 40 total legs from those teams.
 
The list of defending conference champions is listed below.

Notably, Dejan Urbanek has swept the 100 and 200 Fly titles in each of his three previous years as a Maverick and has won 11 total conference crowns, including his six individual titles and five relays.
 
Men's Individual
50 Free-Jameson McEnaney (20.18)
100 Free- Jameson McEnaney (44.20)
100 Fly- Dejan Urbanek (48.10)
200 Fly- Dejan Urbanek (1:46.95)
 
Women's Individual
50 Free- Elli Williams (23.09)
100 Free- Ada Qunell (50.06)
100 Back- Agata Naskret (53.02*)
200 Back- Agata Naskret (1:57.27*)
1650 Free- Olivia Hansson (17:00.22)
1m Diving- Kenya Meyer (470.70*)
3m Diving- Jenna Hurley (486.96)

Relays
Men's 200 Free (1:20.18)- Kuba Kiszczak, Austin Patterson, Andrew Scoggin, Jameson McEnaney
Men's 400 Free (2:55.61*)- Jameson McEnaney, Ben Sampson#, Aziz Ghaffari#, Andrew Scoggin
Men's 800 Free (6:30.29*)- Kuba Kiszczak, Aziz Ghaffari#, Dejan Urbanek, Ben Sampson#
Men's 200 Medley (1:27.27)- Andrew Scoggin, Max Ayres, Dejan Urbanek, Kuba Kiszczak
Men's 400 Medley (3:11.92*)- Ben Sampson#, Max Ayres, Dejan Urbanek, Aziz Ghaffari
 Women's 200 Free (1:31.83*)- Agata Naskret, Elli Williams, Ada Qunell, Lauren White#
Women's 400 Free (3:21.63*)- Ada Qunell, Elli Williams, Izzy Powers#, Lauren White#
Women's 800 Free (7:19.44*)- Ada Qunell, Katerina Matoskova, Benedict Nagy#, Lauren White#
Women's 200 Medley (1:40.82*)- Agata Naskret, Maddi Moran, Kiara Borchardt, Elli Williams
Women's 400 Medley (3:41.27*)- Agata Naskret, Maddi Moran, Kiara Borchardt, Ada Qunell
 
*-RMAC Championship Record
#- Non-Returning Relay Team Member (2024 Graduation)

Previous Champs
 
In addition to the defending champions, listed below the Mavericks have five other swimmers who have won individual RMAC titles earlier in their careers.
 
Fifth-year senior Gavin Anderson won of RMAC titles as a freshman, having won both the 1000 and 1650 freestyle events in 2021.  Another fifth-year senior in Katerina Matoskova also returns after winning five individual and ten total RMAC crowns in her career titles to her credit.
 
Olivia Hansson also won two individual titles as a freshman in 2022, taking the 500 and 1000 free before winning the 1650 free last year.  Juniors Ada Qunell (100 Free) and Kiara Borchardt (100 Fly) also won individual titles as freshman in 2023 and have been multiple-time relay champions in both of their previous years as a Maverick.
 
RMAC Dominance & History
 
As mentioned above, both Mavericks teams enter the 2025 RMAC meet as the 6-time defending champions, having claimed their past five titles sweeps in the friendly confines of the El Pomar Natatorium.  The Mavericks also won the 2019 titles in Lewisville, Texas. 
 
CMU's men also won at home in 2014 and 2017 and will have won a conference record eight overall titles, two more than previous record of six co-held by Colorado School of Mines and Western Colorado University, which won their titles in the 1970s and early 1980s.  The conference then discontinued sponsorship of the sport after the 1984 meet before resuming the championships 25 years later in 2009.
 
Neither Mines nor Western, which no longer has a men's program, have won a team title on either side since the resumption. 
 
The Maverick women also set new RMAC records for consecutive and most titles last year with their sixth.  Cam Baptist won five straight from 2014-18 before the Mavericks started their record run of titles in 2019.
 
Notably, the Mavericks are the only current RMAC member to have won a team title (both genders) since the resumption as Incarnate Word, Grand Canyon and Cal Baptist won men's and women's titles before departing for the Division I ranks.  Former RMAC affiliate member Lindenwood, which has also moved on to Division I also has one men's title to its credit (2015).
 
Top of the List
 
The Mavericks will enter the RMAC Championships with the No. 1 performer on the RMAC's season long lists in an incredible 32 different swimming events, including all ten relays.  The Mavs also have the No. 2 performer in five of the other six events and are slated to go 1-2-3 in ten different events, strictly according to the performance lists.
 
Here is a list of all the Mavs' No. 1 ranked swimmers and divers on the season-long performance lists.
 
Women (15)
 50 Free- Agata Naskret (22.75)
500 Free- Olivia Hansson (4:48.45)
100 Back- Naskret (51.86)*
200 Back- Naskret (1:56.31)*
100 Breast- Antonia Leese (1:02.31)
200 Breast- Maddi Moran (2:15.67)
100 Fly- Kiara Borchardt (55.34)
200 Fly- Tori Bartusiak (2:02.09)
200 IM- Sophia Bains (2:00.77)
400 IM- Bains (4:17.81)
200 Free Relay (1:31.62)
400 Free Relay (3:21.42)
800 Free Relay (7:12.75)
200 Medley Relay (1:39.38)
400 Medley Relay (3:39.57)
 
Men (17)
50 Free- Harry Stacey (19.49)
100 Free- Stacey (42.84)
200 Free- Max Ayres (1:37.73)
500 Free- Braden Felio (4:23.60)
1000 Free- Jacob Troescher (9:05.74)
1650 Free- Troescher (15:16.97)
100 Back- Andrew Scoggin (46.33)
200 Back- Scoggin (1:43.35)
100 Breast- Forrest Frazier (53.31)
200 Breast- Marcos Otero (1:56.83)
100 Fly- Dejan Urbanek (47.46)
200 Fly- Urbanek (1:45.84)
200 Free Relay (1:19.09)
400 Free Relay (2:54.15)
800 Free Relay (6:27.71)
200 Medley Relay (1:24.66)
400 Medley Relay (3:10.47)
 
Partially Shaved
 
Maverick Head Coach Mickey Wender has noted that he is confident that 21 of the Mavericks swimmers have already qualified for next month's national championships by posting quality times earlier in the season.  The Mavericks have also qualified teams for all ten relays at next month's national championships.
 
As was the case last year, those individual qualifiers will not taper or shave for the RMAC Championships with loftier team and individual national championship goals in mind but will still be amongst the favorites as they will use the RMAC Championships as a final dress rehearsal, including "suiting up" in their speed suits.
 
However, the rest of the Maverick squad have been lowering the yardage in practice to feel more rested for the upcoming conference championships, a strategy that Wender and his assistants hope will pay off again with more national qualifiers.
 
CMU is hoping to have the full allotment of 18 allowable qualifiers for each gender at the NCAA Championships, something the Mavericks have never been able to do before but certainly within their grasp of this year's team.

Maverick Head Coach Mickey Wender and two of his national qualified swimmers Forrest Frazier and Olivia Hansson talks about the strategy in the Mavs' pre-championship Media Scrum.
 
Diving Dominance
 
The Mavericks have also dominated the diving boards in recent RMAC Championships and throughout this year's regular season.  
 
The Mavericks have won nine of the ten RMAC Diver of the Week awards that they have been eligible for this season, winning five men's and four awards.
 
Six different Maverick divers have won those awards.
 
In recent history, CMU has swept the RMAC Championship diving events every year since and including 2018 on the men's side and has swept the women's titles in each of the last three years.
 
The Maverick men have had the RMAC Championship Diver of the Meet in seven straight years while Maverick women have won seven of the last eight honors with teammates sharing co-awards in each of the last three.
 
Qualified Divers
 
While the swimmers have been posting fast times, the Maverick divers have been faring well with five of them (4 men, 1 women) already securing passage to the NCAA Division II Pre-Championship Qualification meet on Mar. 11.
 
As was the case in 2023-24, divers must achieve a minimum of two qualification scores, which must come from two different meets, in order to make that trip.  Additionally, divers must achieve those scores in both a 6 and 11-diver format.
 
The Mavericks qualifiers include Ryan Campbell, Wyatt Hermanson, Jax Juarros and Ty Mitton on the men's side as well as women's standout Kenya Meyer.
 
Two other Maverick divers in Jenna Hurley and David Roethlisberger are also on the precipice of securing a trip to the national meet.  Hurley has an 11-dive mark from two different 1-meter efforts and simply needs a 6-dive mark on either board to secure a second straight trip to the national pre-championship qualifier.
 
Meanwhile, Roethlisberger also set both 6-dive and 11-dive format qualification scores on the 3-meter board against in the October dual against Wyoming and will need just one more qualifying score from a second meet to earn a trip to Indianapolis in March.
 
No. 1 & 2 rankings
 
The Maverick women occupy the No. 1 spot in the latest (February) edition of the CSCAA Top 25 Dual Meet Poll, which was released on Friday.  They were also ranked No. 1 in December and January in the preseason poll of October while sitting sixth in November.  The Mav women have also occupied the No. 1 rank spot in the Swimcloud NCAA Division II Championship rankings, calculated mathematically off times reported to the website.
 
CMU's men are also ranked second in the Swimcloud Championship rankings and fourth in the CSCAA Poll.  They were also ranked second in the January poll.
 
Naskret spells National Record & National Leader
 
Polish-born Maverick Agata Naskret set a NCAAA Division II all-time record of 51.96 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke earlier this season and leads the country in both that and the 200 back events with altitude-adjusted times of 51.86 and 1:56.31.
 
She has also been the lead-off the Mavs' 200 Medley and 400 Medley relay teams this year.
 
Naskret won both backstroking events as well as three relay national titles, at last year's NCAA Division II National Championships and also won five RMAC titles, all with championship record times, en route to RMAC Swimmer of the Year honors in her debut season as a Maverick in 2023-24.
 
Feathers in the Captains' Hat

Men's Team Captain Andrew Scoggin will enter the 2025 RMAC Championships, his last, as a 4-time relay champion, but has yet to win an individual title, something he will hope to change this year.  A 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials participant, 5-time All-American and 10-time All-RMAC performer, Scoggin has helped the Mavs win the team titles in each of the past three years but was behind former training partner Ben Sampson in the backstroke events, his specialty.
 
The senior has taken over top spot on the RMAC performance lists in both of those by wide margins and ranks second nationally in the 100 Back and third nationally in the 200 Back.
 
The Greeley, Colorado native was recently featured in the RMAC Sidelines Podcast and Maverick fans are encouraged to give a listen to his background story and time as a Maverick.  That can be heard on Spotify: https://rb.gy/uw0gko or Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/vLAa5.
 
Highly Touted Mavs
 
The Mavericks have 19 different swimmers who sit amongst the national top 10 of at least one event heading into the RMAC meet.  Here's an event-by-event look at those Mavericks as of Thursday.
 
Men's
50 Free- 3. Harry Stacey (19.49)
100 Free- 2. Stacey (42.84)
500 Free- 6. Braden Felio (4:23.6), 8. Gavyn Tatge (4:24.13)
1000 Free- 3. Jacob Troescher (9:05.74), 6. Gavin Anderson (9:11.16)
1650 Free- 4. Troescher (15:16.97)
100 Back- 2. Andrew Scoggin (46.33)
200 Back- 3. Scoggin (1:43.35)
100 Breast- 6. Forrest Frazier (53.31)
200 Breast- 5. Marcos Otero (1:56.83)
200 Fly- 5. Dejan Urbanek (1:45.84)
400 IM- 8. Ben Vester (3:51.22)
200 Free Relay- 4. (1:19.09)
400 Free Relay-3. (2:54.15)
800 Free Relay- 4. (6:27.71)
200 Medley Relay- 1. (1:24.66)
400 Medley Relay- 4. (3:10.47)
 
Women
50 Free- 5. Agata Naskret (22.75)
100 Free- 8. Ada Qunell (50.45)
200 Free- 4. Kendyll Wilkinson (1:48.25), 8. Katerina Matoskova (1:49.21), 9. Qunell (1:49.29)
500 Free- 2. Olivia Hansson (4:48.45), 9. Matoskova (4:54.52)
1000 Free- 6. Hansson (10:07.69)
1650 Free- 2. Hanson (16:38.56)
100 Back- 1. Naskret (51.86), 4. Taylar Hooton (54.30)
200 Back- 1. Naskret (1:56.31), 5. Matoskova (1:58.17)
100 Breast- 9. Antonia Leese (1:02.31)
200 Breast- 7. Maddi Moran (2:15.67)
200 IM- 3. Sophia Bains (2:00.77)
400 IM- 3. Bains (4:17.81)
200 Free Relay- 3. (1:31.62)
400 Free Relay- 2. (3:21.42)
800 Free Relay- 1. (7:12.75)
200 Medley Relay- 1. (1:39.38)
400 Medley Relay- 1 (3:39.57)
 
All-American List
 
The Mavericks roster or returning all-Americans is quite lengthy and impressive.
 
The Mavericks had 21 different individuals combine for 77 CSCAA All-America honors at last year's championships.  The Mavericks return 15 of those people to this year's roster and have 18 total returning all-Americans on this year's roster, including three who earned honors in 2023.
 
The returning group from 2024 earned a combined total of 55 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 2024 and the total number in their career.
 
Women
Sophia Bains (2/3)
Kiara Borchardt (3/6)
Olivia Hansson (2/5)
Katerina Matoskova (8/14)
Maddi Moran (4/5)
Agata Naskret (7/7)
Ada Qunell (5/9)
Elli Williams (4/4)
 
Men
Max Ayres (2/2)
Wyatt Hermanson (0/2)
Kuba Kiszczak (5/12)
Jameson McEnaney (4/4)
Jackson Moe (0/1)
Marcos Otero (1/1)
Austin Patterson (1/1)
Andrew Scoggin (4/5)
Dejan Urbanek (3/11)
Dawson Wilson (0/2)
 
Getting it done in the classroom
 
Certainly strong in the pool, the Maverick teams were once again recognized for their academic prowess as well and were recently named as a CSCAA Scholar All-America Team for the 2024 fall semester.
 
The Maverick women have now achieved the honor in 23 consecutive semesters while the men have earned the honor in 15 of the last 16 semesters.
 
CMU's women posted a 3.57 GPA during the fall semester while the men had a team mark of 3.45.
 
Forty different Maverick swimmers and divers (21 women, 19 men) will also receive individual recognition on Friday prior to the evening finals session in the RMAC's Academic Recognition presentation as members of the RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will host a last-chance meet on Saturday, Feb. 22, giving individual swimmers and divers one final chance to set a national qualifying mark.  The NCAA Division II selections will be announced on Feb. 27.  The national meet will be contested Mar. 11-15 in Indianapolis.