INDIANAPOLIS— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks took third and eighth in the meet-starting 800-yard freestyle relays at the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships, which got underway here on Tuesday at the IU Natatorium.
 
The Maverick women's quartet of Kendyll Wilkinson, Katerina Matoskova, Ada Qunell and Olivia Hansson posted a time of seven minutes, 14.86 seconds, the fastest actual time in program history, to finish third while the CMU's men's group of Kuba Kiszczak, Richard Schmiedefeld, Dejan Urbanek and Max Ayres posted a time of 6:30.87 while finishing eighth.
 
All eight Maverick swimmers earned First Team CSCAA All-America honors thanks to a top eight finish. 
 
The Maverick women picked up 32 team points with their effort, which was just off the program's altitude-adjusted school record of 7:12.75 from this past November.  Tuesday's time was 0.68 seconds faster than their 2024 NCAA Championship effort of 7:14.86, which placed the Mavs second a year ago.
 
Wilkinson, a freshman from Grand Junction, led off the relay, posting a 200 free lead-off leg time of 1:48.89, which is also the fastest actual time in program history, and just off her personal altitude-adjusted record of 1:48.11 from last month's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships.
 
The Mavs were in fifth place at that time and moved up to fourth after Matoskova's second leg split of 1:49.02.  Qunell then moved the Mavs to third with a 1:49.11 third leg split.  Hansson then brought the Mavs home in 1:47.84, the third fastest anchor leg split out of all 16 teams in the event and the second fastest in the top heat, narrowing the final difference to then runner-up Drury Panthers to just 0.22 seconds.
 
Defending National Team Champions Nova Southeastern won the event for the third straight year with a time of 7:11.57 to open up the overall lead in the team scoring chase with 40 points.  Drury has 34.
 
Grand Valley State, Simon Fraser and Tampa rounded out the top six in the relay and in the team standings with 30, 28 and 26 point
 
Schmiedefeld, who like Wilkinson was making his NCAA Championship debut as a freshman, posted the fastest split for the Maverick men, turning in a 1:36.91 split on the second leg, moving the Mavs up a spot to sixth in the final heat.
 
Kiszczak led things off with a 1:37.59 lead-off leg while Urbanek finished his portion of the relay in 1:37.92 while Ayres finished in 1:38.45 as the Mavs ended up sixth in the heat after coming in seeded seventh.
 
Tampa broke an 8-year old NCAA championship and all-time Division II record, touching in 6:17.93, to win 1.74 seconds over Drury.  The Spartans broke the 2017 record of 6:18.46, which had been set by Queens (N.C.), and defended their 2024 title.
 
McKendree finished third in 6:20.34.
 
Kiszczak now has five first team and 13 all-America honors to his credit over the past four years while Urbanek, who is also a senior, claimed his eighth first team and 12^th total honor.   Ayres now has two first team and three total relay All-America honors.
 
On the women's side, Matoskova now has eight first team and 15 total all-America honors throughout her 5-year Maverick career.  Qunell, who won three relay national titles in 2024, now has eight first team and ten total honors while Hansson now has five first team and six overall all-America certificates.  She was also a part of the Mavs' fourth place 800 free relay team in 2023 as a freshman.
 
Wilkinson and Schmiedefeld are first time honorees as freshmen.
 
The Mavericks also qualified fiver divers (3 women, 2 men) for the official championship meet, through Tuesday's Pre-Championship Qualification meet.
 
The championships resume on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. EDT (8 a.m. Mountain) with preliminary heats in the 200 individual medley and 50 freestyle events, followed by the slower seeded sections of the 1,000 free.
 
The women's 1-meter diving preliminaries will then begin at 1 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. Mountain).