COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's swimming & diving team was a unanimous pick to win an eighth straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title and placed four team members on the preseason all-conference team that was announced in conjunction with the league's preseason coaches' poll, released on Thursday.
 
The Mavericks received the first place nod on all five possible ballots of the coaches, who ranked their opposition 1-5 without voting for their own team.  Five points were awarded for each as the Mavs topped the poll with 25 points.
 
The Colorado School of Mines, which took second at last year's RMAC Championships received CMU Head Coach Mickey Wender's first place vote to take second in the poll with 20 points.  Associate RMAC members Simon Fraser, Oklahoma Christian and UT Permian Basin were picked third through fifth with 17, 14 and 8 points, respectively.  Adams State rounded out the poll with six points.
 
The Preseason All-RMAC team was made up of the highest placed returning student-athlete in each of the 16 individual events from last year's RMAC Championships.
 
The Mavs had four of those selections in 2024-25 RMAC Diver of the Year Ryan Campbell, 2024-25 RMAC Freshman of the Year Richard Schmiedefeld as well as Luka Samsonov and Wyatt Hermanson.
 
Campbell won the RMAC title on the 3-meter board while Hermanson was the 1-meter champion.  Schmiedefeld won the 50-yard freestyle at last year's RMAC Championships while Samsonov took second in the 200 Backstroke.
 
The CMU women were also unanimous selections to win an eighth straight title.
 
The Mavs will begin the season next week hosting two days of meets during the annual Intermountain Shootout on Oct. 3 and 4.   NCAA Division I BYU and Adams State are slated to compete against the Mavs.

CMU will again host the RMAC Championships from Feb. 10-14, 2026.