GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After nearly a month since their last competitive action, the Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams will open 2026 with a triangular against the University of Denver Pioneers and University of Wyoming on Saturday in Denver.
 
Diving action in the Pioneers' El Pomar Natatorium will get underway at 10:30 a.m. (NEW TIME) before a slate of 16 swimming events will begin at 2:30 p.m.
 
The meet will be scored in a double-dual format and will be streamed live on the Pioneers' YouTube channel at the link above.
 
Live results will be accessible with a subscription to Meet Mobile.
 
A full recap will be posted on www.cmumavericks.com on Saturday evening.
 
Meet Schedule
 
Both the 1 and 3-meter diving disciplines will be contested during the morning session, which is now slated to begin at 10:30 a.m.
 
Following swim warm-ups, the Pioneers will honor their seniors before the 16-swimming event swim session at 2:30 p.m.
 
Here is a full breakdown of the swimming schedule.
 
200 Medley Relay
1000 Freestyle
200 Freestyle
100 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
50 Freestyle 
-BREAK-
100 Freestyle
200 Backstroke
200 Breaststroke
500 Freestyle
100 Butterfly
-BREAK-
400 I.M.
400 Freestyle Relay
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks were last in action from Dec. 15-17 at the UNLV Finis Invitational in Las Vegas, Nevada. 
 
The Maverick men won the 5-team meet with 996 ½ points while defeating all four NCAA Division I opponents including the hosts (789.5), Wyoming (611), Cal Baptist (610) and Pacific (514).  The Mavs won seven events, including four of the five relays, and also racked up seven second and seven third place finishes.
 
Guillaume Guth won both the 50 and 100 free and swam on the Mavs' winning 200 free, 800 free, 200 medley and 400 medley relays.  Aron Jonsson was also won both of the medley relay squads and took victory in the 200 breaststroke.
 
CMU's women took third out of seven teams with 688 ½ points and finished higher than three NCAA Division I teams in Wyoming (539), Cal Baptist (456) and Pacific (276) as well as Alaska-Fairbanks (38), the only other Division II team in the meet.  UNLV won the meet with 940 points while Tulane took second with 781 ½.
 
The Mavericks grabbed a pair of event wins from Antonia Leese (100 Breast) and the 200 medley relay team.
 
Full Recaps from each of the three days can be accessed here: DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3
 
More RMAC Awards
 
CMU's Guillaume Guth and Ryan Campbell swept the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Swimmer and Diver of the Week awards following their performances at the UNLV Invite.  Those honors were announced on Dec. 18 on the day after the meet.
 
The RMAC did not bestow any women's awards as less than half of the RMAC's nine teams had competed since the previous awards.  However, the Mavs' performances from both the UNLV Invite and this weekend's double dual will be considered for the next awards, slated to be announced next Thursday (Jan. 22).
 
Guth won six events as he and his relay teammates eclipsed the NCAA Championship qualification standard in all 14 opportunities during the UNLV meet,  has now won three RMAC Swimmer of the Week awards this season.
 
Campbell has is the third different Maverick man to win the RMAC Diver of the Week accolade this season.  At UNLV, he eclipsed the NCAA Championship qualifying threshold in all four of his events, taking second on the 1-meter and third in the 3-meter event.
 
CMU Top 10's
 
Although the Mavericks were not tapered for the UNLV Invitational after doing so for the TYR/CMU Invitational in November, they still posted some fine times throughout the pre-holiday meet, including three new marks on the program's all-time top 10 charts.
 
On the men's side, newcomer Oskar Sawicki posted a time of 20.07 seconds in the 50 free to move in to the No. 9 position of Maverick lore while Aron Jonsson set a career-best time of 53.89 in the 100 breast to move up to fourth in CMU history.
 
On the women's side senior Ada Qunell continued her fine season, recording a 500-yard freestyle personal best of 4:58.54 to move in to the No. 8 spot of program history.
 
To see the latest program all-time top ten performer lists, please click here: MEN | WOMEN
 
National Leaders
 
With their times from the two invitational meets, four Maverick swimmers plus the women's 800 Free and 200 Medley relay team currently lead the NCAA Division II Top 10 times report.
 
The Mavs individual leaders are Guillaume Guth (Men's 100 Free), Luka Samsonov (Men's 400 IM), Ada Qunell (Women's 100 Free) and Olivia Hansson (Women's 1000 Free).  The women's 800 relay team of Qunell, Linnea Sjöberg, Kendyll Wilkinson and Hansson leads the country by more than four seconds while Taylar Hooton, Antonia Leese, Kiara Borchardt and Qunell combined for a national-leading time of 1:40.40 to win the 200 medley relay at the UNLV Invitational.
 
Top 10's
 
The Mavericks also have 44 (22 men's, 22 women's) times that rank amongst the nation's top ten.  A complete listing of those times can be found below.
 
Men
50 Free- T4. Guillaume Guth (19.59)
100 Free- 1. Guth (42.66)
200 Free- 2. Guth (1:34.31), 8. Ben Vester (1:35.57)
500 Free- 10. Vester (4:24.05)
1000 Free- 5. Gavyn Tatge (9:12.61)
1650 Free- 10. Tatge (15:24.87)
200 Back- 3. Luka Samsonov (1:44.34), 7. Richard Schmiedefeld (1:45.02)
100 Breast- 7. Aron Jonsson (53.89)
200 Breast- 3. Jonsson (1:55.56), 6. Marcos Otero (1:58.02)
100 Fly- 4. Guth (46.68), 5. Oskar Sawicki (46.76)
200 Fly- 7. Micah Moore (1:45.94)
400 IM- 1. Samsonov (3:49.59), 6. Moore (3:51.04)
200 Free Relay- 3. Guth, Sawicki, Schmiedefeld, Holden Convertino (1:18.81)
400 Free Relay- 4. Guth, Otero, Sawicki, Marcus Pineiro (2:54.31)
800 Free Relay- 3. Guth, Schmiedefeld, Veser, Jonas Friess (6:23.76)
200 Medley Relay- 5. Samsonov, Otero, Sawicki, Guth (1:26.22)
400 Medley Relay- 2. Samsonov, Jonsson, Sawicki, Guth (3:09.17)
 
Women
100 Free- 3. Ada Qunell (49.50)
200 Free- 1. Qunell (1:46.95), 7. Olivia Hansson (1:48.53)
500 Free- 2. Hansson (4:49.95), 7. Hanna Sasivarevic (4:56.06)
1000 Free- 1. Hansson (9:57.07), 5. Maya Clise (10:09.50), 6. Sasivarevic (10:11.41)
1650 Free- 2. Hansson (16:31.46), 7. Sasivarevic (16:59.26)
100 Back- 2. Taylar Hooton (54.27)
200 Back- 7. Abby Uhl (1:58.82)
100 Breast- T8. Antonia Leese (1:02.17)
100 Fly- 3. Qunell (54.33), 8. Kiara Borchardt (54.72)
200 Fly- 8. Borchardt (2:02.16)
200 IM- 7. Hooton (2:02.97)
200 Free Relay- 7. Qunell, Bartusiak, Borchardt, Reagan Horn (1:32.52)
400 Free Relay- 7. Qunell, Horn, Kendyll Wilkinson, Hansson (3:22.89)
800 Free Relay- 1. Qunell, Linnea Sjöberg, Wilkinson, Hansson (7:16.08)
200 Medley Relay- 1. Hooton, Leese, Borchardt, Qunell (1:40.40)
400 Medley Relay- 3. Hooton, Leese, Borchardt, Qunell (3:40.56)
 
In the polls
 
Both Maverick teams moved up a spot in the December edition of the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) NCAA Division II Top 25 Dual Meet polls that were released on Dec. 19.
 
The Maverick women are now ranked fourth while the men are fifth.  They were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the November edition.
 
The January edition of the poll is slated to be released next week (Friday, Jan. 23).
 
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.
 
Swimcloud Rankings
 
The Maverick women are currently ranked second in Division II, according to the Swimcloud rankings.  With 713.05 points in the dual rankings, they trail only Nova Southeastern (719.30).  The Mavs have 673.73 points in the championship rankings, trailing only Tampa (682.42) and Nova Southeastern (676.53).
 
The Maverick men sit third in both the dual and championship rankings.
 
All of the rankings are mathematically compiled based on times reported to the site.
 
New Diving Rankings
 
This season, 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 in the unveiling earlier this season.
 
The organization then updated its rankings on Dec. 22 after the mid-season invite portion of the season.

The Maverick men are now ranked second with 30.7 points, up one spot from the inaugural November edition of the poll.  The CMU women are tied for second with 28.3 points while the Mavs also sit second in the composite poll with 29.5 points trailing only Clarion.
 
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.
 
Kenya Meyer is ranked second in the women's 3-meter individual power rankings and is third in the women's 1-meter rankings.  Jenna Hurley is ranked sixth in the 3-meter.
 
On the men's side, the Mavs have four of the top eight in the 3-meter discipline with Ryan Campbell sitting second, one spot ahead of Jax Juarros.  David Roethlisberger is ranked fifth while Ty Mitton sits eighth.  Juarros sits fifth in the 1-meter rankings as well.
 
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 16th 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.
 
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.
 
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 be back in action next weekend heading to Provo, Utah for a 2-day meet next Friday and Satureday (Jan. 22-23) against more Division I foes in host BYU as well as Air Force.  That meet will be the last pre-championship tune-up for the Maverick swimmers, who will next compete at the RMAC Championships that the Mavs will host from Feb. 10-14.
 
The CMU divers will also be in action at Northern Arizona's Lumberjack Diving Invitational (Jan. 29-31).