GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University diving squad will head to Flagstaff, Arizona for one final pre-championship tune-up as the Mavs will compete in this week's Lumberjack Diving Invitational at Northern Arizona University's Wall Aquatic Center.
 
The meet will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings although the Mavs are only slated to compete in the springboard events.  Only platform diving will be contested on Saturday.
 
Live scoring will be available on DiveMeets.com and a full recap will be posted on www.cmumavericks.com each evening.
 
Meet Schedule/Format
 
On Thursday, the men's divers will compete on the 3-meter springboard while the women contest the 1-meter.  All divers will perform six dives in the preliminary round with the top 18 advancing to the final held later that day.  Scores from the preliminary round will carry over into the finals.
 
On Friday, the divers will switch boards with the men contesting the 1-meter while the women will go on the 3-meter.
 
A separate team diving event will also be contested on Thursday, which will feature three divers joining forces to complete six total dives, two of which will be on the 1-meter, two on the 3-meter and two from the platform.
 
Who's Competing
 
Ten Mavericks (4 men, 6 women) are entered as of Wednesday morning on both the 1 and 3-meter boards.
 
That list includes Giani Benoit, Ryan Campbell, Aiden Coon and Ty Mitton on the men's side.  Talia Datilio, Juli Holt, Jenna Hurley, Emma Lence, Mimi Licht and Kenya Meyer will represent the Maverick women.
 
The competition
 
The Mavs are the only NCAA Division II team competing in the meet.  Divers from seven other NCAA Division I schools are also entered although only two (Arizona, UNLV) have men's diving.  The other five Idaho, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona and San Diego State only have women's divers.
 
A total of 48 divers are entered in at least one event with 35 women and 12 men entered in the 1-meter disciplines.  Thirty-four women and 11 men are slated to go in the 3-meter events.
 
RMAC Awards Haul
 
Five different Maverick divers have combined to win all ten of the RMAC Diver of the Week awards that CMU has been eligible to win this season.
 
The Maverick men have won all six awards presented this season with Jax Juarros winning three honors (Oct. 9, Nov. 6, Nov. 25).  David Roethlisberger has won two (Oct. 30, Jan. 22) while Ryan Campbell claimed the Dec. 18 honor.  Campbell was also nominated for this week's award, which will be announced on Thursday.
 
Kenya Meyer has won three awards (Oct. 9, Nov. 6, Nov. 25) while Jenna Hurley claimed last week's honor on Jan. 22 and has been nominated for this week's award.

Western Colorado's Alexandra Willis is the only other diver to have won the women's award doing so on Nov. 13 after a week the Mavs did not compete in.
 
The awards are presented weekly, but only when more than half of the RMAC's nine women's or six men's swimming and diving programs competed since the previous awards.  Additionally, not all of the RMAC programs have divers.

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 the unveiling earlier this month.
 
The organization 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.
 
To see the various polls, rankings and methodology, please click here. - https://prodivingcoach.org/d-ii-rankings/
 
Diving Dominance
 
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 four years.
 
The Maverick men have had the RMAC Championship Diver of the Meet in eighth straight years while Maverick women have won eighth of the last nine honors with teammates sharing co-awards in three straight from 2022-24.
 
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 brough 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.
 
All-American List
 
The Mavericks roster or returning all-Americans is quite lengthy and impressive.
 
The Mavericks had a program-record 30 different individuals, including six divers, 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 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 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 Maverick divers will join their swimming counterparts at the RMAC Championships, which the Mavs will host in their El Pomar Natatorium from Feb. 10-14.  Diving events will begin on Wednesday, Feb. 11.
 
CMU has swept the men's and women's team titles in each of the last seven years and will be gunning for an eighth straight sweep.