GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams will open their 2026-27 seasons at home, hosting three NCAA Division I opponents as well as two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals in this weekend's Intermountain Shootout.
 
Concurrent action both in the swimming race pool and the diving well will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday and at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
 
Both days will be scored as separate meets under an invitational scoring system with the top eight finishers in each event earning team points.
 
The event schedule can be seen in the meet information packet.
 
Live results can be accessed here or with a subscription to MeetMobile.
 
Live streams from the weekend can be seen with a subscription to the RMAC Network.
 
Who's Competing
 
Six women's and four men's teams will compete throughout the weekend. 
 
Division I and Big XII Conference squads BYU and Utah will both make what has become an annual trek and will be joined by Utah Tech this year, competing in the meet for the first time since 2021.
 
Along with the Mavs,  Adams State and Western Colorado will represent Division II and the RMAC.
 
Utah Tech and Western Colorado only have women's programs.
 
More than 250 athletes are entered.
 
Meet Format
 
Each day's competition will be scored as a separate meet and will be conducted under an invitational style scoring system that awards team points to the top eight finishers in each event.  Individual events will be scored on a 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 point basis.  The relays are worth double with 18 points going to first place.
 
Teams will be limited to four scorers in each individual event but are permitted to enter as many athletes as they wish.  Similarly, they may enter as many relays as desired but only the "A" and "B" teams will score.
 
Individual swimmers are permitted to score in up to four events, including relays, during each day.
 
Twenty-two events (11 for each gender) will be contested each day.
 
Psych Sheets
 
The psych sheets for this weekend's meets, based on entries from the six coaching staffs.  Entry times were based on lifetime and altitude-adjusted times. 

FRIDAY | SATURDAY
 
A look back to 2025-26
 
The Mavericks swept the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles for the eighth straight year before going on to record third place finishes in both the men's and women's team standings at the NCAA Division II Championships.
 
The men's third place finish was the best in program history. 
 
The Maverick women have now finished amongst the nation's top four in four straight years.
 
The Mavericks combined for 35 podium finishes at the NCAA Championships, including seven national runner-up efforts.
 
At the conference level, the Mavericks dominated the rest of the field winning 32 of the meet's 42 events.
 
The Maverick men won 17 of 21 events at the RMAC Championships, including all five relays, and both diving events as 18 different athletes combined to win 53 of the All-RMAC honors, given to the top four finishers in each event.
 
Sixteen different Maverick women combined for 48 All-RMAC honors as the Maverick women won 15 of the 21 events while taking 33 of the 63 total RMAC Championship medals, three more than the rest of the 9-team field combined.
 
Award-Winners
 
Fittingly, the Mavericks brough in quite a haul of post-season awards at both the national and conference level last year.
 
The Maverick men swept the RMAC major awards.  Guillaume Guth was named as the RMAC Swimmer of the Year while Ryan Campbell won the RMAC Diver of the Year award for the second straight year.  Micah Moore, who returns to the Maverick roster in 2026-27, was selected as the RMAC Freshman of the Year while Mickey Wender claimed RMAC Coach of the Year honors.
 
Wender was also named as the RMAC Women's Coach of the Year while 2026 graduates Olivia Hansson and Kenya Meyer earned RMAC Swimmer and Diver of the Year honors, respectively.
 
Nationally, CMU's Julie Weddle was named as the CSCAA's Men's Diving Coach of the Year after four Maverick divers combined to score 92 team points at the NCAA Championships, helping the Mavs to their best ever overall team finish.  Two of those four men in Jax Juarros and Giani Benoit, return to the CMU's roster this year.
 
Academic Domination
 
The Mavericks also dominated in the classroom and earned a variety of academic awards following the 2025-26 season.
 
The Mavs led all of Division II with 39 CSCAA Scholar All-Americans, a number that matched the Mavs' record. 
 
Four Mavericks were also named as College Sports Communicators Academic All-Americans while CMU also had the maximum allowable eight Academic All-District honorees
 
The Mavericks also dominated the RMAC Academic Awards with Ada Qunell and Ben Vester sweeping the RMAC Academic Athlete of the Year honors before going on to join Kenya Meyer and Richard Schmiedefeld as the Academic All-Americans.
 
The Maverick women led all RMAC teams with their nine First Team Academic All-RMAC picks and 20 selections to the RMAC Academic Honor Roll.  The men had eight First Team Academic All-RMAC picks to match the rest of the conference combined and had a conference-high 15 athletes named to the honor roll.
 
All-American List
 
The Mavericks roster or returning all-Americans is quite lengthy and impressive.
 
The Mavericks had a program-record 31 different individuals combine for 90 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 2026 earned a combined total of 53 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 2026 and the total number in their career.
 
Women
Talia Datilio (2/3)
Melina Giraudeau (5/5)
Taylar Hooton (3/4)
Reagan Horn (2/3)
Jenna Hurley (2/2)
Eva Lehmkuhler (1/1)
Emma Lence (2/2)
Sydnee O'Neil (1/3)
Hanna Sasivarevic (6/7)
Abby Uhl (1/1)
Kendyll Wilkinson (2/5)
 
Men
Giani Benoit (1/1)
Holden Convertino (1/1)
Jonas Friess (3/3)
Wyatt Hermanson (0/2)
Aron Jonsson (3/3)
Jax Juarros (2/2)
Micah Moore (2/2)
Marcos Otero (5/7)
Richard Schmiedefeld (6/11)
Ben Vester (3/4)
 
Coaching Tree
 
Maverick head coach Mickey Wender, entering his eighth year at the helm of the CMU program, will coach against two former assistants this weekend.
 
His top assistant for the past five seasons, Andy Parro was named as an assistant on the Utah coaching staff last week.  Parro was the Mavs' associate head coach last year and recruited much of the Mavs' current roster as the team's recruiting coordinator.
 
Meanwhile, his former assistant Justin Hastings, was named as Western Colorado's head coach in March.  Hastings, a CMU alum, helped the Mavs win three consecutive RMAC title sweeps between 2019-21 before departing for what would be a 5-year stint at Division I North Texas.
 
Hastings won six RMAC event titles in his swimming career and helped the Mavs win the program's first ever team title in 2016.
 
Preseason Polls
 
Both Maverick teams were unanimous selections to win their ninth 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 the Colorado School of Minesa, which had 57 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 21 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.
 
The Maverick women were also ranked third in the CSCAA's NCAA Division II Poll while the Maverick men were tabbed fourth.  Those polls were released this week.
 
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.
 
Eleven different Maverick athletes received a combined 16 Preseason All-RMAC nods.
 
Swimmers Melina Giraudeau, Richard Schmiedefeld, Aron Jonsson and Ben Vester and diver Talia Datilio were all named in two events.
 
RMAC Domination
 
Although the Mavericks have focused their efforts against NCAA Division I opponents in recent years, something they will do again this year, they have gradually extended winning streaks when meeting up with their fellow RMAC foes.
 
In addition to sweeping the last eight conference championship titles, both Maverick will carry lengthy RMAC dual meet winning streaks in to the 2025-26 season.
 
The Maverick women have won 36 consecutive duals against RMAC foes, a streak that dates back to Jan. 22, 2016.  They will only have one dual this year against RMAC opposition on Jan. 16 against Western Colorado but will also race against the Mountaineers and Adams State this weekend in an invitational-scoring format.
 
Western, CSU Pueblo and Mines are also slated to meet up with the Mavs during next month's TYR/CMU Invitational.
 
However, the Mav women are scheduled to meet up with Adams State this week and the Colorado School of Mines during next month's TYR Invitational (Nov. 18-21).
 
The Maverick men will also face Adams State this week and will face off with Mines in an RMAC dual on Oct. 16 in Golden looking to extend their dual winning streak to 15, a streak that runs back to the 2016-17.
 
Mines will also compete at the TYR Invitational.
 
The Mavs have not finished behind any RMAC foe in any format since the start of 2018-19 and are unbeaten by RMAC opposition under the direction of now eighth-year head coach Mickey Wender.
 
The Friendly Confines
 
The Mavericks will once again host the RMAC Championships, doing so for the eighth straight year in February (Feb. 9-13).
 
The Mavs also hosted the championship meet for five straight years from 2013-17 after first hosting in 2011.
 
Including the RMAC Championships and this week's two meets, the Mavericks are slated to take full advantage of the top-level El Pomar Natatorium, as they will home for six different meets this year.

Up Next

Following this weekend, the Mavs will be back in action on the weekend of Oct. 16 and 17.  The Maverick men will be in Golden for a RMAC dual at the Colorado School of Mines.  The CMU women will be in Fort Collins to compete at Colorado State and against Washington State.