GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After claiming five wins over NCAA Division I opposition in their opening weekend of action, the Colorado Mesa University women's swimming & diving team will look for two more on Saturday when the Mavs, ranked third in the NCAA Division II preseason coaches' poll, will look to break up a Pac-12 Conference party in Fort Collins.
 
The Mavericks, who took first out of six teams in the first of two Intermountain Shootout meets before taking second in the other on Oct. 2-3, will compete against Colorado State University and Washington State University in a Saturday afternoon double dual at the Eldora Pool Ice Center (EPIC).  Action will begin at Noon and can be seen on the Rams' YouTube channel.
 
Live results can be accessed with as subscription to Meet Mobile.
 
The Maverick men are competing Friday at Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Colorado School of Mines.
 
Meet Format
 
The meet will be contested over 16 events, including both the 1 and 3-meter diving disciplines, in the standard format.  The action will begin with the 200-yard medley relay and close with the 400 free relay.
 
Two heats of each of the swimming events are planned with swimmers from either heat able to score.
 
CMU's swimmers are slated to be in lanes 5 & 8.
 
Team scores will be calculated in all three legs of the triangular.
 
Last Times Out
 
The Mavericks performed quite well at the Intermountain Shootout on the opening weekend of the season (Oct. 2-3).
 
In the first meet on Friday, Oct. 2, the Mavericks took first place out of six teams, defeating three NCAA Division I foes, including Big XII Conference foes BYU and Utah.  The Mavs scored 188 points to defeat BYU by 14.5 and more than doubled Utah's total of 86.5 points. 
 
Melina Giraudeau (100 Breast) and Rachel Allen (200 Fly) both claimed event wins although the Mavs' depth was the story as CMU racked up seven second place and ten third place finishes to easily out-pace BYU's total of three second and third place finishes.
 
In the second meet on Saturday, Oct. 3, which was scored separately, the Mavs again had two wins along with seven second place and two third place finishes and took second overall with 170 points, only shy of BYU's total of 183.  The Mavs again more than doubled Utah's total of 78 ½ points and were well ahead of Division I Utah Tech as well as RMAC rivals Adams State and Western Colorado in both meets.
 
Giraudeau (200 Breast) and Allen (50 Breast) were again victorious.
 
National Leaders
 
Three different Maverick individuals and a relay team posted times that lead the early-season NCAA Division II Performance lists in a combined six championship events as of Friday.
 
Here's a look at all of the national leaders with their altitude-adjusted times.
 
1000 Free- Eveline Grannis- 10:17.67
100 Breast- Melina Giraudeau- 1:02.87
200 Breast- Giraudeau- 2:14.19
200 IM- Rachel Allen- 2:04.11
400 IM- Giraudeau- 4:23.09
400 Free Relay (Caden Kelly, Kendyll Wilkinson, Reagan Horn, Hanna Sasivarevic)- 3:24.68
 
RMAC Sweep
 
The Mavericks swept the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Swimmer & Diver of the Week awards that were announced last Thursday (Oct. 8) after the Intermountain Shootout.
 
Melina Giraudeau won the Women's Swimmer of the Week honor while Jenna Hurley claimed the diving award for the seventh time in her career.
 
Giraudeau, the NCAA Division II Championship runner-up in the 200-yard breaststroke last year won both that and the 100 breast in the Intermountain Shootouts.  She also took second in the 400 IM and helped the Mavs post second place finishes in both of the medley relays.  Giraudeau leads the Division II performance lists in three different events early this season.
 
Hurley led the Maverick women in both diving disciplines, taking third in a field of 14 on the 3-meter event with a score of 235.55 points before finishing fourth in a field of 15 on the 1-meter during Saturday's portion of the weekend.  She scored 227.05 points in the 1-meter.  Both scores lead the RMAC this season.
 
Aussie Power
 
Maverick freshman Rachel Allen, a native of the Australian capital city of Canberra, set three different times that rank her inside the Mavericks' all-time ten in her first collegiate weekend at the Intermountain Shootout.  Her 200 IM time of 2:04.11 (altitude-adjusted) leads the early-season NCAA Division II performance list and ranks her ninth in program history on a list that is topped by two former national champions in Benedict Nagy and Lily Borgenheimer.
 
Allen also ranks ninth in the 200 fly with a converted time of 2:03.87, which she used to win that event at the Intermountain Shootout, and is tenth in the 200 breaststroke after putting down a time of 2:18.82 during her opening week.
 
Flying Start
 
Fellow Maverick freshman Caden Kelly also had a fast start to her collegiate career, posting an altitude-adjusted time of 55.62 seconds in the 100 fly during the Intermountain Shootout.  She debuted in the No. 5 spot of CMU history with that time, which also ranks her third nationally.
 
The Germantown, Wisconsin product racked up six second place and one third place finish in her seven events over the weekend and was a part of the Mavs "A" team during all four relay events on the opening weekend.
 
Decade Long Streak
 
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 teams 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 more than a decade to Jan. 22, 2016.  They will only have one dual this year against RMAC opposition on Jan. 16 against Western Colorado but handily defeated the Mountaineers and Adams State during the Intermountain Shootout 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.

About the Rams
 
The Rams took third out of five teams at the Front Range Invite that they hosted on Oct. 2-3, their only official meet of the season thus far.
 
Tess Whineray swept the backstroke events while Kayda Geyer claimed the 400 IM and had two second place finishes.
 
The Rams went 6-3 in duals with a 1-3 mark in Mountain West Conference action before joining the Pac-12 this year.  They were eighth at last season's MWC Championships.
 
Whineray was the Rams' first NCAA Championship qualifier in 13 seasons last year, placing 30^th and 45^th in the 200 and 100 backstrokes.  She won the 200 back with a school and MWC Championship record time of 1:52.82 last season.
 
About the Cougars
 
The Cougars are off to a 1-0 start after defeating Seattle University by a 219-43 margin at home in Pullman last Saturday.  They will take on Air Force and Denver at the U.S. Air Force Academy on Friday before Saturday's double-dual.
 
The Cougars won every event during the home win over Seattle as Barbora Mileisyte won two individual races and well as being a part of two relay wins.  Her 50 free time of 22.91 seconds was tied for tenth fastest in program history.  Returning all-American Darcy Revitt also shared the event win in that event and holds the WSU school record of 21.84 as well as the 100 free record of 47.64.  She made her second NCAA Division I Championship appearance in 2025 and placed 16^th in the 100 free.
 
Entering Friday, the Cougars have won 18 straight duals since the 2023-24 season.  They went 7-0 last year and took second out of 11 teams at the Mountain West Conference Championships, despite not having divers.  They were 8-0 in duals and took fifth at the MWC Championships in 2025.
 
Preseason Polls
 
Both Maverick teams were unanimous selections to win their ninth straight RMAC crowns according to this year'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 Minea, 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 women were also picked fourth in the CSCAA's Preseason Rankings.
 
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.
 
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)
 
Up Next
 
The Maverick women will re-unite with their male counterparts and take on the NCAA Division I Denver Pioneers on Halloween Day (Oct. 31).