SALT LAKE CITY, Utah— The Colorado Mesa University men's and women's swimming & diving teams both came out with splits in a Friday evening double dual against NCAA Division I foes Utah and UNLV here at the Ute Natatorium.
The Maverick men handily beat UNLV, 187 ½-112 ½ but fell 207-91 to the host Utah Utes as
Ben Vester and
Aron Jonsson both recorded first place finishes in the breaststroke events. The Mav men now have a 3-1 dual record and are 8-2 in all competitions with five wins over Division I foes, including two over Utah during the Intermountain Shootout meets on the opening weekend of the season, both of which were 4-team invitational-style scoring affairs.
Meanwhile, the CMU women got past UNLV, 155-145 but were downed 203-97 by the Utes in exhibition action that will not count on the Mavs' season-long ledger.
Melina Giraudeau won two events while
Abby Uhl added another to lead the Mavs.
Utah, which claimed 21 total first place finishes throughout the night, also swept UNLV, taking a 221-79 men's win and a 198-102 victory in the women's dual.
Men's Recap
Vester won the 100-yard breaststroke in a NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying and career-best time of 54.82 seconds (54.72-altitude adjusted) and also claimed a second place finish in the 200 individual medley, touching in 1:49.56. His 100 breast time ranks ninth in CMU history.
Meanwhile, Jonsson turned in season-best and NCAA "B" cut times in both breaststroke wins, winning the 200 in 1:59.71 (1:58.51-adjusted) while finishing second behind Vester in the 100 with a time of 55.02 seconds (54.92-adjusted).
In addition to the their two wins, the Mavs picked up six second place finishes, the first of which came from
Richard Schmiedefeld,
Marcos Otero,
Micah Moore and
Daniel Bordin, who finished the 200 medley relay in 1:29.12, just behind Utah's winning time of 1:29.02.
Schmiedefeld also took second in both backstroke events with season-best and improved NCAA provisional cuts. He finished the 100-yard event in 48.17 seconds (48.07-converted) to move into the top ten of the NCAA Division II season-long top times list before finishing he 200 in 1:46.20 (1:45.00) to move into second place nationally.
The Mavs then went 1-2-3 in the 100 breast as freshman
Denny Woods followed Vester and Jonsson in 55.30 seconds.
Elsewhere,
Titouan Bernot took second in the 100 free with a time of 44.76 seconds after finishing the 200 free in third with a time of 1:37.26. Otero also took second behind Jonsson in the 200 breast with a time of 2:01.10.
Jonas Friess also set a NCAA "B" cut time of 1:39.08 (1:37.88-converted) in the 200 free while
Brody Blatt did the same in the 500 free, touching in 4:34.42 (4:29.42-converted) to finish two places behind Bernot, who was clocked in 4:33.83 (4:28.83-converted) on Friday. Bernot ranks second in the country with an earlier season-best of 4:23.97 (converted).
Freshman
Marcus Witkowski also posted a NCAA "B" cut time of 1:48.49 (1:47.29-converted) in the 200 back.
Meanwhile,
Micah Moore finished third in the 200 fly with a career-best time of 1:46.69 (1:45.49-converted) to move up to second on the national list. He also had a season-best of 48.80 seconds (48.70-converted) in the 100 fly.
Vitor Baltazar also added a NCAA "B" cut time of 1:49.02 (1:47.82-converted) to take fifth in the 200 fly.
Bernot, Bordin, Schmiedefeld and
Holden Convertino also posted a solid second place time of 2:59.73 in the 400 free relay.
On the diving boards,
Giani Benoit once again surpassed the NCAA qualifying standard scoring 288.40 points over six 1-meter dives before coming back to score 271.60 points in the 3-meter event.
Women's Recap
Giraudeau swept the breaststroke events, dominating the 100-yard discipline in 1:02.26 seconds to win by 1.41 seconds. She then won the 200 in 2:13.38, nearly four seconds clear of teammate
Georgia Hatzenbeller, who took second in 2:17.27. Hatzenbeller was also third in the 100 at 1:03.72 while Maverick freshman
Rachel Allen took third in the 200 with a time of 2:20.57 after also taking a third place finish in the 200 fly with a time of 2:05.56.
Meanwhile, Uhl won the 200 back in 2:00.41.
Reagan Horn also finished the 100 free in second place with a time of 51.13 second.
Kendyll Wilkinson also grabbed a third place finish in the 200 free, touching in 1:51.85.
The Mavs also finished second in both relay events as
Taylar Hooton, Giraudeau,
Caden Kelly and
Reagan Horn finished the 200 medley relay in 1:43.09 to begin the swimming session while Kelly, Uhl, Wilkinson and Horn capped the night with a time of 3:25.86 in the 400 free relay.
Talia Datilio led the Maverick divers, placing seventh in a field of 15 on the 1-meter with a score of 255.25 points before
Emma Lence took seventh on the 3-meter with a score of 241.75 points.
Up Next
The Mavericks will be in action later this month as the swimmers will be at home during the TYR/CMU Invitational (Nov. 18-21) while the divers will head to Flagstaff, Arizona for Northern Arizona's Lumberjack Invitational (Nov. 19-21).
