GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University 800-yard freestyle relays and Guillaume Guth set Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship and El Pomar Natatorium records as the Maverick swimming and diving teams opened up the 2026 conference meet in flying fashion on Tuesday night.
 
After the Maverick women's quartet of Kendyll Wilkinson, Ada Qunell, Hanna Sasivarevic and Olivia Hansson set a championship record time of seven minutes, 18.27 seconds, the Maverick men's squad of Guth, Ben Vester, Braden Felio and Richard Schmiedefeld set a meet, pool and school record trifecta time of 6:27.43.
 
Guth's 1:35.07 200 free leadoff split also broke the championship record of 1:35.99 from Oklahoma Christian's Victor Rosado in 2024 and his own pool and school records from November's TYR CMU Invitational.
 
Both CMU relay squads won their respective races by more than six seconds.
 
The Maverick "B" squads were also able to win their respective heats as the Mav women scored 64 team points to open up a 10-point gap on Simon Fraser, which took second in both races, and the rest of the 9-team field.  CMU's men also have a 58-48 advantage over the Colorado School of Mines and the rest of the 6-team men's field.
 
Both Maverick squads are going for their eighth straight RMAC titles.
 
In the women's championship heat, Qunell turned in a 1:47.86 split and put the Mavs in front by 4.20 seconds after Simon Fraser had a slight lead after the first 200.  Qunell now has 12 career RMAC Championships to her credit while Sasivarevic, who turned in a 1:48.74 third leg split, won her first.  Hansson anchored the Mavs in 1:49.45 and now has seven career RMAC titles.  Leadoff Kendyll Wilkinson won her third career RMAC title after also leading off last year's winning quartet that also included Qunell and Hansson as well as now assistant coach Katerina Matoskova.
 
The Maverick "B" team of Abby Uhl, Amber Siverts, Haven Hinkle and Sydnee O'Neil combined for a time of 7:33.70 to win their heat by 4.81 seconds over the SFU Red Leafs.
 
Guth, competing in his first RMAC Championships after redshirting in 2025, then gave the Mavs a commanding 3.85-second lead after his incredible lead-off split that bettered the his own pool record of 1:35.51 from November's meet.  The 2024 Paris Olympian also lowered his altitude-adjusted school record to 1:33.87.
 
Meanwhile, Vester (1:36.92), Felio (1:37.13) both out-dueled their Oredigger counterparts on the middle legs to claim their first RMAC Championships before Schmeiedefeld brought the Mavericks home in 1:38.31 to claim his fifth career RMAC title while moving the Mavs up a spot to second on the national performance list this season. The German was the RMAC Freshman of the Year in 2025 and won four RMAC titles last year.
 
Vester, who also hails from Germany, and Felio are also sophomores this season.
 
Jonas Friess, Conrad Fawcett, Jackson Moe and Gavyn Tatge had won the "B" heat in 6:39.98, a time that would have placed them third in the championship heat.  Friess had a lead-off 200 free time of 1:37.13 (1:35.93-altitude adjusted) to move up on the national list and into a tie for fifth in Maverick history for that discipline.
 
Following the awards presentations for the relays, several Mavericks competed in time trials.
 
Of note, four Mavericks set improved NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying times while Oskar Sawicki broke his own 50-yard butterfly record with a time of 20.50 seconds.
 
Anna Beck turned in the first of the five in the 100 Back, posting a season-best altitude-adjusted time of 55.98 before Tori Bartusiak moved up a spot to second in Maverick history with her converted mark of 2:01.63 in the 200 Fly, a time that also moved her up to as high as tenth on the national list.
 
New Mexico transfer Maya Clise also had a converted time of 2:19.14 in the women's 200 breast to take over the No. 9 spot in CMU history while adding her name to the national list in that discipline. 
 
Miles Moran then capped the night with a converted men's 200 breast time of 1:57.58 to move up four spots to third in CMU history and all but clinch a spot in next month's national championships while currently sitting as high as sixth on the national list.
 
Day Two of the Championships will begin at 10 a.m. with preliminary round action in the 200 IM, 50 Free and slower sections of the 1,000 Free.  The fastest heats of the 1,000 free will be swum during the evening finals session at 5:30 p.m.
 
Men's 1-meter diving preliminaries will also begin at 2 p.m. while the finals will be contested during the aforementioned evening session.