GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams combined for six more event wins and book-ended the Friday evening session with impressive national-leading and school-record setting times as the Mavericks are closing in on an eighth straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference team title sweep.
The Mavericks have now won 22 of the championship meet's 31 events through the first four days and lead the nine women's teams with 1357 ½ points, good for a 366-point cushion over the Colorado School of Mines. The Maverick men have 953 points and are up by 389 ½ over Mines and the rest of the six-team field.
Olivia Hansson won the opening event of the night, taking the women's 500-yard freestyle in a time of four minutes, 53.34 seconds, which with the altitude adjustment converts to a NCAA Division II leading 4:48.34 and just under her former school record of 4:48.45 from November, 2024. She won the race by 4.4 seconds while junior teammate
Hanna Sasivarevic claimed the bronze medal in 4:57.82 (4:52.82-converted) to move up two spots to fourth in CMU history and as high as fourth on the NCAA Division II top times list this season.
Meanwhile, the Maverick men's 200 freestyle relay team of
Guillaume Guth,
Oskar Sawicki,
Richard Schmiedefeld and
Holden Convertino combined for a time of 1:18.04 to smash a 7-year old RMAC Championship record of 1:18.31 as well as their own El Pomar Natatorium and school standard of 1:18.81 from November's TYR CMU Invitational.
That win came after the Maverick men swept the 3-meter diving podium and after the Maverick women's relay team was disqualified for an early takeoff.
The Mavericks also received swimming event wins from
Taylar Hooton in the women's 100 backstroke,
Aron Jonsson in the men's 100 breaststroke and freshman
Micah Moore in the men's 200 fly.
Meanwhile,
David Roethlisberger claimed the diving title with 568.85 points, the highest RMAC title-winning score since 6-time Maverick National Champion Ammar Hassan scored 597.00 points in 2020.
Ryan Campbell (553.25) and
Ty Mitton (531.50) also fared well as they won two of the Mavs' 18 total medals in Friday's jam-packed 11-event program.
The Mavs started racking up the points early as three women qualified for the 500 free final.
Maya Clise joined Hansson and Sasivarevic and took seventh in 5:03.53 (4:58.53-converted) to move in to the No. 8 spot in program history while setting an improved NCAA "B" cut time.
Haven Hinkle also had an improved NCAA provisional qualifying time of 5:07.11 (5:02.11-converted) in the consolation final while
Eva Lehmkuhler set a NCAA "B" cut mark- of 5:03.92 (4:58.92-converted) time during an exhibition swim in the morning preliminary session.
Jonas Friess then won the bronze in the men's 500 free, posting a time of 4:32.37 while
Conrad Fawcett finished fifth in 4:33.87. Ben Veser was also in the final and touched in 4:35.28 to take seventh after
Gavyn Tatge (4:32.91) and Branden Felio (4:33.67) took the top two spots in the consolation final. Tage's altitude-adjusted mark of 4:27.91 is a season-best and improved NCAA "B" cut mark.
Hooton then led four CMU women in the 100 back, winning her first individual RMAC title while extending CMU's winning streak to five years in the event. She touched in 54.78 seconds while
Anna Beck took third in 56.42.
Reagan Horn (56.74) and
Abby Uhl (57.26) placed fifth and sixth, respectively.
The Maverick men also claimed two medals as
Luka Samsonov won the silver in 48.09 seconds while Schmiedefeld was third in 48.77. Freshman Marcus Pineiro also qualified for the finals and took sixth in 49.83 seconds after
Jackson Moe won the consolation final in 50.31 seconds.
CMU also managed a 2-3 finish in the women's 100 breast as
Melina Giraudeau finished in 1:02.43 after setting the top time of the preliminaries in the morning.
Antonia Leese finished third in 1:03.05.
Giraudeau had posted a time of 1:02.20 (1:02.10-converted) in the morning to move in to the No. 4 spot of program history.
Later, freshman
Georgia Hatzenbeller had a time trial effort of 1:03.98 (1:03.88-converted) to move in to the No. 8 spot in CMU history while eclipsing the NCAA championship provisional qualifying standard.
The Mavs then returned to their winning ways in the men's 100 breast as Jonsson claimed a thrilling victory in 54.31 seconds.
Marcos Otero also earned a spot on the podium with a third place time of 54.70 seconds after finishing the preliminaries in 54.22.
Miles Moran also managed a strong fifth place time of 55.40 seconds.
In the women's 200 fly,
Kiara Borchardt set a career-best time of 2:02.44 (2:01.24-converted) to move up to second in CMU history and in to the nation's top 10. She had won the 100 fly on Thursday.
Tori Bartusiak, who used to rank second in program history also finished fourth (2:06.67) while
Gabby DeLuna had a solid fifth place effort of 2:07.40, which moves to a career-best 2:06.20 with the altitude conversion.
Meanwhile,
Micah Moore won the men's 200 fly gold in 1:47.76 while
Ethan Gluck finished third in 1:50.96. Fawcett also made the final during a tough double day and finished eighth in 1:56.30 after recording a time of 1:54.09 in the morning.
Action then moved to the diving well, where Roethlisberger won his first RMAC title while preventing Campbell from sweeping the week's events. Campbell, who took the gold on the 1-meter on Wednesday, now does have four RMAC Championship medals, including two golds, in as many opportunities in his CMU career.
Mitton won his second bronze of the week.
All four legs of the Maverick men's 200 free relay team then posted sub-20 second splits as the Mavs moved well out in front of the NCAA top times list with an effort that would have won last year's national title by 0.06 seconds.
Guillaume Guth, who now has five RMAC gold medals this week, posted a season-best time of 19.56 seconds in his opening 50 free split before Schmiedefeld turned in an impressive 19.14 split on the third leg.
The Mavericks will look to close out their impressive week on Saturday, which will feature competition in 11 more disciplines.
Preliminary swimming heats begin at 10 a.m. with women's 1-meter diving prelims getting underway at 2 p.m. The final session of the meet will then begin at 5:30 p.m. with individual and team awards to follow.
