INDIANAPOLIS— The Colorado Mesa University swimming and diving teams will take a national-leading 43 athletes to next month's NCAA Division II National Championships in Evansville, Indiana, it was announced on Wednesday afternoon following the official championship selection announcement made by the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Committee.
 
The Mavericks had 28 invited swimmers (14 men, 14 women) and will bring a program-record and Division II-leading 13 divers (7 men, 6 women), who will participate in a pre-championship qualification meet on Tuesday, Mar. 10, the same day that the official championships get underway with the 800-yard freestyle relay swimming events.  Those divers will be attempting to join their swimming counterparts in the official championship.

The Mavericks have also decided to bring two other athletes as relay only swimmers to possibly help shape the Maverick relay lineups.

The Mavericks have qualified for all ten relay events and are poised to be represented in each of the 38 total swimming events throughout the 5-day meet from Mar. 10-14, which will be streamed on NCAA.com.

Women's Swimming

The Maverick women's contingent of 14 swimmers is equal to the second largest of any team in the country alongside two-time defending champions Nova Southeastern.  Tampa had 18 swimmers selected.
 
Each swimmer finished amongst the top 25 swimmers on the season-long national performance list in at least one event, which ended up being the cutoff for invited swimmer status.

The Mavs had 28 total performances above those cutoff lines, including at least one in each of the 14 individual swimming events and will add significantly to their total number of opportunities as each invited swimmer is permitted to compete in any event that they set a NCAA "B" qualifying time in throughout the season up to the championship limit of four individual and seven total events for each person.
 
Ada Qunell is the top seed in the 200-yard freestyle and has won four NCAA Division II Championships in relay events in her three previous national meets.  Fellow senior Olivia Hansson, who was named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Meet, is also seeded second in both the 500 and 1,600 freestyle events and is seeded third in the 1000. 
 
Meanwhile, sophomore Taylar Hooton is tied for second in the 100 backstroke while Melina Giraudeau is ranked third in the 200 breaststroke.
 
The Mavs are also seeded second in the 800 free relay and fourth in both the 200 and 400 medley relays.
 
Giraudeau is one of five Maverick women, who will be making her NCAA Championship debut alongside Maya Clise, Melaina Howard, Eva Lehmkuhler, Abby Uhl.
 
Tori Bartusiak, Kiara Borchardt, Antonia Leese, Sydnee O'Neil, Hanna Sasivarevic and Kendyll Wilkinson will also be making return trips after helping the Mavs place third as a team at last year's NCAA Championships.
 
Borchardt and Leese joined Qunell on last year's title-winning 400 medley relay squad.
 
Maverick Head Coach Mickey Wender also noted that he has selected Reagan Horn as a relay only swimmer for this year's championships.

Men's Swimming

The Mavs' list of qualifiers trails only Tampa's 15 for the most of any men's team in the country.    CMU's 14 received invited status a combined 27 times.
 
2024 Olympian Guillaume Guth headlines the Mavericks' list of qualifiers after earning invited swimmer status in four individual events.  He is seeded second in both the 100 and 200 free and is ranked fourth in the 100 fly plus fifth in the 50 free.
 
Fellow Maverick newcomer Oskar Sawicki, who helped Indianapolis win NCAA titles in the 200 medley relay at the past two national championships, will be making his fourth NCAA Championship trip at his third school and is seeded fifth in the 100 fly.
 
Meanwhile, Aron Jonsson, the RMAC Swimmer of the Meet, is ranked third in the 200 breast while Luka Samsonov is ranked fifth in the 200 backstroke.
 
Jonas Friess, Ethan Gluck, Nathan Knobelspiesse, Micah Moore and Miles Moran will join Guth as first-time qualifiers.
 
Jonsson, Brodie Khajuria, Marcos Otero, Samsonov, Richard Schmiedefeld and Gavyn Tatge and Ben Vester, make up the list of CMU returners.
 
Holden Convertino has also been named by Wender as a relay only swimmer to aid the relay lineups.
 
CMU is seeded first in the 200 free relay, second in the 800 free relay and fourth in both the 400 medley and 400 free relays.
 
Women's Diving

The Maverick women's diving contingent of six who will attempt to navigate the pre-championship qualification list, also leads the country is size with Grand Valley State and Penn Western Clarion checking in behind with four divers each.
 
Each qualified by setting at least one 6-dive and at least one 11-dive qualification score on either the 1 or 3-meter springboards throughout the season.  Additionally, they had to have qualification scores from at least two different meets in order to receive the invitation.

The CMU list includes 2-time RMAC Championship Diver of the Meet Kenya Meyer who swept the RMAC titles for the second straight year.  The senior from Bozeman, Montana, who holds all the Maverick records and both RMAC Championship records will be making her fourth straight national meet trip and is a returning all-American.  Fellow senior Mimi Licht is also a returning first team all-American, while Talia Datilio, who claimed the silver behind Meyer at the RMAC Championships, garnered second team honors last year.
 
Junior Jenna Hurley will be making her third national trip in a row and will be looking to advance to the official championship for the first time.  Juli Holt and Emma Lence are also making return appearances.
 
A total of 42 women will be fighting for 22 spots in the official NCAA championship meet.
 
Men's Diving
 
The Maverick men's group of seven qualified divers is also the largest of any team in the country by three over Clarion, which has four divers.

The list includes RMAC Co-Championship Divers of the Meet Ryan Campbell and David Roethlisberger, who are both returning CSCAA All-Americans and NCAA Championship team point scorers.  Aiden Coon, Jax Juarros and Ty Mitton are also returning national pre-championship qualifiers while freshman Giani Benoit and Asa Keim will be making their first national meet appearances.

Eighteen of the 41 men who are slated to contest the pre-championship meet will earn a spot in the official championship.