EVANSVILLE, Ind.— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks advanced five swimmers and two divers into championship finals and another five swimmers and three divers into the consolation finals  after Thursday morning's preliminary round session at the 2026 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships here in the Deaconess Aquatics Center.
 
The Mavericks will be represented in all nine of the evening's events, including the men's and women's 400 medley relays which will cap the night.
 
The evening session will begin at 5:30 p.m. CDT (4:30 p.m. Mountain).
 
Here's a rundown of the morning session by event.
 
100 Fly
 
Kiara Borchardt finished in 54.94 seconds to tie for 12^th in the preliminary session and will swim in the women's consolation final.  Tori Bartusiak also swam to a time of 56.36 seconds and finished 29^th, just below her No. 27 pre-meet seed.
 
Meanwhile, Oskar Sawicki set a season-best time of 46.73 seconds to qualify sixth for the men's championship final as the only Maverick entrant.
 
400 Individual Medley
 
Melina Giraudeau posted a time of 4:23.51 to finish tenth in the preliminary round and will contest a consolation final for the second straight night after taking 13^th in the 200 IM on Wednesday.  She was seeded 13^th in the 400 IM on the pre-meet psych sheets.
 
On the men's side, Ben Vester smashed his career-best by more than three seconds to win his heat and place second overall in the morning prelims.  He posted a time of 3:46.70 after coming into the meet with a former career-best of 3:49.81, which had him seeded ninth.  He now ranks second in CMU history behind national record holder Ben Sampson and is coming off an eighth place finish in the 200 IM on Wednesday night.
 
Freshman teammate Micah Moore also posed a time of 3:52.80 to place 15^th and earn a lane in his first NCAA consolation final. 
 
Meanwhile, Aron Jonsson finished 18^th in 3:55.50 and will be the second alternate for the finals.
 
The Mavs also had four other entrants in Luka Samsonov (20^th, 3:57.04), Gavyn Tatge (25^th, 3:59.74), Miles Moran (28^th, 4:02.46) and Ethan Gluck (29^th, 4:02.88).
 
200 Free
 
The Maverick women qualified two swimmers for the championship final and another for the consolation final.  Ada Qunell finished second in her heat and third overall with a time of 1:48.16 while Hanna Sasivarevic touched in a career-best time of 1:48.64 to place sixth.  The Utah junior also moved up one spot to fourth in CMU history.
 
Meanwhile, Olivia Hansson reached the consolation final, tying for 14^th in the preliminaries with a time of 1:50.12.
 
Kendyll Wilkinson finished 22^nd in 1:51.19 while Abby Uhl placed 30^th in 1:52.38.
 
On the men's side, Guillaume Guth finished the preliminaries in fifth with a time of 1:35.03 to safely reach the championship final.  Jonass Friess finished 11^th in 1:36.15 to earn a spot in the consolation final.
 
Fellow German Richard Schmiedefeld took 28^th, touching in 1:38.31.
 
Women's 3-Meter Diving
 
Seniors Kenya Meyer and Amelia Licht both finished amongst the top eight in the preliminary round to earn a spot in the evening's championship finals.  Meyer took second out of the 22 divers with 462.20 points on 11 dives while Licht finished with 420.80 points to place eighth.
 
Three other Mavericks will dive in the consolation final, slated to begin shortly.  Emma Lence finished ninth with 415.25 points while Talia Datilio was tenth with 414.75 points.  Jenna Hurley was 12^th with 401.75 points.  She and Lence will earn their first career Second Team CSCAA All-America honors provided they finish the event.
 
Datilio earned such an honor with at 13^th place finish last year.
 
Licht was a first team all-American on the 1-meter board in 2025 while Meyer won her first award with a seventh place finish on the 3-meter board last year.