GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Eight Colorado Mesa University swimmers and divers were recently named to the 2025-26 NCAA Division II Academic All-District Team as selected by College Sports Communicators, which recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in the pool and the classroom.
 
The Mavericks' selections were Holden Convertino, Miles Moran, Richard Schmiedefeld and Ben Vester on the men's side.  The women's selections included repeat picks Kiara Borchardt, Kenya Meyer and Ada Qunell as well as Olivia Hansson.
 
All four of the men plus Meyer and Qunell have also been placed on the ballot for first, second and third-team Academic All-America® honors, which will be voted on by CSC members and announced later this month.
 
To be eligible for nomination for Academic All-District® honors, student-athletes must have a 3.50 or higher GPA and have competed in five meets or record a top-eight finish at their conference championship meet.  However, institutions are limited to four men's and four women's nominations and the selected Mavericks far exceed those minimum requirements.
 
All eight were also named to the First Team Academic All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams that Qunell and Vester led as the Women's & Men's Academic Athletes of the Year.
 
Vester, a sophomore from Stuttgart, Germany, holds a 3.80 GPA and is majoring in construction management.  He won three first team all-America honors at the NCAA Division II Championships placing third in the 800-yard freestyle relay, sixth in the 400 individual medley and eighth in the 200 IM while helping the Mavs to a third place team finish, their best ever national championship performance.
 
Convertino, a team co-captain and a junior from El Paso, Texas, holds a 3.74 GPA and is majoring in biological sciences.  He helped the Mavs win RMAC titles in both the 200 free and 200 medley relays and anchored the 200 free relay squad to a RMAC meet record time of 1:18.04.  He then went on to earn first team all-America honors in the 400 medley relay at the NCAA Championships.
 
Moran, a sophomore from Salt Lake City, Utah, has a 3.90 GPA and was the RMAC Championship silver medalist in the 200 breast.  He also qualified for the NCAA Championships in both that event and the 400 IM.
 
Schmiedefeld, who like Vester, hails from Stuttgart, Germany, holds a 3.52 GPA and is majoring in business administration.  He earned six all-America honors, including five first team plaudits, this season and is now an 11-time all-American in his two years at CMU.  He is also a 7-time RMAC Champion and won three RMAC relay titles this year, while setting championship meet records in both the 200 and 800 free relays.
 
Qunell, who hails from Whitefish, Montana, has a 3.88 grade point average and is majoring in chemistry.  She finished her 4-year Maverick career as an 18-time CSCAA (College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America) All-American and won 16 RMAC titles in her time as a Mav.  In 2025-26 alone, she won five RMAC titles and earned five all-America honors. 
 
This is her third straight CSC Academic All-District selection and hopes to match or better her second team Academic All-America honors that she has received the last two seasons.
 
Borchardt, a native of Eagle River, Alaska has a 3.82 GPA and is majoring in exercise science.  Like Qunell, she is a 2-time College Sports Communicators Academic All-American and won 12 CSCAA All-America honors and 11 RMAC titles in her career.  She and Qunell were also a part of two NCAA Division II Championship 400-yard medley relay teams in their careers.
 
She was named as the RMAC Academic Athlete of the Year in 2024.
 
Meyer, the Mavs' and the RMAC's top diver, has a 3.87 GPA and is also majoring in exercise science.  The Bozeman, Montana native was the national runner-up on the 1-meter board this year and took fourth on the 3-meter after repeating her RMAC titles on both boards.  She also holds the RMAC Championship records and all of CMU's diving records and ends her career as a 6-time RMAC Champion and was named as the RMAC Championship Diver of the Meet in all four years of her career.

She was tabbed as the RMAC Academic Athlete of the Year in 2025.
 
Hansson, a native of Kivik, Sweden, holds a 3.70 GPA and is majoring in mathematics.  She was named as the RMAC Championship Swimmer of the Meet after sweeping the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle events while also helping the Mavs set a RMAC Championship record time of 7:18.27 in the 800 Free Relay.  Throughout her career, Hanson won ten RMAC titles and was a 16-time all-American.  She earned six of those all-America honors this season.
 
Hansson was also selected as the 2025-26 RMAC Women's Swimmer of the Year.