COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's and women's swimming and diving teams have both been named as unanimous favorites to win their ninth straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles, according to the conference's preseason coaches' polls, which were announced on Thursday.
The Mavericks also had 11 athletes earn a combined 16 spots on the Preseason All-Conference teams, which were announced in conjunction with the polls, which tasked coaches to rank their opposition one through eight (women's) and one through five (men's) without voting for their own team.
The Maverick women received the maximum eight first place votes to top the poll with 64 points ahead of the Colorado School of Mines, which was second with 57 points while receiving the first place vote of CMU Head Coach
Mickey Wender. The Orediggers were named second on seven other ballots.
Simon Fraser received second place billing on two ballots and were picked third on six others to finish third in the poll with 50 points. Oklahoma Christian was tabbed fourth with 43 points while Western Colorado was picked fifth with 36. CSU Pueblo and Nebraska-Kearney were tied for sixth with 24 points and ahead of UT Permian Basin (19) and Adams State (7).
Meanwhile, the Maverick men received all five of the possible first place votes to lead the poll with 25 points. Mines was picked second with 21 and received Wender's first place vote and No. 2 billing on the other four possible ballots. Simon Fraser (15), Oklahoma Christian (14), UT Permian Basin (10) and Adams State (4) rounded out the men's poll.
After dominating last year's RMAC Championships before placing a program-best third at the NCAA Division II National Championships, the Maverick men have claimed nine of the 14 spots on the Preseason All-RMAC team, made up of the highest returning finisher in each individual event from last year's conference meet.
Aron Jonsson (100 & 200 Breaststroke),
Richard Schmiedefeld (50 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke) and
Ben Vester (200 and 400 individual medleys) all received two nods.
Braden Felio (100 Free),
Jonas Friess (200 Free) and
Micah Moore (200 Fly) were all recognized as well.
Jonsson and Vester will look to defend their titles in both of their respective events. Friess and Moore, the 2025-26 RMAC Freshman of the Year, are also the defending champions in their events.
There were no men's divers tabbed to the Preseason All-RMAC team after CMU swept the podiums in both diving disciplines at the 2026 RMAC Championships. Those three divers, who do not return for the 2026-27 season, were the only ones in the official standings as the returning divers competed as exhibition athletes at the conference meet last year.
The Maverick women also picked up a league-high seven recognition from five different athletes.
Hanna Sasivarevic (200 Free),
Taylar Hooton (100 Back),
Abby Uhl (200 Back),
Melina Giraudeau (100 & 200 Breast) and
Talia Datilio (1m & 3m Diving) were all named.
Giraudeau won both breaststroke events last year while Hooton and Uhl swept the backstroke events.
CMU's women also dominated the 2026 RMAC Championships, winning 15 of the 21 gold medals while winning the title, their eighth straight, by 566 points. They also finished third at the NCAA Championships.
The Mavericks will open the 2026-27 season next weekend, hosting the Intermountain Shootout on Friday, Oct. 2 and Saturday, Oct. 3. Both days of the weekend will be scored as separate meets and will include NCAA Division I foes BYU, Utah and Utah Tech as well as Adams State and Western Colorado (women) from the RMAC.
