The clean sweep.
Down in Lewisville, TX, it was dubs all across the board for the Colorado Mesa University swim and dive teams as both the men and women were able to sweep the Rocky Mountain Athletic Championships.
Last year, CMU was held to third place for the men and a heartbreaking second place for the women who had yet to win an RMAC title. This year…a completely different story. The Mavericks gained a sizable lead on Day One and keep it all the way through until the end of Day Four.
“I would really like to emphasize our team chemistry,” Head Coach Geoff Hansen said. “I think that is something that we have consciously built on throughout the season and when you bring in 20 new men and 10 new women…basically half the team is new and it takes some work but you don’t put a meet like this and a week like this without it. I’m really proud of our team.
The men’s team broke their own record from 2014 for most team points in a single championship by taking first with 1,261 total points. Oklahoma Baptist, who won the RMAC title last year for both the men’s and women’s, came in second after finishing 320 points behind CMU.
This is this third overall conference title for the men and their second in the last three years.
“We’ve got a lot going for us,” Hanson said.“We relied on a lot of newcomers…they stepped up great and with them, we’re looking to take the next step at nationals and go perform really well there.”
This year was a new look for the men’s team as the 16 swimmers that scored this last week, ten of them were either freshman or transfers. Freshmen Logan Ellis and Arthur Curry both won three individual RMAC titles this last week. Curry broke CMU records in all three of his events (200 IM, 100 free and 200 free) and broke the RMAC record in the 200 free.
Ellis dominated the long-distance freestyle winning the 500, 1,000, and the mile.
Another freshman in Mahmoud Elgayar won two individual events highlighted by his 200 breast victory on Saturday as he touched the wall first with a time of 2:01.02. Overall the men’s team won 16 events overall in what led them to their record-breaking victory.
To emphasize again, the men’s team had over 20 new men coming into the program at the start of the season.
“You never know how that’s gonna pan out,” Hanson said. “You see the potential and talent that’s there and then its a matter of working through a long season and peaking at the right time and we definitely saw that with a bunch of our freshman–It’s a great foundation to build on.”
Now the women had a different story which led to their first RMAC Title in program history. The Mavericks won just two out of 21 scored events but had the best depth out of any of the nine schools competing.
“It’s something we had on the goal list for a while,” Hanson said. “Despite not winning a lot of events, we relied on a lot of depth. When I came for the job at CMU three years ago, one of the things that I really wanted to focus on was depth.” 6
CMU had six podium finishes the final day of competition following the previous three days where they had plenty of points racked up in their favor because so many different Mavericks competed in the finals for their respected events.
Sophomore Olivia DeRemer broke her own RMAC Championship record on Friday in the 100-yard individual medley relay in the preliminaries and then was able to take first in the finals the same day.
Then the 800-free relay team made up of Sierra Forbord, Kennedy Bright, Maddie Pressler and Danielle Jefferies won by a whole six seconds, touching the wall first in a time of 7:33.51.
Of course, who can forget about the nationally recognized diving program? Ammar Hassan and Noah Macomber both set records at the RMAC’s and contributed to overall team victories. Hassan won the one-meter event with 589.90 points to break the RMAC record which was set in 2011. Macomber took third in the same event but was able to outscore Hassan and place first in the three-meter event as well as qualifying for Nationals.
One the one-meter event alone, six of the top seven finishers represented CMU.
Brittany Dixon was able to take home the RMAC title in the one-meter and then placed third in the three-meter after winning it the year before. Dixon surpassed both NCAA National qualifying marks in both events.
CMU now has their eyes aimed towards the NCAA Division II National Championships in Indianapolis, Ind. which will start on March 13. The Mavericks are looking to take over 20 athletes to the meet in which they hope of capturing some gold.
