by Matt Kennedy
On Saturday, the Mavericks traveled to the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains to face off against NCAA Division I opponents University of Denver and Boise State.
The men’s team competed solely against the University of Denver, but came up short 203-96.
The women’s team fought hard against both Boise State and Denver but could not come up with a victory in either portion of the dual meets. Boise defeated Colorado Mesa 235-65, and Denver outlasted the Mavericks 227-71.
Both the men and women’s swimming had a difficult time against their opponents, but they still managed to put up a fight. The men managed to pick up victories in both breaststroke events. Josh Bedford and Ryan Gifford, who have been spectacular in the breaststroke events all season, took home first place honors when Bedford went 57.33 in the 100 breast, and Gifford followed up with a victory of his own when he went 2:11.25 in the 200 breast.
This was the only glimpse of first place in individual races for the men’s team on Saturday, but Josh Bedford, Eric Berg, Chris Radomski and Sky Hirsch set the meet off on a high note, taking first place in the 400 medley relay.
Men’s diving added in their performances of success in the form of Sage D’Ambrosia taking first in the one-meter board portion of the meet with a score of 285.50. D’Ambrosia also finished second in the three-meter with a score of 267.20. Fellow teammate Noah Macomber came in third in both events.
The women could not find a significant amount of success of their own as they did not win a single event on Saturday but still managed to find some success against Boise State and Denver.
The women’s 200 free relay team, which has been consistent all season long, finished fifth on Saturday with a time of 1:40.34. The team consisted of Marissa Bradley, Megan Sirijariyavat, Sam White and Eryn Leonard.
The standout Mary Saiz did perform significantly well on Saturday taking second in the 200 back with a time of 2:02.28 as well as coming in fourth in the 100 back in 56.48.
The women’s diving team also competed on Saturday but could not find much success either. Kelsey Vreeman came on sixth on the one-meter board with a score of 222.35. Abby Smith finished behind her on the one-meter, placing eighth. Cassie Blakeman, Brittany Dixon, and Vreeman finished on the lower half on the three-meter board as they came in sixth, seventh, and eighth.
Colorado Mesa will now have their minds set towards RMAC Championships which will take place the weekend of Feb. 8 at El Pomar Natatorium. The Mavericks have performed well against fellow RMAC teams and have a significant chance of taking home the RMAC Championship.
