The Mavericks Men’s and Women’s Swim and Dive teams won their fourth consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC)Championship.
Colorado Mesa University’s (CMU) Men’s team won their sixth RMAC Championship overall in the last decade. The Mavericks are now tied for the most conference titles in history with Colorado School of Mines (CSM) and Western Colorado University with six RMAC Championships.
The men won the RMAC Championship with a score of 1,225 points to win the meet by 350.5 points. CSM finished in second place with 874.5 points and Oklahoma Christian University (OCU) in third with 795.5 points.
CMU’s women shattered their own RMAC points record of 1,171.5 points as they won 19 of the 21 events to score 1,323.5 points.
The final day of the RMAC Championships started with the women’s 1650-yard freestyle. Junior Amelia Kinnard finished the race on top and qualified for the B NCAA Division II B Standard time as she won the event with a time of 17:10.16. Meghan Slowey of CSM took second and senior Robyn Naze took the final spot on the podium as she finished with a time of 17:37.65.
OCU’s Victor Rosado took home the gold in the men’s 1650-yard freestyle as he finished in 15:45.58 minutes. Sophomore Gavin Anderson finished in second place with a time of 15:54.62, followed by freshman Jacob Troescher who finished in 15:54.62 minutes.
The next event on the docket was the women’s 100-yard freestyle. CMU swept the top five spots with all five finishing in 51 seconds.
Junior Davy Brown took the gold as she finished in 51 seconds flat. Senior Logan Anderson took second place, finishing just 47 hundredths of a second behind Brown. Junior Ruby Bottai took the final spot on the podium as she finished with a time of 51.77 seconds.
The men’s 100-yard freestyle saw Brandon Heredia in first place as he finished with a time of 43.91 seconds. Sophomore Mado Elkady was the lone Maverick on the podium in second place as he finished less than a second after Heredia with a time of 44.32 seconds.
Sophomore Katerina Matoskova took home the gold in the 200-yard backstroke event as she shaved four seconds off her prelims time to finish in 2:0067 minutes. Senior Sarah Fillerup was CMU’s other swimmer on the podium as she took third place with a time of 2:02.02.
Sophomore Ben Sampson ended his final event in the RMAC Championships on a high note. Sampson broke his own pool record and Krzysztof Jankiewicz’s RMAC meet record in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:43.88 minutes. Freshmen Jeremy Koch finished in second place in 1:49.28 minutes and freshman Andrew Scoggin took third with a time of 1:49.33. All three qualified for the B NCAA D2 B Standard time to go to Greensboro, N.C. in March for the NCAA Championships.
Senior Lily Borgenheimer nearly broke her own record in the next event of the RMAC Championships and qualified for the NCAA D2 A Standard. Borgenheimer finished the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:11.74 which was nearly a second behind her RMAC meet and pool record in the event. Freshman Ellie Wilke finished in second place with a time of 2:20.89.
JT Amrein followed up his record-breaking performance on day three of the RMAC Championships by breaking another record on the final day. In the men’s 200-yard breaststroke, Amrein broke the RMAC meet and pool record at El Pomar Natatorium with a time of 1:56.42. Senior Mahmoud Elgayar and junior Matt Barrett took second and third place finishing just over two minutes.
The men’s three-meter diving event featured all CMU divers who all qualified for the NCAA D2 A Standard to send themselves to the NCAA Championships. Junior Isaiah Cheeks finished in first place in the event with 554.40 points.
Tanner Belliston took second place with a score of 503.25 points. Noah Luna was the final diver in the event, and he finished with a score of 478.70 points.
The final events of the RMAC Championships were the 400-yard freestyle relays. The CMU women took home first place with a team of junior Lauren White, Anderson, Bottai and Brown and finished with a time of 3:23.92 minutes. CSM and OCU’s relay teams took second and third.
CMU’s men 400-yard freestyle relay team took home the gold in the final event of the RMAC Championships. The team of Elkady, freshman Kuba Kiszczak, junior Felipe D’Orsi and senior Austin Lane finished with a time of 2:57.62 minutes. OCU took second place and CSM took third in the event.
The Maverick’s final meet of the regular season is Friday, February 18 at 8:00 a.m. in the Royal Open in Charlotte, N.C.
