Cal Baptist Women, Colorado Mesa Men Lead After Day Three At RMAC Champs

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado, February 21. HOST Colorado Mesa and California Baptist held onto their leads in the men’s and women’s team standings, respectively, as day three of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships wrapped up Friday evening. The Cal Baptist women won all five events contested, while the Colorado Mesa men scored three individual wins to hold onto a 70-point lead over Cal Baptist.

Cal Baptist’s Mary Hanson picked up another conference record and NCAA automatic qualifying standard, winning the 100 back in 54.40 to add to her individual victory in the 50 free from Thursday. She now has two NCAA ‘A’ standards at the meet.

California Baptist Press Release

The California Baptist University Lancers are three-fourths of the way through the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships and have continued to post season-best times in each event.

The CBU women touched-first in all five events, including the 800-yard freestyle relay and brought their total score to an even 800 to maintain a solid lead over the women teams.

The Lancer men have tallied 821 points overall to hold their second-place standing and have continued to dominate in the team relays.

Yosita Hapsari started the day off with a 5:02.76 first-touch time in the 500-yard freestyle race, which was a season-best and NCAA Division II ‘B’ standard time for her. Courtney Chacon followed closely with Hapsari in the tight-swam race to grab second place and boost her time to 5:03.58.

Mary Hanson beat another RMAC, CBU program record, and Colorado Mesa record in the 100 back with a striking 54.40 time, which automatically qualified her for nationals. Kylie Mihld posted a carreer-high in the event, finishing in third and clocking in at 57.74—a ‘B’ qualifying time.

Alena Rumientceva also broke a RMAC, CBU program, and CMU record in the 100 breaststroke after cruising to a first-place finish in 1:02.81—qualifying in the ‘B’ category as well.

Kristina Tchernyshev picked up speed in her last 100 of the 200-yard butterfly for a first-touch finish in 2:04.56—just barely missing the RMAC and CMU record. Kyndal Terwilliger gave the Lancers a one-two finish with her second-place, ‘B’ standard time of 2:07.13.

The women closed out the day with a considerable first-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay led by Hapsari, Hanson, Anna Megli, and Terwilliger with a final time of 7:38.13. The ‘B’ relay-team also cruised to first in their preliminary-round race in 7:46.95, which Chacon, Hailey Golden, Ashley Weedman, and Mihld contributed to.

The men’s highlight was Kendall Rummell’s second-place and silver medal finish on the 1-meter diving platform after scoring 4:18.95 points. Rummell was up against Colorado Mesa’s Brock Martin who placed fourth on the 1-meter board last year at nationals. Rummell scored a high of 48 on his forward one-and-a-half pike dive with a degree of difficulty of 2.4.

Chris Carlberg was just two points shy of the bronze medal and scored 414.60 through the 11-dive event. Andrew Rotundo—after a phenomenal third-place finish on the 3-meter platform Wednesday—scored a 347.05 to close out his RMAC Championship events.

Elijah Barrows broke the CBU program record in the 500 free in the start of the men’s final events with his season-best time of 4:30.02–.05 seconds behind Colorado Mesa’s Tyler Kaslik. Derek Wedel posted his season-best time in the tight-race throughout finishing in fourth place just .28 behind another Colorado Mesa swimmer, Jarren Brinton. Mitchell Spezzaferri grabbed fifth place in the event for a ‘B’ qualifying and season-best time of 4:35.77. Austin Aberle also posted a ‘B’ standard with his 4:37.29 time.

Josh Hanson touched-first in the 200 fly, while Robert Nichols pushed in a close race throughout for a 1:51.56 time to finish just .11 behind third place.

Nichols led the Lancer men in the 100 backstroke in another hard-fought race for him, finishing in 49.88—again just .18 behind first-place but a ‘B’ standard time. Nolan Brown grabbed third in the event clocking in at 50.20 and contributed valid points for the team’s scoring.

Chaffin Blake posted a season-high time of 56.31 in the 100 breaststroke and finished second overall. Bryce Arata came in a close fourth with his 56.89 official time.

The Lancer men continued to dominate as a team in both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ 800-freestyle relays. The final event of the night, and one of the most exciting events so far, was relay event where David Ring, Brown, Hanson, and Nichols swam the hardest they could to finish in 6:40.48—.22 in front of Colorado School of Mines for a gold-medal finish. With Hanson pushing the lead in his second 100-yards of the third leg of the relay, and Nichols—after competing well all day—holding on to the incredibly tight lead to finish the race on top, the Lancer men stuck it out for the gold.

In the preliminary round ‘B’ relay, Spezzaferri, Aberle, Josh Collison, and Wedel cruised to a first-place finish and added a considerable amount to the Lancer’s total scoring.

California Baptist University closes out its first-ever RMAC Championship Saturday with the 1650 freestyle, 100 free, 200 back, 200 breast, women’s 3-meter dive, and 400 freestyle relay.

The conference will recognize the seniors of each team prior to the start of the final events, and will give the final awards directly after the completion of the last event.

Colorado Mesa Press Release

Brock Martin won the men’s 1-meter diving competition by nearly 100 points to lead the Colorado Mesa swimming and diving teams at the RMAC Championships Friday (Feb. 21). Martin finished with a score of 518.30.

Teammate Ryan Popp finished third with a score of 416.60.

The Maverick men enjoyed two other wins. Tyler Kaslik won the 500 free in 4:34.97 and finished second in the 200 fly (1:51.13). Both times were under the NCAA B qualifying standard.

Justin Hastings took top honors in the 100 backstroke with an NCAA B performance of 49.70.

Jarren Brinton also earned a B qualifying time with a third place finish in the 500 free (4:37.06).

Rob Eisendrath finished fourth in the 100 back (51.09).

Zach Andregg finished third in the 200 fly (1:52.65), and Thomas Stutzriem was third in the 100 breaststroke (56.77). Shaun Seuschek was fifth in the 100 breast (58.15).

The men’s 800 free relay team of Zach Andregg, Rob Eisendrath, Drake Mendelsona nd Tyler Kaslik finished third in 6:56.10.

Abi Young led the women with a third place finish in the 500 freestyle (5:11.61).

Brianna Purkapile finished fifth in the 200 fly in 2:10.90.

The 800 free relay of Briana Purkapile, Abi Young, Marissa Bradley and Eryn Leonard finished second in a B qualifying time of 7:46.34.

The men’s team extended its lead over second place California Baptist to 70 points.

The women’s team trails the leaders California Baptist by 246 points and leads third place Adams State by two points.

The RMAC swimming and diving championships concludes Saturday (Feb. 22) night.

Results For: Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships, Day Three

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