Courtesy: CMU Athletics
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks have once again swept the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s Swimmer & Diver of the Week awards, the conference announced on Wednesday.
The Mavs have now swept the awards all four times they have been eligible this season.
Talia Datilio (women’s diver), Wyatt Hermanson (men’s diver), Agata Naskret (women’s swimmer) and Andrew Scoggin (men’s swimmer) won the awards, which were based on all performances since Dec. 11.
CMU competed in two meets on both sides of the holiday break since that date, competing at the UNLV Invitational from Dec. 16-18 at in a dual meet at Division I Utah last Friday (Jan. 10).
The RMAC Diver of the Week awards are the first of Datilio and Hermanson’s careers. Naskret, the 2023-24 RMAC Women’s Swimmer of the Year, has won three RMAC Women’s Swimmer of the Week awards this season (Nov. 6; Nov. 26) and five in her 2-year career as a Maverick. Scoggin is a 2-time winner this season (Oct. 9).
Datilio, a sophomore from Mesa, Arizona, recorded a career-best 6-dive score of 229.73 points on the 1-meter springboard to finish third as the top Maverick diver in the dual at Utah. She also took fifth on the 3-meter with 224.40 points after defeating a combined ten Division I divers in the diving events at the UNLV Invitational. She scored 235.20 points on the 3-meter and 213.00 points on the 1-meter at that meet.
She is the third Maverick to earn RMAC Women’s Diver of the Week honors this season joining 2-time winner Jenna Hurley (Oct. 9, Nov. 6) and Nov. 26 recipient Kenya Meyer.
Hermanson, a junior from Mandan, North Dakota, claimed victory on the 1-meter board in last Friday’s dual at Utah, recording a career-best score of 287.03 points. Although he was already assured of NCAA Division II Pre-Championship qualification, that score surpassed the NCAA qualifying standard of 285 points. Hermanson also took second on the 3-meter with a score of 273.00 points.
Three Maverick men have now swept the four RMAC Men’s Diver of the Week honors bestowed this season after Jax Juarros (Oct. 9, Nov. 6) and Ryan Campbell (Nov. 26) were recognized earlier in the season.
On the swimming side, Naskret won the 200-yard backstroke and placed third in the 100 back during the UNLV Invitational. The junior from Bydgoszcz, Poland, set NCAA Division II Championship “A” qualifying times of 1:56.49 (200) and 53.40 (100) to do so, leading the Mavericks against six NCAA Division I teams.
Naskret had set the NCAA Division II all-time record of 51.96 seconds at the TYR/CMU Invitational in November and leads the country in both backstroke events with altitude-adjusted times of 51.86 and 1:56.31 from that meet, which helped her win the Nov. 26 RMAC Swimmer of the Week award. She was also recognized on Nov. 6 of this season and twice last year.
Scoggin, a senior from Greeley, Colorado, won four events at the UNLV Invitational, the most of any man in the field, leading the Mavs to a strong second place finish amongst seven teams, including five Division I squads. He won the 100 Back in 46.91 seconds and set a personal-best and NCAA “B” qualifying time of 20.24 seconds in the 50 Free.
The team captain also anchored the Mavs to a winning and school-record matching time of 1:19.09 in the 200 Free relay and was a part of the CMU’s winning 400 Free (2:54.15) and 200 Medley Relay (1:25.96) teams as well.
He continued his winning ways in the Utah dual, claiming victory in the 100 Back Skins event and helped CMU take second in the 400 Medley Relay.
Scoggin had also been named as the Oct. 9 RMAC Men’s Swimmer of the Week.
The Mavericks are off this weekend but will continue their season on Jan. 24-25 when they will take
on Air Force and BYU at Air Force’s Cadet Natatorium. The Maverick divers will also compete at Air Force Diving Invitational in the following week.
The Mavs will then host the RMAC Championships from Feb. 11-15.
