Mines vs. Truman, Friday, 6 p.m. (at Colorado College)
Mines at the Big Cat Relays, Saturday, 10 a.m. (at Colorado College)
 

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A BUSY WEEKEND IN THE SPRINGS
Colorado School of Mines continues its season this weekend with two days of swimming at Colorado College, first taking on Truman State at CC on Friday night before staying over for Saturday's Big Cat Relays at Schlessman Natatorium. The neutral-site dual with Truman State will be the first between the two schools; the Bulldogs are members of the GLVC out of Kirksville, Mo. Saturday's Big Cat Relays will be a similar format to last weekend's Denver Relays.

LAST WEEKEND
Mines shook off the rust and got its 2019-20 season started at the fourth annual Denver Relays at DU last Saturday. The season-opening relay meet consisted of two standard distances as well as more unusual events such as a 3x500 free relay, 3x100s, 4x25s, and more. The Orediggers were joined by the host Pioneers, Wyoming, and Adams State in the pool; Mines was third overall but secured team wins over their RMAC rivals from ASU as DU took first followed by Wyoming on both the men's and women's sides. Among the highlights in the standard events, the men's 200-medley relay finished fourth in 1:34.22 (Jerry Birnbaum, Peyton Scherschel, Gareth Svanda, Ian Kingsolver) with the women placing seventh in 1:53.75 (Kori Davis, Claire Lautman, Amanda Blickensderfer, Maddie Finley). In the 400-free relay, the men were eighth at 3:14.37 as four freshmen - Dominic Delany, Charles Burroughs, Peter Bukiri, and Cobi Wood - hit in 3:14.37, while the women finished sixth in 3:42.73 behind Finley, Davis, Olivia Lomax, and Wood. Mines also had numerous top-four finishes in non-traditional relays including the 3x100 fly and breaststroke, 3x500 free, and 4x25 free.

MINES APPEARS IN RMAC PRESEASON POLLS
The RMAC preseason coaches' polls were announced Friday with the Mines men checking in at a tie for third and the women fourth. Colorado Mesa topped both polls, followed by Oklahoma Baptist on the men's side and Dixie State for the women.

Men
1. Colorado Mesa – 16 (4)
2.Oklahoma Baptist – 12 (1)
T3. Oklahoma Christian - 8
T3. Colorado School of Mines - 8
5. Adams State - 6
 
Women
1. Colorado Mesa – 64 (8)
2. Dixie State – 50 (1)
3. Oklahoma Baptist – 47
4. Colorado School of Mines – 43
5. Western Colorado – 31
6. Oklahoma Christian – 29
T7. Adams State – 25
T7. CSU-Pueblo – 25
9. Nebraska Kearney – 10

SCHERSCHEL, WOOD EARN RMAC RECOGNITION
As part of the RMAC's preseason release, Peyton Scherschel and Mia Wood were named "Swimmers To Watch" in 2019-20 by the conference. Scherschel was the 2019 RMAC Swimmer of the Year and has been all-RMAC six times over the past two seasons. He's coming off a sophomore season that saw him snap the program 50-free record. Wood returns for her senior year as a five-time all-American; she pulled off the distance freestyle sweep at RMAC Championships last season and is a three-year NCAA qualifier.

MINES EXCELS IN THE CLASSROOM
This summer saw Mines Swimming receive numerous academic honors after an outstanding 2018-19 season. In June, both the men and women were named CSCAA Scholar All-America teams for the spring semester, with the men ranking third in NCAA Division II with a 3.52 semester GPA and the women compiling a 3.38. Individually, Daphne Williams and Mia Wood were First-Team Scholar All-Americans while Jonathan Donehower, Sam Knott, and Peyton Scherschel were Honorable Mention Scholar All-Americans. In July, the men's team took home its seventh consecutive RMAC Brechler Award for holding the conference's top team GPA for the year (3.422)

NEXT TIME
Mines will welcome alumni back for the annual Alumni Pentathlon on Homecoming weekend, Oct. 19 at 9 a.m., then host Wyoming for a men's/women's dual on Oct. 25.