Mines at the A3 Performance Invitational, Wednesday-Saturday [Live Results] [RMAC Network] [Psych Sheet]
 

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THIS WEEK
Mines heads across the Rockies to Colorado Mesa University for the four-day A3 Performance Invitational, which runs from Wednesday to Saturday. The meet has grown into a "fall championships" of sorts as the Orediggers have traditionally put down their fastest times of the regular season at El Pomar Natatorium. It's also a preview of RMAC Championships, held in the same pool, as Mines will take on conference foes CMU, Adams State, CSU-Pueblo, Dixie State, and Western Colorado. The meet will be streamed on the RMAC Network.

MEET FORMAT
The meet will have a daily prelim/final format on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and timed finals on Wednesday. Wednesday's session starts at 6 p.m.; Thursday and Friday will have prelims at 10 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m., and Saturday will have prelims at 10 a.m. and finals at 4 p.m. The top 16 qualifiers advance to each final. 

PAST WINNERS
Mia Wood had had a tremendous career at the A3 Performance Invitational, winning a combined eight titles in the last three years. She is undefeated in the 500- and 1000-freestyle distances, and has also won two straight 1650-free titles. Wood is the meet recordholder in the shorter two distances with a 4:56.77 in the 500 and 10:12.87 in the 1000 last year. She enters this year's meet as the top seed in all three distance freestyle events as well as the 200. April Wood has also made her mark on the meet, winning the 2017 400-IM in 4:37.10, and the pair also won two relays (400-free, 800-free) in 2017 as well.

For the men, Migus Wong won last year's 400-IM at the A3 Performance Invite in a time of 4:05.43. The Orediggers also won the 800-free relay in 6:58.59 thanks to Jerry Birnbaum, Ben Topper, Henry Oberley, and Matthew Pollmiller.

LAST TIME OUT
The women were last in action on Nov. 9, beating CSU-Pueblo 187-101, and Western Colorado 167-113 at home. The long-format meet gave the Orediggers a first-crack at several distance events and relays this year, and Mines found plenty of success in them. The 400-medley relay (Sam Henney, Madeleine Oakley, Kori Davis, Mia Wood) started off with a 4:03.74 win before Wood and Meghan Slowey went 1-2 in the 1,650-free as Wood completed the mile in 18:13.07 and doubled up with yet another 500-free victory in 5:10.44. Erin Taggart took the 200-fly in 2:15.15, and Henney won the 200-back in 2:08.41. The 400-free relay (Mia Wood, Olivia Lomax, Madeline Finley, April Wood) capped the meet with a 3:43.99 win. Mines took wins in some shorter distances, too, as Oakley won the 100-breaststroke in 1:09.81 and Daphne Williams took the 100-fly in 1:00.80. Overall, Mines' depth couldn't be matched as they piled up healthy points against both rivals.

The men haven't raced since the Air Force Duals on Nov. 1, when they fell to Air Force and Colorado Mesa. Migus Wong provided the men's lone event win as he captured the 200-breaststroke in 2:06.01. Wong won the event by more than two seconds. Wong later took second - and first among D-II swimmers - in the 200-IM at 1:57.71. Freshman Cobi Wood was third overall and first among D-II swimmers in the 200-free at 1:44.27, while Peyton Scherschel scored a second-place 57.53 in the 100-breast to tip Wong in 57.66.

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
The Orediggers will break for finals and the holidays and return to action on Jan. 10-11, once again at Colorado Mesa for a triangular with Dixie State.