M/W Swimming: #22 Mines at Wyoming – Laramie, Wyo. – Saturday, 2 p.m.

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BRING ON THE DUALS
The #22-ranked Colorado School of Mines Men's and Women's Swimming teams continue their 2023-24 dual-meet schedule this weekend with a trip to Laramie, Wyo., where they will face off against NCAA Division I University of Wyoming. It marks the Orediggers' third meet in as many weeks as they train and prepare for the ever-important TYR/CMU Invitational in mid-November.
 
EARLIER START
For fans who have kept a close eye on the schedule, Saturday's meet has moved up one hour to a 2 p.m. start time. The change was made to account for winter weather moving into northern Colorado throughout the day on Saturday.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The only live coverage for this Saturday's competition will be results pushed to "Meet Mobile" which fans can download in their appropriate app store.
 
ORDER OF EVENTS
Twelve events highlight the rundown for Saturday afternoon in Laramie, Wyo. The schedule is actually identical to last year's meeting between the two teams. Each event will feature the women's races first, followed by the men. The order of events is below.
- 400-medley relay
- 1650-free (M/W in the same heat)
- 50-back
- 50-breast
- 200-fly
BREAK
- 50-free
- 200-back
- 200-breast
- 50-fly
- 200-free
BREAK
- 100-IM
- 200-freestyle relay
 
SCORING FORMAT – DUAL MEET
Points for Saturday's showdown will be awarded under standard, collegiate dual-meet scoring rules. For relays, point values of 11-4-2 will be awarded based on order of finish. Individual events will award values of 9-4-3-2-1 based on order of finish. The team with the most points after all 11 events wins the dual. Entry limits for the dual at Wyoming were not publicly released prior to the writing of this preview.
 
LAST WEEKEND
Last Saturday, the Oredigger men and women held their 2023-24 home opener, hosting Colorado Mesa's #2-ranked women and #3-ranked men at the Mines Natatorium. Overall, the Mavericks ran away with the scoring. They won the men's side 113-89 and downed the women 121-79. Even so, the Orediggers had multiple quality results. The highlights on the men's side came in the form of event wins by Jakson Winn and Luca Burns. Winn handily won the 100-free by more than a half-second in 46.66. Burns touched first in the 100-back in 49.89. That would have been the pool record if CMU's Ben Sampson had no gone sub-50 earlier in the meet. For the women, Isabella Bono and Julie Gill went 2-3 in the 1000-free. Olivia Kisow grabbed second in the 200-free. In the 50-free, Jordan Tierney and Sarah Bennett teamed up for a 2-3 finish. Tierney also had the second-fastest time in the 100-breast.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS PART I
Just one day before the start of Mines' 2023-24 season, the College Swimming & Diving Coaches' Association of America released its DII CSCAA Preseason Top-25 Polls. The Oredigger men and women both appeared at #22 on their respective lists. Mines' men tallied 34 points and the women had 38 points. In comparison, the Oredigger women finished last season ranked #16 in the national polls with the men at #19. Important to note is that the CSCAA rankings are meant to reflect the top dual meet teams in all of NCAA Division II. The national rankings are not meant to predict the top finishers in a championship meet format.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS PART II
Topping the preseason national rankings were UIndy's men and Nova Southeastern's women. There were additional familiar faces from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) in the polls as well. On the men's list, Colorado Mesa was #3, Oklahoma Christian was #11, and Simon Fraser was #17. The women's rankings included Colorado Mesa at #2, Simon Fraser at #13, and Oklahoma Christian at #18.
 
IN THE POLLS
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference released its preseason coaches' polls last month. Mines' women were picked #2 thanks to 52 points. The Oredigger men were tied for #2 with 17 points and one first-place vote. Colorado Mesa was tabbed #1 on both the men's and women's side after sweeping the team titles in 2022-23. Last season, the Mines women claimed silver and the men grabbed bronze.
 
NEW MAN ON DECK
Okay, so he's not all that new, but assistant coach Joel White was elevated to a fulltime role on staff earlier this fall following a national search, and thanks to the support of the Colorado School of Mines administration. White has served as a part time coach for the Orediggers since 2019, helping Mines' men and women produce 19 all-American finishes at the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships along with numerous All-RMAC swims, pool records, program records along the way. He brings an extensive and impressive resume to the newly-formed fulltime role including stops at the University of Texas, University of Utah, Notre Dame and the University of Denver. Check out White's entire profile HERE.
 
AT THE HELM
Colorado School of Mines Swimming Head Coach Claire McDaniel enters her fifth season at the helm for the Oredigger men and women. McDaniel won her third straight RMAC Coach of the Year on the women's side after guiding the Orediggers to team silver at the 2022-23 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships. She also owns two RMAC Coach of the Year awards on the men's side. Through four seasons, McDaniel has coached five RMAC Swimmers of the Year, four RMAC Freshmen of the Year, and 19 all-American performances including 16 individual events and three relays.
 
VASTLY VETERAN
The 2023-24 roster for Mines swimming features 18 women and 22 men. That makes a total of 40 Orediggers in the pool. Thirty six of those student-athletes are returners from the 2022-23 season. Highlighting the list of familiar faces are Jordan Tierney, Kerrigan Hemp, Annie Osmun, Jorie Selig, Emi Jedryka, Garrett Waite, and Charles Burroughs who were all-Americans in 2022-23. Also among the returners are 10 All-RMAC swimmers including all four legs of six different All-RMAC relays.
 
FRESH FACES
Julie Gill and Zooecia Phoebus arrived this fall as true freshmen for the women's team. Gill made the journey to Colorado from Bellingham, Wash. Phoebus is a native of Nasville, Tenn. On the men's side, the newcomers include Kevin Burns, Lucas Hoke, Joseph Lev-Tov, and Oliver Theby. Burns arrived at Mines by way of W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, Va. Hoke comepeted for Grand Oaks High School in Spring, Texas. Lev-Tov is a Colorado product out of Boulder and Fairview High School. Theby brings flavors of Evansville, Ind., to the team.
 
REWRITING THE RECORD BOOK
Under Head Coach Claire McDaniel, rewriting the program record book has become a bit of a tradition. In 2022-23 alone, the men and women combined to break 16 program records (many on multiple occasions). The list of record-breaking swimmers from 2022-23 includes Garrett Waite (200-IM), Charles Burroughs (100-fly, 200-fly), Sam LaPrade (50-back), and Jakson Winn (100-back). Additionally, LaPrade, Waite, Seth Krause, and Winn teamed up and broke the 200-medley relay record. Waite, Winn, Michael Kietzman, and Joe Peak did the same in the 800-free relay. The latest contributors to the women's record book include Meghan Slowey (1650-free), Annie Osmun (200-IM), Kerrigan Hemp (100-back, 200-back), and Jordan Tierney (100-breast, 200-breast). Hemp, Camery Schmidt, Annie Osmun and Jorie Selig took down the 200-medley relay record. Hemp, Tierney Osmun, and Selig did the same in the 400-medley relay. Rounding out the revisions were Osmun, Selig, Schmidt, and Tierney in the 200-freestyle relay.
 
UP NEXT
The Oredigger women will take the next two weeks off, but the men are back in action on Friday, Nov. 3, in a dual against Colorado College at the Mines Natatorium. It will be a "Movember" meet to help raise awareness for men's health. A full preview and any live coverage information will be released next week at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines swimming on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @MinesSwimming. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.