M/W Swimming at the 2024 RMAC Championships – Tuesday-Saturday (10 a.m. prelims/5:30 p.m. finals)
Hosted by Colorado Mesa [RMAC Network-PPV] [Live Results] [Championship Central]

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2024 RMAC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
On Tuesday evening, the Colorado School of Mines Men's and Women's Swimming teams will open the 2024 postseason at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships in Grand Junction, Colo. A plethora of hardware is on the line across five days and nine sessions of swimming, and the nationally-ranked Orediggers are positioned to bring plenty home. A full event schedule can be found at the conference's Championship Central, and there will be wall-to-wall, pay-per-view coverage on the RMAC Network.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
As mentioned above, all five days of the 2024 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships will stream on the RMAC Network. New for the 2023-24 school year, conference postseason events will be pay-per-view. Fans wanting to keep up with the swimming action this week can purchase a day pass for $9.95 or pay $30 for the entire championship. There will also be live results available. he RMAC Network can be accessed at www.minesathletics.com/tv, as well as with apps on all major smart TV platforms by searching RMAC.
 
THE FORMAT
Postseason action officially begins with a single session on Tuesday evening which features the 800-freestyle relay. Teams with a "B" seeding will go in the first heat with "A" seeding times going in the second heat. All events for the entire week will feature women first and men second. After opening night on Tuesday, each day will feature three different sessions. On Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, swimming prelims start at 10 a.m. each morning. Diving prelims go off at 2 p.m. each day. Finals for all events competed earlier along with relays in the day will start at 5:30 p.m. Fans can view the full, detailed schedule at the meet central page.
 
HOW TO SCORE
The 2023 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships will use the standard collegiate swimming championship scoring structure. The top-16 individual swimmers from the swimming preliminaries will advance to the evening finals. In those evening sessions, there will be an eight-person championship final and an eight-person consolation finals. Team points will be awarded to all 16 in the finals in the following amounts with first place getting 20 teams points and 16th place getting one team point (20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1). Diving events will also be scored in the same manner. It's also worth noting that the 1000-free and 1650-free do not have preliminary rounds. Relay events, which also don't have preliminary heats, are worth double the team points, and "B" relay teams will swim in a separate heat with a shot at ninth place overall. Individual swimmers can score in up to four individual and seven total events. Each team is limited to 18 scoring athletes.
 
HARDWARE ON THE LINE
Included on the list of available awards this week is First-Team All-RMAC, Second-Team All-RMAC, Swimmer of the Year, Diver of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and Coach of the Year. Each award will be given to each gender. First-Team All-RMAC status goes to the first-place, and second-place swimmers in individual events, and the top-two relay teams as well. Second-Team All-RMAC is earned by the third and fourth finishing swimmers in individuals events and the third and fourth relay teams. Swimmer and Diver of the Year is voted on by the coaches with a tie resulting in co-awards. Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year are also voted on by the coaches.
 
LAST YEAR'S CHAMPIONSHIPS
At the 2023 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships, the Oredigger men finished third and the women were conference runner-up in the team standings. Individually, Meghan Slowey won her third straight RMAC Women's Swimmer of the Year award. Jordan Tierney was voted RMAC Freshman of the Year to give Mines three straight winners in that category. Oredigger Head Coach Claire McDaniel was crowned RMAC Women's Coach of the Year for a third straight season. Overall, the men totaled 13 All-RMAC finished (top-four), and the women racked up 16 All-RMAC performances.
 
THE FIRST CHANCE INVITE
Last Friday and Saturday, Mines' men and women raced at the First Chance Invitational hosted by the University of Denver at El Pomar Natatorium. When the waves settled after two days of competition, the Orediggers had posted multiple NCAA-qualifying times and broke one program record. On Friday, Annie Osmun went below the NCAA "B" cut in the 200-free. Jordan Tierney did the same in the 100-breast and moved up to #3 in NCAA Division II this season in that event. On Saturday, Seth Krause stopped the clock at 48.47 in the 100-fly. It was a NCAA "B" time as well. Along the way Krause took down his own program record in the 50-fly thanks to a 21.94 split.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
The February national rankings from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America were released late last week. Both Mines' men and women will roll into the postseason inside the top-25 in NCAA Division II. The women rose to #17 and the men took over #23. Colorado Mesa remains atop the women's poll while Indianapolis is #1 in the men's poll. As a reminder, the national rankings reflect winning potential in dual scoring and are not meant to predict the outcomes in a championship format.
 
TOP-25 TIMES
Conference championship season has begun. That means high turnover on the list of nationally-ranked times in NCAA Division II. As of Feb. 12, the following Orediggers boast top-25 times in DII this season.
 
100-free
(W) Annie Osmun - #25
 
50-back
(M) Luca Burns - #23
 
100-back
(M) Luca Burns - #18
 
50-breast
(W) Cameryn Schmidt - #1
(W) Jordan Tierney - #3
(M) Garrett Waite - #7
(W) Jorie Selig - #16
 
100-breast
(W) Jordan Tierney - #3
(W) Cameryn Schmidt - #23
 
50-fly
(M) Seth Krause - #1
(W) Cameryn Schmidt - #3
(W) Emma Neuroth - #16
(M) Charles Burroughs - #17
(W) Jorie Selig - #22
 
100-fly
(W) Annie Osmun - #5
 
100-IM
(W) Jordan Tierney - #5
(M) Garrett Waite - #10
(W) Annie Osmun - #11
 
200-IM
(W) Annie Osmun - #11
 
400-IM
(M) Ronan Lauinger - #13
 
200-freestyle relay
(M) Mines - #14
 
400-freestyle relay
(M) Mines - #23
 
800-freestyle relay
(W) Mines - #15
 
200-medley relay
(M) Mines - #11
(W) Mines - #23
 
400-medley relay
(W) Mines - #16
 
RECORDS SHALL FALL
So far this season, the Oredigger men and women have combined to break 19 pool and program records – many of them multiple times over. That number does not include records set and then reset in 2023-24. It is important to note that the current program record books only reflect raw times not converted for altitude. In the offseason, the record books will be expanded to reflect both non-converted and altitude-converted marks. Below are the records broken so far this season.
 
MEN
PROGRAM
- Garrett Waite – 100-IM – 51.51
- Seth Krause – 50-fly – 21.94
- Luca Burns – 50-back – 22.50
- Luca Burns – 100-back – 48.20
POOL
- Luca Burns – 50-back – 23.89
- Garrett Waite – 100-IM – 51.51
- Ronan Lauinger – 400-IM – 4:10.80
- Burns, Waite, Charles Burroughs, Krause – 400-medley relay – 3:22.30
 
WOMEN
PROGRAM
- Annie Osmun – 100-free – 51.00
- Jordan Tierney – 100-IM – 58.38
- Annie Osmun – 200-IM – 2:03.86
- Savannah Karas – 200-fly – 2:06.05
- Cameryn Schmidt – 50-breast – 29.06
POOL
- Cameryn Schmidt – 50-fly – 25.61
- Annie Osmun – 100-fly – 56.42
- Cameryn Schmidt – 50-breast – 29.06
- Jordan Tierney – 100-breast – 1:03.59
- Jordan Tierney – 200-breast – 2:21.53
- Jordan Tierney – 100-IM – 58.38
 
INTRODUCING GABBY HILLIS
Just after the start of the 2023-24 season, Mines Men's and Women's Swimming Head Coach Claire McDaniel brought her coaching staff to full strength with the addition of Gabby Hillis as an assistant coach. Before becoming an Oredigger, Hillis served in multiple roles at the Highlands Ranch Aquatics club. As a student-athlete, the New York City Native competed in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) at the University of Florida where she was a four-time NCAA All-American. Fans can read Hillis' full profile HERE.
 
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, and 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 is in 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.
 
UP NEXT
After the conference championships, the Oredigger men and women will take a small group back to Grand Junction, Colo., on Saturday, Feb. 28, for the Maverick Last Chance Qualifier. Then, Mines awaits the announcement of the field for the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships. Those who qualify will compete in Geneva, Ohio, from March 12-16 with national titles on the line. All postseason information will be announced at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines swimming on "X" (formerly 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.