W Swimming: #18 Mines at First Chance Invitational – Denver, Colo. – Friday-Saturday
M Swimming: #23 Mines at First Chance Invitational – Denver, Colo. – Friday-Saturday

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POSTSEASON PREP
The final weekend of the regular season has arrived, and the Colorado School of Mines Men's and Women's Swimming teams are headed to the University of Denver for the First Chance Invitational. In their final prep for the postseason, Mines' #18 women and #23 men will compete across two days at El Pomar Natatorium with a core group of Orediggers in select events. Action on Friday begins at 3 p.m. Saturday's first gun is slated for 10 a.m. It marks one last chance to improve seed and qualifying times for the 2024 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships which start next week.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
There will be no live coverage of Friday's and Saturday's races. Fans with a subscription to MeetMobile can check there for results in real time.
 
GUEST LIST
Obviously Mines and DU will be in attendance this weekend. Joining the two squads will be Air Force, Wyoming, Northern Colorado, and Colorado State, which pits the Orediggers against all NCAA Division I swimmers for the fifth time this season. The event will be unlike any other competition for Mines this season. Any scoring would be in a championship format, but all races are finals and the overall goal is low times for postseason seeding and qualifying.
 
EVENT ORDER
There are eight events scheduled for Friday afternoon and seven more on Saturday morning. Estimated completion on Friday is set for 5:30 p.m. with Saturday wrapping around 12 p.m. Saturday will also include diving after the conclusion of swimming. The full rundown of events is below.
 
FRIDAY
- 200-medley relay
- 400-IM
- 200-free
- 100-back
- 100-breast
- 200-fly
- 50-free
- 1650-free
 
SATURDAY
- 100-free
- 200-back
- 200-breast
- 500-free
- 100-fly
- 200-IM
- 200-freestyle relay
 
RMAC SWIMMERS OF THE WEEK
For the second time this season, Mines' men and women swept the RMAC Swimmer of the Week awards. Cameryn Schmidt and Garrett Waite were named RMAC Women's Swimmer of the Week and RMAC Men's Swimmer of the Week, respectively, on Jan. 31. Schmidt claimed the first weekly honor of her career after breaking two facility records and one program record in a home win against Adams State. Her 29.06 in the 50-breast was the fastest in Mines Natatroium and Oredigger program history. Schmidt also broke the pool record in the 50-fly. Waite won his first RMAC weekly award with similar performances. He helped the 400-medley relay break the facility record with a time of 3:22.30. Waite also stopped the clock at 51.51 in the 100-IM to claim the pool and program record in that event. The last Oredigger duo to sweep the weekly awards featured Ronan Lauinger and Annie Osmun on Oct. 18, 2023.
 
VENUE CHANGE
With the conference championships less than a week away, it felt appropriate to remind fans of the venue change for the start of the postseason. The 2023-24 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships were originally scheduled to be held in Lenexa, Kan., in the Kansas City area. However, the RMAC Swimming & Diving Athletic Administrators Council decided to move the event back to El Pomar Natatorium on the campus of Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction, Colo. The conference championships will be competed Feb. 13-17, 2024.
 
CELEBRATING SENIOR DAY
The Orediggers' last competitive swims came on Saturday, Jan. 27, when the men and women swept Adams State at Mines Natatorium by respective scores of 169-124 and 164-84. The duals also brought the celebration of Senior Day for Mines, and the home squad celebrated their elders in record-setting fashion. The men's 400-medley relay started the day by breaking the pool record. Schmidt then broke the pool and program record in the 50-breast and the 50-fly. Jordan Tierney did her own damage by breaking the pool record in the 200-breast. Annie Osmun continued the record-breaking trend with the natatorium's fastest time in the 100-fly. Tierney returned to the spotlight with additional facility records in the 100-breast and 100-IM. Her 100-IM also broke her own program record. Back on the men's side, Seth Krause shattered the Mines 50-fly record and Garrett Waite posted the fastest 100-IM in pool and program history. Sarah Bennett, Charles Burroughs, Jules Hays, Braden Hunt, Seth Krause, Emma Neuroth, Annie Osmun, Scott Reeder, Jorie Selig, Garrett Waite, and Max Waring were the seniors honored before the meet.
 
IN THE RANKINGS
The January edition of the national rankings were released late last month. The Oredigger women jumped to #18 and the men checked in at #22. Colorado Mesa's women remained #1 while Indianapolis held the top spot on the men's side. 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
Mines' performances against Adams State shook up the list of nationally-ranked times in NCAA Division II this season. The conference championships are likely to bring even more change to those rankings. However, as of Feb. 8, the following Orediggers boast top-25 times in DII this season.
 
100-free
(W) Annie Osmun - #23
 
1000-free
(M) Lucas Hoke - #18
(M) Joseph Lev-Tov - #21
 
50-back
(M) Luca Burns - #23
 
100-back
(M) Luca Burns - #14
 
200-back
(M) Luca Burns - #24
 
50-breast
(W) Cameryn Schmidt - #1
(W) Jordan Tierney - #3
(M) Garrett Waite - #7
(W) Jorie Selig - #16
 
100-breast
(W) Jordan Tierney - #20
(W) Cameryn Schmidt - #22
 
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 - #4
 
100-IM
(W) Jordan Tierney - #5
(M) Garrett Waite - #10
(W) Annie Osmun - #11
 
200-IM
(W) Annie Osmun - #8
 
400-IM
(M) Ronan Lauinger - #12
 
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 – 22.02
- 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
The 2024 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships begin Tuesday, Feb. 13, in Grand Junction, Colo. Action will run through Saturday, Feb. 17. Live coverage information is already posted at www.minesathletics.com A full preview for the conference championships will be released on Monday.
 
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.