W Swimming: #18 Mines at Colorado State – Fort Collins, Colo. – Saturday, 11 a.m. [Live Video]

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FINAL DUAL
The #23-ranked Colorado School of Mines Men's Swimming team closed its dual schedule earlier this week against Wyoming. However, the #18-ranked Oredigger women still have one dual remaining. It comes on Saturday at Colorado State with an exciting, non-traditional format and Senior Day festivities for the Rams. First gun is set for 11 a.m. at Moby Pool in Fort Collins, Colo.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
There will be live video of the dual offered on The Mountain West's digital platform at www.themw.com/watch. There will also be live results on the "Meet Mobile" application which can be downloaded on cell phones and does require a subscription.
 
DUALING DIFFERENT
When Mines hosted Wyoming on Monday, the coaches put together a creative, non-traditional slate of events. Saturday's rundown takes things to a whole new level and should be exciting for swimmers and fans alike with a heavy focus on relays and a twist with some mystery events. It all begins with a three-leg individual medley relay followed by a traditional 500-free. The next three races will be a mystery until just before the gun. Pre-entered swimmers will stand behind the blocks while one of the coaches draws an event. The result could be a sprint specialist racing in the 200-breast. After three mysteries, the 50-free and a 300-IM crescendo relay (50-back, 100-breast, 150-fly) bring the meet into its first break. The middle section starts with the 100-free before two more mystery events. Things roll into the final break off a 300-IM decrescendo relay (150-back, 100-breast, 50-fly). The last two races will be a mystery followed by a 500-free crescendo relay (50, 100, 150, 200). Hopefully that all made sense.
 
REMEMBERING SENIOR DAY
Last weekend's frigid, snowy weather added a twist to Mines' Senior Day festivities. The celebration was originally scheduled in conjunction with the dual against Wyoming on Saturday morning. However, the weather kept the Cowboys and Cowgirls from making it to town on time and forced the dual to be moved to Monday. In the end, the Orediggers still honored their 12 seniors on Saturday morning. Isabella Bono, Sophia Buhr, Jack Engler, Gavin Gilmore, Kerrigan Hemp, Michael Kietzman, Olivia Kisow, Ronan Lauinger, Jaron O'Grady, Andres Saa, Max Waring, and Maggie Wells were all celebrated on the pool deck and then competed in an abbreviated intrasquad meet. The highlights from the intrasquad were Engler's return to racing and a pool record from Luca Burns in the 50-back.
 
WYOMING RECAP
After Saturday's celebration, the Orediggers welcomed Wyoming to the Mines Natatorium for their final home dual of the regular season. In a sprint-heavy meet format, the Oredigger men were neck-and-neck with Wyoming all afternoon, edged 113-90 by the Cowboys, while the Cowgirls took the women's meet 140-60. Mines had a combined five event wins on the day including the men's 400-medley relay, 400-freestyle relay, Vladislav Kazakin in the 200-free, Jakson Winn in the 50-back, and Sophia Buhr in the 200-fly.
 
RISING IN THE RANKINGS
A new batch of national rankings came out on Friday morning. The latest College Swimming and Diving Coaches' Association of America (CSCAA) Division II Top 25 dual meet poll saw Mines' women rise to #18 and the men climb to #23. The women's ranking is their highest of the season so far and the Oredigger men matched their best slot of the academic year. Drury's men and Colorado Mesa's women topped their respective lists. The polls are voted on by a committee consisting of Division II coaches and is 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.
 
POOL RECORD FOR BURNS
During the Senior Day Instrasquad, Luca Burns led off the 200-medley relay and ended up breaking his own pool record in the 50-back. He turned in a split of 22.92 which marked the first 50-back under 23 seconds ever produced in the Mines Natatorium. Burns owned the previous record as well. Now, along with that facility record, the Texan owns the program records in the 50-back, 100-back, 200-back, and as part of the 400-medley relay.
 
RECORD RELAY
At the TYR/CMU Invitational in November, Mines' women absolutely flew in the 400-freestyle relay in the final session on the final day of racing. The Oredigger quartet of Jennifer Pierson, Jordan Tierney, Maggie Wells, and Kylie VanderMeer posted an actual time of 3:28.24 which dropped to 3:27.84 when adjusted for altitude both marks were good enough for the program record book. That performance knocked off the previous record which was set during the 2019-20 season. It marks the first program record of the season for Mines' men or women.
 
NEW MAN ON DECK
Noah Hensley joined the Mines swimming staff over the summer as the second fulltime assistant coach in program history. Hensley brings nearly a decade of experience as a student-athlete and coach at the collegiate level. Most recently, the four-time NCAA All-American was the associate head coach for the men's and women's swimming & diving teams at NCAA Division I Miami University of Ohio. His resume also includes stops at IU Indianapolis (formerly IUPUI) and North Carolina State University where he also competed as a student-athlete. Fans can check out Hensley's full profile HERE.
 
ADDITIONAL ADDITIONS
Head Coach Claire McDaniel enhanced her staff further by hiring assistant coach Jackie Mudd and graduate assistant Colin Fenster. Mudd comes to Mines after competing collegiately at Biola University in California. She's originally from Littleton, Colo., and graduated from Columbine High School. Fenster was a student-athlete at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. That duo, combined with the aforementioned Hensley, join veteran assistant Andy Foley to round out the entire Oredigger staff led by McDaniel.
 
AT THE HELM
Colorado School of Mines Swimming Head Coach Claire McDaniel is in her sixth season at the helm for the Oredigger men and women. McDaniel won her third RMAC Coach of the Year on the men's side after guiding the Orediggers to team silver at the 2023-24 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships. She also owns three RMAC Coach of the Year awards on the women's side. Through five seasons, McDaniel has coached five RMAC Swimmers of the Year, four RMAC Freshmen of the Year, and 25 all-American performances including 21 individual events and four relays.
 
UP NEXT
After Saturday, Mines' men and women look to the postseason. Their next event will be the 2025 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships running Feb. 11-15 and hosted at Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction, Colo. Live results and pay-per-view video on the RMAC Network will be available for every session of the championships.
 
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, "X" and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.