M/W Swimming & Diving a the TYR/CMU Invitational – Wednesday-Saturday – Grand Junction, Colo. [Live Results] [RMAC Network]
Wednesday, 6 p.m. Timed Finals
Thursday, 10 a.m. Prelims / 12 p.m. Diving / 5 p.m. Finals
Friday, 10 a.m. Prelims / 12 p.m. Diving / 5 p.m. Finals
Saturday, 10 a.m. Prelims / 4 p.m. Finals
Saturday, 12 p.m. TYR/CMU Diving Invite

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MIDSEASON INVITE
The Colorado School of Mines men's and women's swimming & diving teams are fresh and raring to go after nearly three weeks of training and tapering away from competition. That hard work will be put to use this week as the Orediggers head to the TYR/CMU Invitational hosted by Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction, Colo. It marks Mines' annual midyear event where the men and women chase program records and NCAA-qualifying times, and 2025 is the Orediggers' 14th trip to the invite which has changed names over time. Wednesday evening kicks off four days and nine sessions of swimming and diving competition with an extra diving meet thrown in as well, referred to by some as a swim-and-dive-palooza.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
All four days and nine sessions of competition, along with Saturday's diving invite will stream on the RMAC Network which has various subscription options. There will also be two different options for live results including MeetMobile (subscription required) and free HY-TEK live results linked HERE and above.
 
RMAC NETWORK CHANGES
This fall, the RMAC Network moved to a pay-per-view model for all events. Fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription costs $130. Single-game passes are available for $10, which grants access to a single game for 24 hours. For technical support questions, fans can contact Hudl Support or email the RMAC directly (rmac@rmacsports.org). For further support, fans can visit the RMAC Network Help page.
 
THE FORMAT
This week's TYR/CMU Invitational will be competed and scored in a championship format. Action begins Wednesday night at 6 p.m. with three timed finals in the 200-medley relay, 1000-free, and 800-freestyle relay. The following three days will feature preliminary races in the morning starting at 10 a.m., diving at 12 p.m., and swimming finals in the evening at 5 p.m. The finals for 3-meter diving will also take place in the evening, but 1-meter action will have prelims and finals during the same session. Saturday's finals will go off at 4 p.m. after the completion of the distinctly separate diving dual between Mines and Mesa's men. All relays, the 1000-free, and the 1650-free are timed finals with no prelims.
 
HOW TO SCORE
In order to score for their team, individual swimmers must advance to the evening finals. The top eight from prelims will swim in an "A" final. The next eight will race in a "B" final. Point values from first place to 16th place are 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for individual races. Relays also score 1-16 with values of 40-34-32-30-28-26-24-22-18-14-12-10-8-6-4-2. For diving, individuals will complete 11 dives during prelims. Six of those dives are classified as optional and the other five are voluntary. Without a critical mass of divers, all who complete the 11 dives advance to finals. There, the competitors repeat the six dives classified as optional. Judges scores determine the final placing with points values for team scoring awarded in the same denominations as swimming.
 
RACE SCHEDULE
Wednesday's schedule was already referenced. It features one evening session at 6 p.m. which includes timed finals of the 200-medley relay, 1000-free, and 800-freestyle relay. Thursday's slate features the 500-free, 200-IM, 50-free, and 200-freestyle relay with men's 1-meter (11 dives) diving. Friday brings on the 100-fly, 400-IM, 200-free, 100-breast, 100-back, 400-medley relay, and men's 3-meter (11 dives) action. On the last day of swimming, fans will see the 200-back, 100-free, 200-breast, 200-fly, 1650-free, and 400-freestyle relay. Saturday's diving competition will be a 3-meter event with 11 dives.
 
GUEST LIST
This year's TYR/CMU Invitational is relatively light in attendees. Mines and Colorado Mesa are going head-to-head on the men's side. Northern Arizona (NCAA Division I) is joining the Orediggers and Mavericks in women's action. And that's it. That's the guest list.
 
SEASON UPDATE
Mines informally started its 2025-26 campaign with its annual Alumni Meet during Homecoming Weekend on Oct. 4. A combined men's and women's dual on Oct. 10 at the Mines Natatorium marked the Orediggers' official start to the season. Mines' men and women swept past ASU on Friday and Saturday with the women adding a win over CSU Pueblo in Saturday's tri-meet. The Orediggers also took dual victories off Colorado College on Oct. 24. The men pushed Colorado Mesa to the limit on Oct. 25, but fell, 132-109. Mines' last action was at the University of Wyoming where the men went head-to-head with the Cowboys and the women had a tri-meet with Wyoming and Northern Colorado. To date, the Oredigger men have a 3-2 record in dual meets and the women are 4-2. Also notable was Vladislav Kazakin's RMAC Swimmer of the Week award after his performances against Colorado College and Colorado mesa.
 
PROGRAM RECORDS
The Oct. 24 dual against Colorado College yielded multiple program records for the Orediggers. The first to strike for Mines was Bruno Albertoni in his first-ever collegiate diving event. It was also the first time an Oredigger competed in diving in over a decade. The true freshman hit a stellar sequence in the 1-meter (6 dives) event and posted a score of 320.40. The tally was good enough for first place and toppled the previous program record held by national champion Richard Williamson. The score also met the NCAA qualifying standard. After Albertoni's record, fellow true freshman Mikaela Khan broke out in the 200-fly. She won the event in 2:05.87 and took down teammate Savannah Karas' previous record – both adjusted for altitude and unadjusted. Khan's time also went under the NCAA "B" qualifying standard.
 
FACILITY RECORDS
So far this season, four different Mines Natatorium records have been broken five times. The first pool record to fall was the 500-free at the hands of Vladislav Kazakin. He posted a low 4:40 time on the first official weekend of racing. Then, last Saturday, he broke his own record again after swimming 4:39.48 to win the 500-free against Colorado Mesa. Ava LaBrose did her damage to the record wall last Friday against Colorado College when she took down Mia Wood's natatorium record in the 200-free. LaBrose stopped the clock at 1:53.62. Finally, later on Saturday, Colorado Mesa's men put their name on the pool's 200-breast and 400-IM records.
 
NCAA QUALIFYING
Most Oredigger swim fans know that Mines doesn't collect a majority of its NCAA qualifying times until this week at the TYR/CMU Invitational at Colorado Mesa or at the conference championships. This year is different. In just two weekends of racing, three different women have posted NCAA "B" times and one man touts a NCAA standard as well. Against Colorado College, Anna Bream churned out a "B" cut in the 400-IM. Khan's record-breaking 200-fly was a NCAA time as well. LaBrose rounded out the trio of NCAA qualifying with her 200-free performance. Unlike swimming, meeting the diving qualifying standard can happen almost anytime. That's what happened with Bruno Albertoni in his first two collegiate appearances. His record score against Colorado College and a bronze-medal score against Colorado Mesa both met the 1-meter NCAA standard. He'll now have the chance to go to national qualifying the day before the start of the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships to punch his final ticket to the big meet.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
The second edition of the Division II Top 25 Dual Meet Rankings for 2025-26 was released earlier this month by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches' Association of America (CSCAA). Mines' women remained at #18 and the men received votes after debuting at #24 in October. Drury's men remained #1 while Nova Southeastern's women rose to their top spot. Other RMAC squads on the men's list included #6 Colorado Mesa and #22 Simon Fraser with Oklahoma Christian receiving votes. Conference teams in the women's rankings were #5 Colorado Mesa, #17 Simon Fraser, and #25 Oklahoma Christian. 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.
 
DIVING RETURNS
Earlier this fall, Mines announced the return of men's and women's NCAA Division II diving starting this season. Katherine Andrie will coach and look to regrow the program in the coming years. The history of Mines diving includes 12 all-Americans, an individual national champion, one of the first women in Mines Athletics, and multiple members of the Harry D. Campbell Oredigger Hall of Fame. A few of those hall of fame members include NCAA Division II National Champion Rick Williamson, former head coach Bob McCandless, the 1983 Women's Swimming & Diving team, and the Men's Swimming & Diving teams from 1981-84. That rich history threads perfectly with the current goals of the program and the department.
 
HOW DIVING WORKS
In full disclosure, the author has only recently learned the basics of competitive diving. Fans should note there are numerous nuances beyond what's laid out below. In college diving, there are two basic types of diving competitions – six dive competitions and 11 dive competitions. In those events, divers either perform six dives or 11 dives to collect a total score determined by the judges. The very basic types of dives include forward, back, reverse, inward, and twisting. Those terms refer to how the competitor begins their dive. After determining how the dive starts, there are also somersaults, or rotations. Along with somersaults and rotations, there is the position. The position could be straight, pike, tuck, or free. The later often includes multiple positions. All of those things are announced before the dive through a series of numbers along with a letter to clarify straight, pike, tuck, or free. In six dive competitions, all dives are optional and can be picked by the competitor. In 11 dive formats, there are six optional dives and five voluntary, or designated, dives  Also, everything mentioned above can happen on a one meter board or a three meter board. Mines does not have platform diving. And with that, the author has exhausted his understanding of diving. Good luck.
 
STAFF UPDATES
Mines Head Coach Claire McDaniel bolstered her swimming & diving staff during the offseason. The newcomers include Katherine Andrie, Nate Rock, Brad Shannon, and Graham Walker. Andrie, as previously introduced, will serve as the men's and women's diving coach. Shannon arrives at Colorado School of Mines as McDaniel's top assistant. Rock and Walker both competed as student-athletes for McDaniel at the University of Denver and have since gained coaching experience around the metropolitan area. The quartet joins veteran Oredigger assistants Andy Foley and Colin Fenster.
 
MEET KATHERINE ANDRIE
As referenced above, Coach Andrie will serve as the lead lady for the Mines diving teams. She joins the staff with both an impressive résumé as a diving coach, and a personal familiarity with Colorado School of Mines. Two of her children, Marty and Carlie, attended Mines and competed for the Orediggers. Marty was a nine-time all-American in cross country and track & field and a member of the 2015 Men's Cross Country team which won the NCAA Division II Championship. That team was inducted into the Harry D. Campbell Oredigger Hall of Fame in 2023. Carlie competed in triathlon and for the club water polo team during her time at Mines. On deck, Coach Andrie boasts multiple decades of high school and club coaching experience with stops at numerous high schools in the Denver area including Valor Christian, Littleton, Douglas County, Smoky Hill, and more. She was named East Metro Diving Coach of the Year in 2011 and CHSAA 4A Dive Coach of the Year in 2018.
 
MEET BRAD SHANNON
Shannon arrived in Golden, Colo., over the summer following two years as the head man at William Peace University in North Carolina. He and his staff earned 2024-25 Independent South Swimming Conference Men's Swimming Coaching Staff of the Year after guiding WPU's men to second-place finish at the conference meet while the women took team bronze. The Pacer's 2023-24 squads combined for six gold medals at the ISSC meet and broke nine program records. Prior to William Peace, Shannon was an assistant at the University of Rochester from 2019-23. Additional professional experience includes work as a counselor at both the University of Florida and N.C. State swim camps. Collegiately, Shannon competed at Ohio State University and earned Ohio State and Big Ten Scholar Athlete distinction all four years. He was a USA Swimming Olympic Trial Qualifier in 2016 as well. He owns a bachelor's degree in international studies with a specialization in security and intelligence from OSU. Shannon earned his master's degree from Concordia Chicago in applied exercise science. Fans can read more about Shannon's accomplishments in his online bio.
 
MEET GRAHAM WALKER
Walker joins the Oredigger staff following an elite amateur and collegiate swimming career. Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, Walker represented Team Kenya at both the All-Africa Games and the Commonwealth Games. He went on to compete for the University of Denver under coach McDaniel. His high-level performance in the pool also led to serving as team captain his final two years with the Pioneers. Walker's coach career started while he was still in college, teaching swimming lessons, and continued after graduation. He eventually accepted a formal coaching role with the University of Denver Hilltoppers Swim Club in 2022. Since then, Walker coached multiple state champions and program record holders. He returned to DU as an assistant coach in 2024 and helped oversee conference titles and continued competitive success. Fans can also find his bio online.
 
MEET NATE ROCK
Rock, like Walker, competed collegiately for the Pioneers after graduating from Boulder High School. Rock represented DU from 2017-20, and took on coaching responsibilities in 2021. He scored team points for the Pioneers at the 2019 Summit League Championships, finishing fifth in the 500-free and sixth in the 200-back. He did the same again in 2020 and added a fourth-place finish in the 1650-free. In addition to his coaching experience at DU, Rock also served as the coach at Boulder High School and is in his second year guiding the University of Colorado club swim team. His bio can be found online on the Mines Athletics homepage.
 
AT THE HELM
Colorado School of Mines Swimming Head Coach Claire McDaniel is in her seventh season at the helm for the Oredigger men and women. McDaniel won her fourth RMAC Coach of the Year on the men's side after guiding the Orediggers to team silver at the 2024-25 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships. She also owns three RMAC Coach of the Year awards on the women's side. Through six seasons, McDaniel has coached five RMAC Swimmers of the Year, four RMAC Freshmen of the Year, and 27 all-American performances including 23 individual events and four relays.
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers will take time off over the holidays and return to action in the new year at Denver on Jan. 2. A full preview and live coverage will be available the day before 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, "X" and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.