The RMAC Swimming and Diving Championships came to a close Saturday night in Grand Junction, Colo. The Lindenwood men ended the event with 690 points, good for second, while the women finished at 692.5, also in second.

On the men's side, Colorado-Mesa edged out Lindenwood by 25 points to take the RMAC title. For the women, California Baptist maintained a steady lead the last three days of the championship to outlast Lindenwood.

After the meet concluded, the RMAC handed out its annual individual awards. Alecia McGillivray was honored with not only the women's swimmer of the meet, but earned conference Swimmer of the Year. Cristian Vasquez earned the RMAC Men's Freshman of the Year, while Coach Jason Owen was named co-recepient of the RMAC Men's Coach of the Year.

Day One
The women dominated the 1000 free to kick off the finals on day one. McGillivray won the event with a time of 10:08.67. Kyleigh Troxel placed second, less than two seconds behind McGillivray. Lena Kirchner finished fourth. By placing first and second, McGillivray and Troxel are honored with first team All-Conference, while Kirchner is on second team.

Sylwester Borowicz Skoneczny placed third in the men's 1000 free with a time of 9:25.75, earning second team All-Conference. Felix Eigel finished in second place in the 200 IM, earning first team honors. Erin Sutton and Ewa Dymarek finished less than a second a part to place second and fourth, respectively, in the women's 200 IM.

In the men's 50 free, Serghei Golban won after finishing with a time of 19.67 seconds. Michal Szczukowski placed fourth and earned second team honors with a time of 20.56 seconds. The Lindenwood men also won the 200 medley relay after Kryszstof Jankiewicz, Mateusz Pacholczyk, Golban, and Szczukowski finished with a time of 1:26.80.

In the women's 3m dive, Carleen Wayne finished with 397.40, which was good for a second place finish.

After the first day, Colorado-Mesa was sitting at 162 points and in second place. California Baptist was at 159, while Colorado-Mines was at 102 and Adams State had one. The Lindenwood women were sitting in second with 232 points, with California Baptist in the lead.

Day Two
Beginning the second day with the lead, the men won the 200 free relay. Golban, Szczukowski, Jared Thornton, and Thomas Bernard edged out California Baptist finishing with a time of 1:21.43. The 400 IM was a success, too, as Vasquez placed second to be first team All-Conference and Eigel finished fourth to be named to the second team.

The women also won the 200 free relay, as Kinga Lesinka, Bethany Steffes, Kate Stauffer, and Niki Dahl finished with a time of 1:33.99. McGillivray and Sutton raced well again on day two as they finished first and fourth, respectively, in the 400 IM.

Golban went on to win the 100 fly with a time of 47.01, while Jankiewicz placed fourth by .08 seconds. In the 200 free, Gustavo Silva Santa earned second team honors when he placed third with a time 1:41.15.

The women went on to place second in the 400 medley relay, while the men set a new RMAC record after finishing with a time of 3:12.20, just one second from the NCAA standard. The men also placed second in the event.

David Cochran inched into second team honors as he placed fourth in the 1m dive with a final score of 413.70.

After the second day, the men increased their lead by totaling 434 points with Colorado-Mesa at 398 and California Baptist 392. The women were only 6.5 points out of first as they had 417.5 with California Baptist sitting at 424.

Day Three
McGillivray kept up her torrid pace at the RMAC Championships as she kicked off day three by setting a new conference record in the 500 free by finishing with a time of 4:56.13, edging out opponent by .61 ticks. Kyleigh Troxel, who had already earned All-Conference honors on the first day, placed third while Hannah Vinyard earned second team recognition after placing fourth in the event. In the men's event, Borowicz Skoneczny and Eigel finished third and fourth, respectively, adding to the accolades they have already earned in the conference meet.

In the men's 100 back, Jankiewicz lost out by .07 seconds and placed second. In the women's 100 breast, three swimmers set a new RMAC record including Dymarek, but she finished second overall. For the men, Pacholczyk timed out at 54.44 seconds to win the even by a second and a half. Joey Martin earned second team All-Conference by finishing third with a time of 56.58.

Vinyard increased her status to first team when she set a new pool record in the 200 fly with a time of 2:02.93. Kian Quigley took fourth in the men's event to earn second team All-Conference.

In the women's 1m dive, Wayne finished third behind two California Baptist divers with a 414.10 final score.

For the 800 free relay, the women's team consisting of McGillivray, Steffes, Vinyard, and Morgan Fischer finished less than three seconds behind California Baptist to place second in the event.

Through three days, the men still hold a narrow lead with 662 points. California Baptist is sitting at 647, while Colorado-Mesa has totaled 643. For the women, Lindenwood still sits in second at 728.5 with California Baptist leading at 765.

Day Four
The day begin with a pair of finishers for Lindenwood in the women's 1650 free. Troxel placed first, while Kirchner finished fourth in the event. Steffes placed in another event, this time the 100 free as she finished third. Golban won the men's 100 free with a time of 44.07 seconds.

McGillivrary continued her great conference meet with a second place finish in the 200 back, while Elise Defabio earned second team All-Conference with a fourth place finish. Jankiewicz placed third in the men's event.

In the women's 200 breast, Dymarek finished at 2:20.44, good for third place. Pacholczyk won the men's 200 breast with a time of 1:59.20.

Lesinka, Steffes, McGillivray, and Stauffer won the women's 400 free relay with a time of 3:27.07.

In the men's 3m dive, Schyler Hohenberger placed second, earning first team honors. Cochran finished fourth in the event.

After a successful conference meet, the diving team will compete in the NCAA Division II pre-qualification meet on March 8th in Indianapolis, Ind. March 9th through the 12th will be National Championships, also in Indianapolis.