COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) released the 2020-21 RMAC Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving Preseason Coaches' Poll on Thursday with the Adams State University men picked to finish fifth in the conference and the women picked to finish in seventh.
The coaches' poll was voted on by all five head coaches. Coaches could not vote for their own institution. The Preseason Swimmers to Watch were selected by each institution.
On the men's side, the Grizzlies were selected fifth with four total points. Colorado Mesa, the back-to-back RMAC Champions have been selected to repeat once again as the favorite. The Mavericks received all first-place votes for a tally of 16 points. They have won three of the last four RMAC Titles bringing their program total to four.
Colorado School of Mines earned a first-place vote and was picked to finish second with 13 points. Oklahoma Christian and Oklahoma Baptist were picked to finish third and fourth with nine and eight points, respectively.
The men to watch for the Grizzlies are sophomore
Gilbert Benton and sophomore
Justin Sandoval. Both were top 16 finalists in all their events and members of top six teams at the 2020 RMAC Championship meet. Benton specializes in the 100-yard Brest and the 400 IM. Sandoval is a specialist in the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200 fly and 500-yard freestyle.
On the women's side, Adams State picked up 12 points in the poll.
Colorado Mesa, the two-time defending RMAC Champions has been selected to repeat as champions, receiving 49 points with seven first-place votes. Last year, the Mavericks broke the championship record recording 1,171.5 points in the RMAC meet.
Colorado School of Mines has been tabbed to finish second with 42 points with one first-place votes. The Orediggers finished second last year after having a 199-point improvement from the 2018-19 RMAC Championships.
Oklahoma Christian looks to continue their success from last season as they have been selected third with 33 points. At last year's RMAC Championships the Eagles finished fourth, marking their best Conference Championship finish and bested instate rival Oklahoma Baptist for the first time at any swimming meet.
Oklahoma Baptist enters the season ranked fourth in the coaches poll receiving 30 points while CSU Pueblo rounds out the top-five with 25 points.
Sophomore
Davin Ruggles and senior
Megan Dudden are the women to watch for Adams State. Dudden was a Top-8 finalist in the 200-yard breaststroke last year and has been a top 16 finisher in all her races from 2017-2020. Ruggles had a stellar freshman season last year where she finished in the top eight in relay events and was a finalist in the 200 free last season.
The women's swimming team traveled to Pueblo where they competed in a season-opening Tri Meet with CSU-Pueblo and Western Colorado University this past weekend. The Grizzlies fell in both of their duals. The host ThunderWolves defeated the Grizzlies 167-97 while the Mountaineers defeated the Grizzlies 189-64.
Adams State's men and women will be back in action on Nov. 19-21 when they travel to Grand Junction for the A3 Performance Invitational. The men will make their season debut during the event.
