PREVIEW: Orediggers Set to Swim at Adams State

By: Sam Boender

M/W Swimming: Mines at Adams State – Alamosa, Colo. – Friday, 4 p.m. [RMAC Network]

SEASON OPENER
The 2026-27 season opener has arrived for the Colorado School of Mines males’s and girls’s swimming groups. The Orediggers will begin their new marketing campaign Friday night with a twin at Adams State. Racing begins at 4 p.m. with 10 occasions on the docket. Some non-traditional races within the combine ought to make for a enjoyable night of swimming to begin the season. Mines diving will not open its official slate till Oct. 16.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Friday’s races will not have reside outcomes, however they are going to be streamed on the RMAC Network.
 
RMAC NETWORK
The RMAC Network continues to have a pay-per-view mannequin for all occasions. Fans should buy month-to-month and annual subscriptions that may present them entry to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A month-to-month subscription prices $25, and an annual subscription prices $130. Single-game passes can be found for $12.50, which grants entry to a single recreation for twenty-four hours. For technical help questions, followers can contact Hudl Support or electronic mail the RMAC immediately (rmac@rmacsports.org). For further support, fans can visit the RMAC Network Help page.
 
ORDER OF EVENTS
Friday’s slate contains 10 whole occasions with two relays and eight particular person races. The shorter order additionally has some non-traditional races blended in. Check out the complete rundown under.
– 200-medley relay
– 800-free
– 50-free
– 200-IM
BREAK
– 100-fly
– 100-free
– 100-back
– 300-free
BREAK
– 100-breast
– 500-free crescendo relay
 
PRESEASON RECOGNITION
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) launched its preseason coaches’ polls and all-conference groups Thursday afternoon. Mines’ males have been voted second with one first-place vote and 4 second-place votes totaling 21 factors, simply 4 again of RMAC favourite Colorado Mesa. Additionally, Vladislav Kazakin and Jack Fulham have been named Preseason All-RMAC. Kazakin’s honor was within the 500-free after he received RMAC gold final season. Fulham earned the excellence within the 100-fly. The Oredigger girls have been additionally voted second of their preseason ballot thanks to 1 first-place vote and 7 second-place votes for a complete of 57 factors. Colorado Mesa additionally topped that record with 64 factors. Mines’ Preseason All-Conference honorees on the ladies’s facet have been Mikaela Khan and Anna Bream. Khan was acknowledged for her convention title within the 200-fly. Bream, the defending RMAC Freshman of the Year, grabbed distinction for her gold medals within the 200-IM and 400-IM.
 
STAFF UPDATES
Mines Head Coach Claire McDaniel and her prime assistant Brad Shannon added some contemporary faces to the swimming & diving workers in the course of the offseason. Danny Blevins signed on as the brand new diving coach. He additionally serves as the pinnacle coach of the Mines membership baseball workforce. Rich LeDuc additionally joined the workers as an assistant coach, taking up the position of longtime assistant Andy Foley.
 
THE RETURNERS
Mines’ males have 15 people getting back from final season’s squad. Topping that record are all-Americans Cameron MacMillan, Vladislav Kazakin, and Brenden Cook. Additionally, the boys’s senior class contains Kevin Burns, Lucas Hoke, and Joseph Lev-Tov. The different 9 Oredigger veterans on the boys’s workforce are Bruno Albertoni, Evan Angeline, Fausto Angelone Lopez, Dan Berke, Jack Fulham, Nathan Moss, Jackson Steider, Lucas Waasdorp, and Reid Wilkerson. Mines’ girls tout 14 returners on the roster. Ava LaBrose, Jennifer Pierson, Michelle Murphy, Anna Bream, Mary Flikkema, Kaya Flaherty, and Mikaela Khan have been all-Americans final season. Julie Gill, who raced on the nationwide meet as nicely, together with Zooecia Phoebus are the senior leaders on the workforce. Rounding out the veteran Oredigger girls are Eden Addison, Willow Coburn, Samantha Crane, Elizabeth Powers, and Abigail Swanson with Coburn representing one other nationwide qualifier from final season.
 
FRESH FACES
In whole, Head Coach Claire McDaniel introduced in 14 newcomers for the 2026-27 season together with 13 true freshmen and one switch. The contemporary faces on the boys’s facet embrace Travis Black, Sebastian Guio, Dylan Heikkila, Zach Marshall, William McCaffery, Tyler Mury, and Gavin Richmond. Gherman Prudnikau, a graduate of Grandview High School, transferred again residence from Ohio State as nicely. The girls’s freshmen class options Aly Cutforth, Monica DiGaetani, Liv Doruk-Olsen, Lizzie Landuyt, Kaitlyn LaTendresse, and Zoe McGee.
 
AT THE HELM
Colorado School of Mines Swimming Head Coach Claire McDaniel enters her eighth season on the helm for the Oredigger women and men. During her time on deck for the Orediggers, McDaniel has received RMAC Coach of the Year 4 instances on the boys’s facet (2021, 2022, 2024, 2025) and 3 times on the ladies’s facet (2021, 2022, 2023). She coached the RMAC Women’s Swimmer of the Year in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. She additionally coached the RMAC Women’s Freshman of the Year in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2026. Overall, McDaniel has helped Mines ship a complete of 41 swimmers and 15 relays to the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships with one diver advancing to the NCAA qualifier. Those picks have resulted in a complete of 40 all-American finishes. Furthermore, McDaniel’s girls maintain all however one program swimming document (22 of 23) together with 10 facility information. Her males maintain 20 of 23 program information together with each relay mark together with 13 facility information. McDaniel’s groups have additionally succeeded within the classroom as confirmed by 19 College Sports Communicators (previously CoSIDA) Academic All-Americans. Her males’s groups in 2020-21, 2022-23, and 2023-24 additionally received the RMAC Brechler Award because the workforce boasting the very best mixed GPA within the convention.
 
UP NEXT
Mines will host its annual Alumni Meet on Saturday, Oct. 3, as a part of Homecoming Weekend. After that, the boys host Colorado Mesa on Friday, Oct. 16, earlier than the women and men journey to Pueblo, Colo., for motion in opposition to Adams State and CSU Pueblo on Saturday, Oct. 17.
 
Fans can sustain with Mines swimming on “X” (previously Twitter), Facebook and Instagram at @MinesSwimming. They also can sustain with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all 12 months lengthy on Facebook, “X” and Instagram utilizing the deal with @MinesAthletics.