GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - On the first full day of the 2026 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, Vanessa Weatherford of Oklahoma Christian women's swimming took first place in the 50 yard freestyle.

Weatherford makes it two years in a row the OC women have captured the 50 free conference crown, joining Tammy Weatherford from last season.

After taking the spot following the morning's preliminary swim, the New Braunfels, Texas, native shaved 38 hundredths of a second off her morning time with a championship-winning time of 22.86, which is currently the eighth fastest time in NCAA Division II.

In the same event, Neyali Matos claimed a fourth-place finish, touching at 23.70 after sitting seventh following preliminaries. Weatherford (32) and Matos (26) combined to give the Eagle women 58 points to help them close the first full day in fifth place.

On the men's side, true freshman Cash Strickland placed fifth in the 200 yard IM in his conference championships debut. Strickland bested his prelim time by two tenths of a second for a finishing time of 1:51.45. Noah Rabb shaved 79 hundredths of a second - nearly a whole second - off his prelim swim to to finish eighth in the same event, touching at 1:52.72.

Oklahoma Christian will return to Pomar Natatorium for the second full day of competition at the 2026 RMAC Championships Thursday, Feb. 12 with prelims beginning at 11 a.m. MT / 12 p.m. CT