COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) released its 2026-27 Swimming & Diving Preseason Coaches' Polls and All-RMAC Preseason Teams on Thursday afternoon, with Oklahoma Christian junior Vanessa Weatherford sweeping three individual spots on the women's preseason squad.
Both the Oklahoma Christian men's and women's programs were picked to finish fourth in their respective RMAC Preseason Coaches' Polls.
Vanessa Weatherford (New Braunfels, Texas) headlines the Eagles' preseason recognition after securing top-returnee honors across three separate events on the 2026-27 Preseason All-RMAC Team:
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50-Yard Freestyle
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100-Yard Freestyle
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100-Yard Butterfly
The Preseason All-RMAC team recognizes the conference's top returning individual finishers from the 2026 RMAC Championship meet. Weatherford, coming off First Team All-RMAC selections last spring, enters the 2026-27 campaign as the premier sprint specialist in the conference.
Preseason Coaches' Polls
Women's Division
The Lady Eagles collected 43 total points to secure the fourth spot in the nine-team women's poll, comfortably ahead of Western Colorado (36 points), CSU Pueblo (24 points), and Nebraska-Kearney (24 points).
Defending champion Colorado Mesa sat atop the poll with eight first-place votes (64 points), followed by Colorado School of Mines (57 points) and Simon Fraser (50 points).
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Rank
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School
|
Points (1st-Place Votes)
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|
1
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Colorado Mesa
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64 (8)
|
|
2
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Colorado School of Mines
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57 (1)
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|
3
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Simon Fraser
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50
|
|
4
|
Oklahoma Christian
|
43
|
|
5
|
Western Colorado
|
36
|
|
T-6
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CSU Pueblo
|
24
|
|
T-6
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Nebraska-Kearney
|
24
|
|
8
|
UT Permian Basin
|
19
|
|
9
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Adams State
|
7
|
Men's Division
On the men's side, Oklahoma Christian tallied 14 points from the league's head coaches to claim fourth place in the six-team conference, sitting just one point behind third-place Simon Fraser (15 points).
Colorado Mesa was unanimously picked to repeat at the top with five first-place votes (25 points), with Colorado School of Mines in second (21 points). UT Permian Basin (10 points) and Adams State (5 points) rounded out the bottom two.
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Rank
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School
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Points (1st-Place Votes)
|
|
1
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Colorado Mesa
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25 (5)
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|
2
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Colorado School of Mines
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21 (1)
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3
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Simon Fraser
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15
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4
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Oklahoma Christian
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14
|
|
5
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UT Permian Basin
|
10
|
|
6
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Adams State
|
5
|
Up Next
Both OC programs are kicking off the 2026-27 season tonight in Norman, as they build toward the 2027 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships, scheduled for Feb. 9–13 at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colo.
Notes
Some of Oklahoma Christian's RMAC swimming & diving events will be broadcast live via pay-per-view on the RMAC Network. OC students, faculty, and staff can receive discounted annual access by utilizing their institutional .edu email address with the promo code Y27-RMACEDU at checkout.
