By: Cody Bush, Associate Commissioner / Strategic Communications
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Colorado Mesa University senior Ada Qunell is the 2025-26 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Academic Player of the Year, leading a 19-member First Team Academic All-RMAC Team as selected by the league’s athletic communication directors.
Qunell is one of nine returning First Team Academic All-RMAC selections and one of five who are a three-time first team honoree. She entered the swimming & diving season with a 3.88 grade-point average as an exercise science major at Colorado Mesa.
She collected five gold medals during the 2026 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships, winning the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events and earning medals as part of the Mavericks’ 400- and 800-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relay teams. She went on to garner First Team All-American status four times at the 2026 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships, highlighted by a silver medal as a member of the 800-yard freestyle relay team.
In addition, the RMAC recognized 71 student-athletes, including the First-Team Academic All-RMAC honorees, on its 2025-26 Women’s Swimming & Diving Academic Honor Roll.
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Academic Honor Roll recognizes student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport who academically maintain at least a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average, have completed two consecutive semesters at their current institution, and have used a season of competition.
Each institution’s athletic communications directors nominate student-athletes who academically maintain at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average, along with the other criteria for the Academic Honor Roll, for recognition on the First Team Academic All-RMAC in each sport. The league’s athletic communications directors for that sport vote to compose the First Team Academic All-RMAC and select the Academic Player of the Year. They are not permitted to vote for their own student-athletes.
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2025-26 Women’s Swimming & Diving
First Team Academic All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
|
| (as selected by RMAC athletics communications directors) |
| Student-Athlete |
School |
Class |
GPA |
Major |
Hometown |
| Ada Qunell (1, 3x) |
Colorado Mesa |
Sr. |
3.88 |
Chemistry |
Whitefish, Mont. |
| Kiara Borchardt (1, 3x) |
Colorado Mesa |
Sr. |
3.82 |
Exercise Science |
Eagle River, Alaska |
| Olivia Dannhaus |
CSU Pueblo |
Jr. |
3.93 |
Accounting |
Sheridan, Wyo. |
| Aleksandra Dutkowiak |
CSU Pueblo |
Sr. |
3.96 |
Economics |
Wroclaw, Poland |
| Ella Fries |
Western Colorado |
Sr. |
3.96 |
Exercise & Sports Science |
Lees Summit, Mo. |
| Olivia Hansson (1, 3x) |
Colorado Mesa |
Sr. |
3.70 |
Mathematics |
Kivik, Sweden |
| Reagan Horn |
Colorado Mesa |
So. |
4.00 |
Business Administration |
Littleton, Colo. |
| Jenna Hurley |
Colorado Mesa |
Jr. |
3.68 |
Exercise Science |
Southlake, Texas |
| Antonia Leese |
Colorado Mesa |
Jr. |
3.55 |
Psychology |
Round Rock, Texas |
| Mimi Licht (1) |
Colorado Mesa |
Sr. |
3.64 |
Business Administration |
Fairfield, Conn. |
| Rowan McWhorter |
UT Permian Basin |
So. |
4.00 |
Human Performance |
Houston, Texas |
| Kenya Meyer (1, 3x) |
Colorado Mesa |
Sr. |
3.87 |
Exercise Science |
Bozeman, Mt. |
| Morgan Nielsen (1) |
Western Colorado |
Jr. |
3.85 |
Biology |
Colorado Springs, Colo. |
| Alondra Ortiz |
UT Permian Basin |
So. |
3.97 |
Finance |
Chihuahua, Mexico |
| Jennifer Pierson |
Colorado School of Mines |
So. |
3.94 |
Quantitative Biosciences & Engineering |
Chaska, Minn. |
| Hanna Sasivarevic (1) |
Colorado Mesa |
Jr. |
3.82 |
Psychology |
Sandy, Utah |
| Jordan Tierney (1, 3x) |
Colorado School of Mines |
Sr. |
3.77 |
Computational & Applied Mathematics |
Middletown, Del. |
| Kylie VanderMeer (1) |
Colorado School of Mines |
Sr. |
3.99
4.00 |
B.S. Environmental Engineering
Environmental & Water Engineering |
Spicewood, Texas |
| Maggie Waddington |
Nebraska-Kearney |
Sr. |
3.93 |
Studio art |
Norfolk, Neb. |
| Gold background indicates RMAC Academic Player of the Year. A (1) indicates the student-athlete was a 2024-25 First Team Academic All-RMAC honoree, and a 3x indicates the student-athlete is a three-time First Team Academic All-RMAC selection. |
About the RMAC
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, headquartered in Colorado Springs, is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 institutions located in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Utah. The RMAC currently competes in 22 NCAA Division II sports and has earned 71 national championships and 53 national runners-up since 1992. Founded in 1909, the RMAC is the most historic athletic conference in the western United States and Division II.
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