How does one sum all of the 27 varsity sports’ seasons in one article? Well…we will try our best.

Four Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference team Championships, four individual national championships and plenty of wins to make Colorado Mesa University one of the best Division II schools in the country.

The boys of fall

Coming into the fall of 2017, CMU was given high expectations for almost every varsity sport that competes on the NCAA Div. II level. One of the programs with some of the highest expectations was the football team. The back-to-back conference champions were trying to elevate themselves as one of the best teams in the country.

CMU football has a winning history and this season was no different. The Mavericks came into the season with high expectations in which would stick with them for the whole season. CMU would lose their first game of the season to CSU-Pueblo, who they ended up sharing the RMAC title with. Head coach Russ Martin lead his team to a 9-2 season record as well as the best offense in the entire RMAC.

The Mavericks put up 5382 yards of total offense, which lead the conference, as well as 46.4 points per game which was one of the best in the country.

CMU scored 70 touchdowns and the next closest team in the RMAC was CSU-Pueblo with 56.

Sadly enough, the Mavericks’ season came to an end with a loss in the last game of the regular season against Azusa Pacific University. The Cougars ended any hopes of a playoff run the Mavericks carried.

CSU-Pueblo ended up taking CMU’s spot in the NCAA Div. II Tournament.

A new era in CMU basketball

Both basketball programs at CMU will be experiencing some changes in this offseason. The men’s team will be looking for a new head coach after former Head coach Andy Shantz resigned from his position in which will become effective this summer. The women’s program will be losing a significant number of seniors but after a 19-10 season, it appears the only direction for the women to go is up.

The CMU men’s basketball season can be summed up as a rebuilding season. After possessing only one senior on the team and the rest of the team being dominated by underclassmen, the Mavericks did manage to improve their record from last season. CMU went 11-17 this past winter and now the program can keep their momentum going into the next season, hopefully with a qualified head coach behind the wheel.

CMU women’s basketball team managed to make it to the RMAC Tournament before losing first round. Head coach Taylor Wagner led his team to another winning season by ending the year one win short of 20.

Players like Erin Reichle and Ma’ata Epinisa will no longer be on the court for the Mavericks as the two seniors, who were considered two of the most dynamic players on the roster, will be graduating. However, Jaylyn Duran still has one more year left of eligibility and CMU has a plethora of young talent who will look to step up to fill the empty holes from this past season.

Diving is here to stay

CMU swim and dive had another highly successful season as the women’s swim team came points within an RMAC title, but had to settle for second in one of the most memorable RMAC Championships in history.

On the diving board, history was made plenty of times over as Ammar Hassan came all the way from Egypt and took the diving world by storm. Hassan came in and won two RMAC championships in his very first meet. He would then go on to nationals and make history all over again by sweeping the NCAA Div. II Nationals by winning the three-meter and the one-meter diving.

Head diving coach Logan Pearsall won CSCAA”s Men’s Diving Coach of the Year award. Fellow Maverick divers, Sage D’Ambrosia finished his CMU career by taking home eight career All American Honors and winning RMAC Diver of the Year. Sophomore Noah McComber finished second in overall points at nationals as well.

On the women’s side, RMAC Champion Brittany Dixon and Kelsey Vreeman both finished within the top eight at the national championship meet.

Spring reigns supreme

Spring sports at CMU always tend to be a special time of the year, and in 2018 it was no different. Every sport from baseball to lacrosse made their mark in which ended in RMAC titles in three different sports and potential national titles as the season’s wrap up.

Baseball, after coming off of their World Series appearance last summer, the Mavericks reloaded and fired away right at another RMAC Regular Season Championship. The men on the team reminded everybody else in the NCAA Div. II baseball world why CMU is a prominent spot for high-quality baseball.

Head coach Chris Hanks is in the middle of his 20th season as head coach of the Mavericks and is coming off a 50-win season from last spring. Hanks also won his seventh consecutive RMAC title this past weekend and his 12th in the last 14 seasons.

Both men’s and women’s lacrosse had significantly successful seasons themselves. Women’s lacrosse finished third in the RMAC regular season standings but recently lost to Regis in the RMAC Tournament.

The men’s team recently won their third consecutive RMAC Championship after being in the conference for only three years.

The men ended their regular season with a 15-2 record and do not seem to be missing a step the last two seasons.  CMU leads the RMAC in points per game and assists per game while being in the top three for every other scoring category.

Above all else

Possibly the best season out of any CMU sporting program in the history of the school…and the season is not even over yet.

CMU softball was on top of the NCAA Div. II world as the best-ranked team in the country for seven straight weeks after starting the year 37-0. The women have made history time and time again and are now looking to add a national championship to their resume.

Players like Brooke Hodgson continue to be the best in the country while CMU pitchers McKenzie Surface and Kimbri Herring have both thrown no-hitters this season.

Head coach Ben Garcia keeps a sense of humility in the CMU bullpen even though CMU continues to win like it is an addiction.

The Mavericks won both the RMAC regular season and tournament title and will now look towards the regional playoffs.