by Matt Kennedy
Both the men’s and women’s cross country team competed at the RMAC Championships Saturday at Black Hills State in Spearfish, S.D.
The Men placed sixth over the weekend lead by Senior Danny Vavrik, who made the Second-Team All-Conference with a time of 26:16.
Vavrik earned All-RMAC First Team honors last year by placing 11 in the Conference Championships. He earned the same honor in 2014 when he placed 10 at the same event.
Blake Graf also finished 43 with a time just over 27 minutes which is a solid follow up performance from his 26 place finish last year when he earned All-RMAC Second Team honors.
Senior Seth Knighton finished 45 with a time of 27:13 and right behind him was Zak Kennison who came in 48.
The men performed very well throughout the year always finishing within the top percentage of all teams. They were coming off a solid outing in Fort Hays, Kan. a couple weeks ago at the Tiger Open as they came only a couple points short of finishing fourth.
Colorado Mines, the defending national champs, won their first conference title this past weekend, Adams State was the runner up as CSU-Pueblo came in third. The men for Colorado Mesa overcame Black Hills State in the tiebreaker to come in sixth.
The women represented very well over the weekend when senior Alexia Chapman earned her first All-RMAC first team honors when she came in 11 running a time of 23:11. Last year, Chapman made the RMAC Honor-Roll as well as the Academic Honor Roll.
Fellow teammates, Reanna Jereb and Lauren Lipski crossed the line within the 24-minute mark followed by freshman Maya Wilson as she came in 75 and finished in 26:06.
The Lady Mavs also end their conference play with a positive note especially following superb outings in both the Mountaineer Invite and the Roy Griak Invitational.
Adams State won the conference title for the fifth year in a row with Western State coming in second and CSU Pueblo in third. Colorado Mesa finished in eighth.
The Mavericks will head to Denver in two weeks to compete in the NCAA South Regional Championships on Nov. 4.
