The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference announced the results of its cross-country preseason polls Tuesday, and the teams at the top are there for good reason.
Women’s defending national champion Adams State University and men’s 2015 champions Colorado Mines are favored to win the RMAC once again.
The Fort Lewis College women’s team was selected sixth, and the Skyhawks men’s cross country team was picked 11th.
The Grizzlies women got 194 points and 12 first place votes. Western State’s 184 points place them second and Colorado Mines’ 162 is third.
The Fort Lewis women’s team received 127 points. The Skyhawks finished fourth at the 2015 RMAC women’s cross country championship meet and will have eight runners returning from last year’s roster.
The Skyhawks men’s team also has eight returning runners and received 70 points in their poll, with defending NCAA men’s cross country champions, Colorado Mines, picked to repeat as league champions. The Orediggers racked up 191 points and Adams State (187) is a close second.
Western State Colorado is picked to finish third and will have Durango High School graduates and 2015 state champions Jordan Helms, David Moenning and Nicholas Turco on their roster.
Adams State University’s Sydney Gidabuday was named the Men’s Preseason Runner of the Year, and Georgia Porter of Western State earned the RMAC Women’s Preseason Runner of the Year.
Gibabuday was the Freshman of the Year and an All-RMAC selection in 2015. He finished sixth overall in the 10K at the NCAA Division II National Championships and led the Grizzlies to their second consecutive RMAC title.
As a junior last season, Porter finished second in the RMAC Championship 6K and second at the NCAA Division II South Central Regional. She finished fifth at nationals in the 6K and is also coming off a First Team All-RMAC season.
Fort Lewis, led by fifth-year head coach Mark Dutro, will open its season Sept. 10 at the Adams State Joe Vigil Open in Alamosa.
The Skyhawks are loaded with freshmen talent with six new faces on both the men’s and women’s team. FLC has only three seniors on the men’s side in Ryan Mott, Garrett Sapakoff and William Scoggins. The FLC women are without a senior and feature juniors Chloe Boehlke, Emily Bryant, Erin Renner and Emily White.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
