The Fort Lewis College men’s and women’s cross-country teams will host a pair of meets at the Hillcrest Golf Club this fall, including the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships on Nov. 5.
Before looking ahead to the buzz of postseason racing, the Skyhawks will focus their attention on the season-opening George Kyte Classic on Sept. 3. The meet will take place at Buffalo Park in Flagstaff, Arizona, and is hosted by Northern Arizona University. Next, the squads will make the short trek to Alamosa for the 29th annual Joe I. Vigil Invitational on Sept. 10 at the Cattails Golf Course.
Fort Lewis will then head to the 12th annual MSU Denver Roadrunners Invite on Sept. 17 at Washington Park in Denver.
Finally, the blue and gold will return home for the Tom Strandt Memorial race at the Hillcrest Golf Club on Oct. 7. It will be a full day of racing with middle school, high school and collegiate programs all competing. The men’s collegiate 8K is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. with the women’s collegiate 5K following at 4:30 p.m.
The group’s final tuneup before championship season will take place Oct. 15 at the Highlander Invitational in Riverside, California.
The Skyhawks will return to Durango after a brief rest to host the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship. Action will take place at Hillcrest with 15 teams racing on both the men’s and women’s sides. It will be a treat to all those in attendance as the RMAC consistently fields some of the top talent in the nation, including the defending national women’s champion from Adams State and nine other men’s and women’s teams that finished in the nation’s top 10 last season.
After the conference meet, qualifying athletes will embark on the hunt for national titles at the NCAA Regionals on Nov. 18 and NCAA DII National Championships on Dec. 3.
Trips to Silver City, New Mexico, and Lubbock, Texas, will mark the beginning of the 2022 season for the Fort Lewis College volleyball team before an onslaught of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matches carry the squad into November and a hopeful run into postseason play.
The Skyhawks finished 6-16 in 2021 while going 6-12 in the RMAC. The team was 5-4 in Whalen Gymnasium with three of the wins coming in five sets.
At the Western New Mexico tournament, Aug. 26-27, the Skyhawks will face the host school, WNMU, the University of Wisconsin Parkside and Cal State East Bay.
The following week, the Skyhawks will flock to Lubbock, Texas, for the Lonestar Tournament and take on Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Lubbock Christian University and Texas Permian Basin to wrap up their nonconference schedule.
Fort Lewis will then play their conference opener at New Mexico Highlands on Sept. 6.
FLC will kick off its home contests on a newly redesigned gym floor Sept. 10 against MSU Denver. The following week will see a rare Tuesday/Friday slate against Western Colorado University and Regis University, Sept 13 and 16.
The blue and gold will then hit the road for four matches across three states, taking on Chadron State College Sept. 23, Colorado School of Mines Sept. 24, Colorado Mesa University Sept. 30 and Westminster College Oct. 1.
The remainder of October will feature four home matches and four road matches, with FLC hosting CSU Pueblo on Oct. 7, UCCS on Oct. 8, Westminster Oct. 21 and Mesa Oct. 22.
FLC will also play at South Dakota Mines Oct. 14, Black Hills State Oct. 15, CCU Oct. 28 and MSU Denver Oct. 28.
FLC then hosts Adams State for a Nov. 4 showdown before its senior night celebration Nov. 5 against NMHU.
The RMAC tournament is set to begin Nov. 10 with the high seeds hosting games.
