2024 RMAC XC Championships First Thoughts: Adams State Women & Colorado Mines Men Dominate

Each and every year, the RMAC XC Championships are a crucial meet for D2 cross country fans to monitor. It is, after all, the most competitive D2 distance running conference in the nation...and there's not much of an argument.

As such, we needed to review the latest clash of aerobic titans in attempt to figure out what insights we can pull as we dive deeper into the postseason. Let's break down the top-six teams in both the men's and women's fields...

Men's Analysis

1. Colorado Mines Orediggers (24 points)

It’s admittedly hard to be too surprised by this result. The Colorado Mines men were expected to dominate this race even on Saturday. And sure enough, they did just that, putting five runners in the top-nine. Not only that, but they did so without Ethan Grolnic, the 3rd place finisher at the Lewis XC Crossover, or Jeremiah Vaille, the 7th place finisher from that same meet.

Loic Scomparin, Paul Knight and Logan Bocovich went 2-3-4 in the overall results, further validating their positions as top-half All-American favorites. However, maybe the biggest and most important result of the meet was seeing veteran Matt Mettler drop a fantastic 6th place result! That’s a big-time development for a team that, after this weekend, may have five realistic All-American contenders.

With Bonenberger closing out the scoring in 9th place, the overwhelming depth and firepower of this group proved to be too overwhelming for an Adams State team that also ran very well relative to expectations.

The Wingate men are still very much the favorites for the D2 national title this fall, but the Orediggers are rounding into form at the perfect time – and they haven’t even shown all of their cards (together) yet.

2. Adams State Grizzlies (45 points)

If I’m the Adams State men, then I am very happy about how Saturday’s race went.

After losing a handful of top names from last year’s team, the depth and scoring reinforcements behind Romain Legendre seemed limited. Or, at the very least, we knew very little about the talent that would fill out the rest of the Grizzlies’ top-five.

However, on Saturday, we learned far more about this Adams State squad and left the meet feeling extremely encouraged. A team that once seemed to be non-factors in the podium race this fall have suddenly reentered that conversation.

Legendre’s win over a top-tier name like Loic Scomparin was great to see, but it was also unsurprising. However, the efforts that we saw from Juan Rosales (7th) and Kidus Begashaw (8th) gave this team more upfront firepower than we thought they had.

Although the Grizzlies were unable to keep pace with the unreal scoring potency of Colorado Mines, they did have Housem Hrabi (11th) give his team a complete top-four. Sure, Adams State weren’t going to beat the Orediggers, but they certainly forced the men from Golden, Colorado to work for their title win…even if ‘Mines did win by over 20 points.

Yes, there was a bit of a drop-off to Adams State’s fifth and final runner, Nathan Scherbarth (18th), but that was still a fairly decent result. For a team that we weren’t all that high on, the overall scoring value in this lineup was far better than we could have expected. Putting their top-five men in the top-20 portion of this race feels like a great momentum booster going into the rest of the postseason.

3. Western Colorado Mountaineers (100 points)

It would be unfair and maybe even wrong to suggest that the Western Colorado men ran poorly on Saturday…but they didn’t necessarily run well, either.

Oliver Diaz (13th) continues to be a sneaky-good name despite his youth. His future seems very bright. However, low-stick ace Tyler Nord (16th) clearly had an “off” day and it feels like we could have asked for John Houdeshell (19th) to be just a couple of spots higher as well. It also didn’t help that 2023 All-American Kyle Partin fell outside of the top-30 and was not a scorer for the Mountaineers.

There are still some positives to take away from this race. Even with Western Colorado having a C+ or B- performance, they still secured 3rd place over a small handful of great teams. The depth on this team also seems to be extensive as they had five runners finish between 25th place and 36th place.

From a stability standpoint, that gives me some comfort about the floor of this squad going into the rest of the postseason.

4. UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions (114 points)

All things considered, I think UC-Colorado Springs had a very nice outing at the RMAC XC Championships. They were only 14 points behind a very respectable Western Colorado squad and they took down a CSU-Pueblo team that some of us at The Stride Report really like(d).

Jagger Zlotoff (5th) continues to be one of the more underrated three-season talents in Division Two, giving his team an excellent burst of low-stick scoring potency. Behind him, Brett Davis (12th) offered a very strong complementary effort, effectively giving the Mountain Lions two lead scorers.

Yes, there was a drop-off to their latter three scorers – Enzo Knapp (29th), Jonathan Impellitter (35th) and Koy Cunningham (37th) – but those men weren't too far off from what we were expecting out of them. The top-heaviness of this lineup proved to be the difference maker as long as UCCS’ final three scorers simply held their own. And for the most part, I like to think that they did.

5. CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves (147 points)

Well, it certainly wasn’t the best day for CSU-Pueblo, a team that, in an ideal scenario, was capable of placing as high as 3rd in this race.

Matissa Virey (10th) had a great day, offering strong scoring potency and a clear low-stick for the ThunderWolves to lean on. But after him? Well, it just wasn’t pretty.

No other CSU-Pueblo runner cracked the top-25 in this race and their final two scorers faded to 40th place and 51st place. There is, however, a catch: Reece Sharman-Newell did not run on Saturday.

At his best, Sharman-Newell is a low-stick for this team who would have cut off a considerable amount of points for the ThunderWolves. And if that had happened, then you’re looking at a scenario where CSU-Pueblo finishes in 4th place and comes within striking distance of Western Colorado.

We’re also under the impression that Kaleb Beloy (31st) is capable of a better result in the future. So while this may not have been the performance that we wanted to see out of CSU-Pueblo, there is still plenty of room for further growth.

6. Fort Lewis Skyhawks (168 points)

Truthfully, the Fort Lewis men have fallen a bit short of our preseason expectations for them...so far. While they are certainly a team that deserves respect as a top-20 or top-25 squad in the country, there are certain areas of their lineup that simply don’t have the same scoring punch that we were projecting.

Elijah Smith (17th) and Caden Resendez (20th) gave the Skyhawks a few positives this past weekend. While they weren’t necessarily low-stick standouts, their performances did hold strong value relative to where their team finished. You could potentially argue the same thing about Cebastian Marquez (32nd).

However, with no other men cracking the top-50, there wasn’t nearly enough upfront scoring to counter that drop-off or enough to counter the low-stick efforts from other teams. Even so, there is no shame in losing to the programs that Fort Lewis did. And generally speaking, it does feel like this squad has made some improvements from last year.

Women's Analysis

1. Adams State Grizzlies (30 points)

No surprises here. The Adams State women easily cruised to the win at the RMAC XC Championships this past weekend. Their combination of firepower and depth was simply far too strong for any other team in this field to come close to matching.

Ava O'Connor proved that she's truly an elite cross country runner this fall with a huge victory. Meanwhile, teammates Tristian Spence, Elena Carey, Precious Robinson and Emily Schoellkopf went 4-6-8-11, respectively, to close out the scoring. Not only that, but Morgan O'Keefe (12th) and Katie Hughes (15th) offered strong backend insurance as well.

Did we learn anything new about this Adams State team? No, not really. However, the Grizzlies cruised to a dominant win over a very good field without Vienna Lahner. As expected, this year's heavy national title favorites look like...well, heavy national title favorites.

2. CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves (88 points)

Seeing the CSU-Pueblo women finish runner-up at the RMAC XC Championships feels like a very validating result. Their outing at the Chile Pepper XC Festival was quietly impressive, but it felt like we needed to see them in a more D2-centric field to truly understand how good they were.

Sure enough, Saturday was the perfect opportunity to learn exactly that.

Helen Braybrook (9th) ran well, delivering on her responsibilities as the team's top low-stick. However, what really impressed me was Margot Thomas-Gatel, Leah Keisler and Jadyn Herron packing together to provide very solid scoring value for the ThunderWolves. That middle-lineup trio went 16-17-18, respectively, to give CSU-Pueblo four women in the top-20.

There was, admittedly, a bit of a drop-off after those four women, although Sarah Renberg (29th) still held her own. That backend gap will need to be tightened on the national stage if the ThunderWolves want to get on the podium, but as of right now, it feels like Coach Matt Morris' group is balanced enough to make that happen.

3. UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions (95 points)

On one hand, the UC-Colorado Springs were probably capable of finishing runner-up in the team standings on Saturday. But on the other hand, it feels like there's still room for the Mountain Lions to improve and at least match CSU-Pueblo on the national stage.

Anna Fauske (3rd) was unsurprisingly great, giving her team a lethal low-stick result that we fully expected her to provide. The main challenge, however, is that Kate Hedlund (19th) simply had an "off" day. While finishing in the top-20 at the RMAC XC Championships is hardly a poor result, this is the same woman who placed 13th at the Louisville XC Classic earlier this season!

In other words, the Mountain Lion veteran is capable of being a far more potent low-stick than what she showed us on Saturday. If she had run up to her full potential, then UCCS likely would have toppled CSU-Pueblo for silver.

Thankfully, the backend scoring efforts of this team were quietly strong. Madison Brosig, Molly Breuer and Kaya Pillivant went 21-26-28, respectively, to close out the team's top-five. And while they didn't make any major headlines, they did stabilize this lineup and keep UCCS in the hunt to potentially defeat a future podium contender in CSU-Pueblo.

4. Western Colorado Mountaineers (100 points)

It seems as though Allison Beasley, the team's focal veteran star, won't be competing this fall as she has still yet to race. She's also listed as "RS/Una" on TFRRS. However, in the long run, that may make the most sense if she returns next year when the rest of the returning Mountaineers are another year older.

Thankfully, Western Colorado was able to remain fairly competitive on Saturday as Peyton Weiss (2nd) had a huge performance. That low-stick result felt like a statement race. And when paired with Leah Taylor (7th), the overall firepower of this squad was still excellent.

We also loved what we saw from Lauren Willson (14th), someone who offered very strong value at the third spot of this lineup. Keep an eye on her, she also finished 17th at the Chile Pepper XC Festival earlier this year.

But for as much as we loved the top-heaviness of this lineup, it was the harsh drop-off to the team's final two scorers (38th and 41st) which left them on the fringes of a top-three finish.

That being said, keep in mind that Gretchen Slattum (43rd) and Emma Kjellsen (46th) did not have their best races. Those two women are likely capable of more, especially the former. And when they're firing on all cylinders, they could have cut off a healthy amount of points from WCU's team score on Saturday.

For a team that doesn't have Allison Beasley, I actually thought that the Mountaineers held their own.

5. Fort Lewis Skyhawks (129 points)

Hannah Hartwell (5th) and Linda Weigang (10th) put together a lethal 1-2 scoring punch that, generally speaking, roughly matched the firepower of the other top teams in this field.

When you look behind those two Skyhawks in the final results, women such as Althea Griffith (27th) and Tessa Stadler (30th) were quietly respectable! Through four runners, we felt like Fort Lewis had a fairly complete team.

Of course, with their fifth scorer dropping all the way back to 64th place, the Skyhawks' team score inflated well past the top-four teams in this field. We do think that the gap at the backend of this lineup can be closed a bit on the national stage, but...by how much?

6. Colorado Mines Orediggers (151 points)

There's truthfully not much to talk about when it comes to the Colorado Mines women. They didn't field any of their top women on Saturday, making their 6th place result largely negligible.

It was, however, nice to see Imani Fernandez-Gorbea (24th) and Josie Mejia (25th) stay within the top-25 spots of this race.