First Thoughts: 2023 RMAC XC Championships

Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Oct 21, 2023
9 min read

The best cross country conference meet in all of Division Two, the RMAC XC Championships, has now wrapped up and there are plenty of interesting results for us to analyze. Here are a few of our takeaways from the highly-anticipated championship races...

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Women's Analysis

1. Adams State Grizzlies (32 points)

Surprise, surprise. The Adams State women are your 2023 RMAC champions.

For the most part, there weren't too many major surprises from the Grizzlies. Brianna Robles took home the individual title while Emily Schoellkopf (3rd) and Ava O'Connor (6th) may have had the single-best races of their careers on the grass.

With so much up-front scoring potency, as well as Morgan Hykes (10th) and Elena Carey (13th) closing out the top-five, the Grizzlies weren't going to be touched by any other team in this field. That includes a Colorado Mines squad that had great firepower, but weren't nearly as complete as Adams State.

However, the most glaring development was that Stephanie Cotter didn't race. It's fairly standard for her to start racing during the postseason, but she was absent once more on Saturday. That further substantiates rumors that she may not race this fall, although that is by no means confirmed or final.

If that's the case, then the need for more potent low-sticks is going to be an absolute necessity if Adams State wants to stay in contention for the team title. Luckily, Schoellkopf and O'Connor just had outstanding performances, putting themselves ahead of multiple top-tier All-Americans from other teams.

They'll need to replicate those results on the national stage, but those are huge efforts for a team that may (or may not) be without the single-best distance talent in Division Two.

We also have to give some kudos to Elena Carey. Her 13th place finish came a bit out of nowhere and she offered her team a very respectable backend scorer. Of course, Adams State would have still won comfortably if Tristian Spence (15th) or Reina Paredes (18th) ended up as their fifth runner.

Not the best days ever from Vienna Lahner or Fiona Hawkins who fell outside of the top-20, but stayed in the top-30. Even so, We've seen previously that both of these women can be better moving forward. Lahner was, after all, the Grizzlies' second scorer at the Louisville XC Classic a few weeks ago.

2. Colorado Mines Orediggers (56 points)

When you look at who the Colorado Mines women actually fielded for this race, I can't say that I'm too surprised by these results.

Holly Moser (4th) validated her excellent 7th place finish from the Lewis XC Crossover with a potent low-stick result. She was supported by Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge (7th) and Grace Strongman (8th) who produced better-than-expected results, but not dramatically so.

Clare Peters (14th) delivered what we thought she could while Margaux Basart (23rd) had a bit of an "off" day in comparison to her performance at the Lewis XC Crossover where she finished 10th.

Of course, it's important to note that Colorado Mines didn't have Molly Maksin, Riley McGrath or Alexis Herr for this race. Those first two women struggled a bit at Lewis a few weeks ago (relative to expectations) while Herr had a solid race on that stage to place 19th.

If those three women were to reenter this lineup and run at their best, then the Orediggers probably have had a more compact scoring group. Even so, it would have taken monumental performances from Maksin and McGrath if Colorado Mines was going to upset Adams State.

But all things considered, this team ran well with the personnel who they did have.

3. Western Colorado Mountaineers (94 points)

The Western Colorado women were probably the most predictable team of this entire meet.

Allison Beasley (2nd) was outstanding and Leah Taylor (11th) was a respectable secondary scorer. That was almost exactly what our D2 specialist, Grace McLaughlin, predicted for this race.

The rest of the team packed together outside of the top-20 to close out the Mountaineers' scoring as Jayda Nix, Peyton Weiss, Lauren Willson and Gretchen Slattum went 26-28-32-33, respectively, in the overall results.

I'd like to offer more analysis on this program, but in the wise words of former NFL coach Dennis Green, "They are who we thought they we were."

4. CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves (115 points)

Admittedly, it was hard to gauge just how good this team was prior to Saturday. They had toed the line for a handful of meets, but none of those races were all that competitive or loaded with comparable Division Two talent.

Even so, it seems safe to say that many of these CSU-Pueblo women were flat-out better than expected. That first started with Helen Braybrook (9th) who continues to showcase some of the best range in all of Division Two. It's extremely rare for a top-tier 800 meter runner to also rise as a consistent All-American threat on the grass.

All things considered, Margot Thomas-Gatel (19th) and Jadyn Herron (21st) had very solid races which kept this team competitive. The ThunderWolves' fourth scorer, Sarah Renberg (30th), also snagged a decent result of her own while Elodie Hebert (40th) closed out the team's scoring.

For a program that lost so much scoring from last year's squad, the CSU-Pueblo women were surprisingly great this weekend. Jadyn Herron's rise as an impact lineup contributor has been huge from a scoring stability standpoint.

5. UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions (124 points)

Ok, hear me out: This was actually a really strong race for the UC-Colorado Springs women.

Is this team the same podium threat that we thought they'd be at the beginning of the season? No, that prospect has likely faded. But the Mountain Lions settled for 5th place at the RMAC XC Championships on Saturday despite Kate Hedlund faltering all the way back to 55th place.

According to one of TSR's writers who was on-site for the race, Hedlund fell with 100 meters to go and willed herself across the line. If she was at her best and running alongside Anna Fauske (like she was at the Louisville XC Classic), then the UCCS women would have cut off a significant amount of points from their final score.

In fact, if she finishes 6th overall in this race and we factor-in displacement, then the Mountain Lions barely sneak past Western Colorado for 3rd place.

Fauske (5th) was fantastic as she continues to show why she is one of the more dangerous All-American talents in the country. However, the more important development might have been Rachel Richtman snagging a 22nd place finish while Nadine Almasri finished 27th. Those were two impactful middle-lineup results that were debatably better than anything that they had produced before.

With Rachel Goodrich (33rd) and Molly Bruer (37th) closing out the scoring, the UCCS women weren't all that structurally different from Western Colorado. The only difference is that they had one less low-stick and we already explained why that was the case.

Names Who We Didn't Already Mention

Kirstin Williams (Colorado Mesa) had a really strong run in 13th place. She transferred over from Utah Tech and has clearly taken a significant jump in her fitness. That is definitely a better result that many of her prior performances had shown.

Linda Weigang (16th) and Katie Heck (17th) gave Fort Lewis a really strong 1-2 punch. We knew after the Lewis XC Crossover that Weigang was great, but Heck was "only" the 36th place finisher at that meet. I suppose that's not too far off from where she finished on Saturday, but I still thought that she had a really solid outing.

Men's Analysis

1. Colorado Mines Orediggers (32 points)

I don't know if I could say anything here that would tell you something that you didn't already know about the Colorado Mines men. We expected this team to comfortably take home the RMAC team title on Saturday and that's exactly what happened.

The combination of Duncan Fuehne, Loic Scomparin, Paul Knight, Logan Bocovich and John O'Malley overwhelmed the field by going 3-4-5-9-11, respectively, in the overall results.

However, what's arguably even more impressive is that the Orediggers dominated the meet despite not having guys like JP Rutledge, Andrew Kaye or Alberto Campa. This is also a team that had their sixth runner, Max Bonenberger, finish 17th overall while Daniel Appleford had a bit of an "off" day.

The Colorado Mines men continue to thrive this fall despite not fielding their best lineup. The fact that this team could be significantly better makes it increasingly more challenging to imagine them being upset come November.

2. Adams State Grizzlies (59 points)

When you consider that they didn't have Awet Beraki for this race, the Adams State men actually ran pretty well on Saturday.

The four-man combination of Romain Legendre, Dayton Brown, Yonas Haile and James Dunne went 6-8-10-12, respectively, in the overall results. You could argue that both Legendre and Brown were capable of a little bit more, but that wouldn't have changed much in the team standings. As for Haile and Dunne, they were great, especially Dunne who had the best cross country performance of his career.

David Cardenas would close out the scoring in 23rd place, leaving the Grizzlies with a total of 59 points.

Having Beraki for this race would have made a world of difference in the final team scores. If he had won this race, then the Grizzlies end up scoring 41 points and the Orediggers would have been pushed back to 37 points.

And suddenly, the national title conversation becomes a lot more interesting.

Of course, the core issue is that Beraki didn't race on Saturday. According to one source, it sounds as if the Grizzlies' low-stick star was dealing with an injury, although the expectation is that he'll be back for the South Central Regional XC Championships.

It's not clear what kind of shape we can expect Beraki to be in for the rest of the postseason, but the fact that he could come back keeps Adams State as one of the few teams (and maybe the only team) that could upset the Orediggers.

3. Western Colorado Mountaineers (69 points)

From a scoring structure perspective, the Western Colorado men were relatively unsurprising.

Of course, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be impressed by the incredible efforts that we saw from Simon Kelati (2nd) and Tyler Nord (7th). The former is just as good as we thought he'd be and the latter delivered a true low-stick that we knew he was capable of, but hadn't seen until Saturday.

Michael Grabowski (19th) perfectly matched expectations while John Houdeshell (20th) and Kyle Partin (21st) each had the best cross country races of their career (in my opinion). And with Albert Hesse (25th) having a slight "off" day, it was good to know that the Mountaineers' backend could come through and offer highly reliable depth.

Sure, Kelati and Nord were excellent, but from a team perspective, Western Colorado seemingly has more scoring stability than I thought they would this fall. That's a highly encouraging development as we dive deeper into the postseason.

Also, Simon Kelati looks really, really good. He may not have won this race, but I don't totally hate the idea of him being a dark horse candidate for the individual national title.

4. Fort Lewis Skyhawks (123 points)

Wow! Major congrats to Fort Lewis, they just had a fantastic race and produced a result that frankly, I didn't think they were capable of. Their performance at the Lewis XC Crossover didn't indicate that they would finish 4th in this kind of field.

Admittedly, the Skyhawks' lineup wasn't super flashy or chock-full of firepower. Instead, they relied on a tight pack of solid impact scorers who minimized gaps.

Henry Barth (16th) and Bean Minor (18th) came out of nowhere after finishing 60th and 70th, respectively at Lewis. They weren't low-sticks, but they didn't need to be. Meanwhile, Elijah Smith (26th) and Caden Resendez (28th) were flat-out solid. Conner Dossman (35th) would close out the team's top-five.

That kind of scoring structure will theoretically go a long way on the national stage. Not only that, but Elijah Smith can likely be better in future races given that he was the 21st place finisher at the Lewis XC Crossover!

It's truthfully hard to know what version of this team we should expect to see moving forward, but if Barth and Minor continue to run like they did on Saturday, then I would only expect good things from the Skyhawks in the future.

5. UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions (154 points)

For a team that lost so much high-impact scoring from last year, this was a very solid result for a lineup that seemed to be fairly balanced.

The development of Jagger Zlotoff (13th) is coming along nicely as he was a strong lead scorer. His supporting cast of Gavin Harden, Logan Cole, Brett Davis and Michael Burke went 27-31-40-43, respectively. That scoring group didn't necessarily wow us, but there wasn't any noticeable or significant scoring gaps that created any major concerns.

This is a young-ish team that still has plenty of scoring potential remaining. We may not see their full talent and potential this fall, but over the next year or two, expect the Mountain Lions to rebound and become a formidable force in the RMAC once again.

Names Who We Didn't Already Mention

Despite not being listed in our individual rankings, I think we knew that Andrew Amor (New Mexico Highlands) was going to be a major factor in this race. But winning the individual RMAC title? By 12 seconds? Well, that's an unbelievably strong statement. And suddenly, our entire understanding of the D2 individual national title picture has been massively altered.

Really strong runs from James Ramey (MSU-Denver) and Reece Sharman-Newell (CSU-Pueblo) who finished 14th and 15th, respectively. Ramey has had moments of brilliance, but this might have been his best yet. As for Sharman-Newell, he's another excellent example of how Coach Matt Morris is able to develop his middle distance stars into highly impactful cross country talents.