DURANGO, Colo.— Tony Torres and Ethan Abbs both earned all-conference honors as the Colorado Mesa University Maverick men's cross country team placed fifth for the third consecutive year at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships, which were contested Saturday here at Hill Crest Golf Course.
 
Torres finished 15^th amongst the 118 finishers from the deepest conference in NCAA Division II cross country while Abbs was 25^th.
 
Torres finished the 8-kilometer course in 25 minutes, 24.0 seconds to claim his second career All-RMAC honor, which to the top 28 finishers while Abbs turned in a time of 25:49.2 to earn his first.  Both were second team selections.  The top 14 finishers earn first team plaudits.
 
The Mavs also had two other solid finishes as redshirt sophomore Triston Charles finished 30^th in 25:55.8 while redshirt freshman Kevin DeGree placed 33^rd in 26:03.8.  Mark Testa rounded out the Mavs' team score of 150 points, placing 53^rd overall and 49^th amongst team scorers in 26:39.2.
 
The Mavericks' other finishers were Peter Martin (78^th, 27:44.8), Aiden Mobley (94^th, 28:21.3), Casey Amori (96^th, 28:23.8) and Quintin Collins (106^th, 28:55.2).
 
National poll No. 1 Colorado School of Mines won the team title for the fourth straight year placing five runners in the top nine while scoring 26 points.  No. 2 Adams State was second with 46 points while No. 9 Western Colorado finished third with 91 while No. 16 UCCS Was fourth with 110.
 
The Mavs finished well ahead of national No. 10 Colorado Christian, which placed ninth with 246 points.
 
Mines' Dillon Powell defended his individual title, winning the race by 14.2 seconds in 24:05.6 over UCCS' Afewerki Zeru.
 
Mines' Paul Knight was named as the RMAC Freshman of the Year after finishing eighth as the top youngster.  Mines Coach Chris Siemers was named as the conference' coach of the year after a vote of his peers.

Maverick freshman Chase Brown led a group of four CMU runners, three of whom competed unattached, later in the day in the Durango Open, which was contested on the same course.  He finished 15th in 27:39.0.
 
The Maverick women turned in their best finish in six years, finishing eighth as Kira MacGill became just the second CMU women to earn three all-conference honors with a 22^nd place finish.