GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Maverick cross country teams will get their 2023 season underway on Saturday, racing in Gunnison at the 15^th Annual Mountaineer/Cowboy Invite, hosted by Western Colorado University and Gunnison High School.
 
The men's 8-kilometer race at the Gunnison Community School and Van Tuyl trail system will go off at 10 a.m. followed by a women's 5K race at 10:45 a.m.  Middle school and high school races will be held before and after.
 
Who's Racing
 
The Mavericks have entered 16 men and 10 women, who will be racing for team.  Several other Maverick team members will also race unattached.  They will compete against the host Mountaineers, Fort Lewis College.  Other unattached runners are also expected to compete.
 
The list of Maverick entries can be found below.
 
Men: Casey Amori, Jackson Baker, Chase Brown, Triston Charles, Nick Cockerel, Drexel Cox, Jacob Dalrymple, Kevin DeGree, Ricky Diaz, Edgar Hernandez, Peter Leary, John McGill, Aidan Mobley, Nathan Sanches, Jayden Thulson, Kyle Towne.
 
Women: Jayna Boonstra, Ally Herring, Lauren Hodges, Megan Hodges, Taylor Kincaid, Arianna Kincaid, Kate Linstedt, Kira MacGill, Autumn McQuitty, Kendall White, Kirstin Williams.
 
In the rankings
 
Without yet racing in 2023, the Maverick women are ranked ninth in the first regular season edition of the NCAA Division II Regional Rankings, released on Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).  The Maverick were also ranked ninth in the preseason edition of the rankings.
 
The Mountaineer women, who will also officially commence their season on Saturday after an intra-squad time trial on Aug. 26, continue to sit fourth in the regional rankings.  They also sit sixth in the national rankings, which sees five Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams in the top 7, led by defending national champions Adams State.
 
The Western men are ranked 12^th nationally after starting out 11^th in the preseason poll.  The Mountaineers are also fifth in the regional rankings.  Fort Lewis is now ranked tenth in the regional list after sitting ninth in the preseason.
 
CMU's men are not amongst the top 10.
 
In the polls
 
The Maverick men were picked seventh out of 15 teams in the RMAC's Preseason Coaches' Poll while the Maverick women were tabbed eighth.  To see more about the polls, click here. 
 
Last Year
 
The Mavericks enjoyed a successful 2022 season, highlighted by NCAA National Championship individual qualifications by Kira MacGill and Tony Torres, the first Mavericks to qualify since 2016.
 
MacGill went on to earn all-America honors with a 29th place finish at the national championships in University Place, Washington, while Torres placed 91th in the men's race.  Both also earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors.
 
As a team, the Maverick men placed fifth at the RMAC Championships and eighth at the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championships, matching their 2021 finishes.
 
The Maverick women finished eighth at the conference meet, their best finish since turning in the same finish at the 2016 RMAC Championships.  The Mavs then took 11^th at the regional meet, also their best finish since 2016.
 
The traditional start
 
The Mavericks will be competing in the Mountaineer/Cowboy Invite for the eighth straight season after having done so every year since and including 2016.  This will mark the fourth time in that stretch that the meet opens CMU's season.  It was CMU's second meet in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021.
 
In 2022, both Maverick teams finished second as a team while racing only against the Mountaineers and other unattached runners.
 
Kira MacGill, expected to redshirt this season, won the individual title at last year's race, finishing the 5K in 18 minutes, 0.3 seconds to edge Western's Katie Doucette by three tenths of a second.  In the process, she became the first Maverick woman since 2014 to win an individual title.
 
Kendall White, expected to help lead the Mavericks on Saturday, finished seventh in 19:13.9.
 
Meanwhile, the Maverick men went 2-3 in the individual standings with Ethan Abbs and Tony Torres leading the way.
 
Triston Charles finished eighth last year in 26:22.2 and is the top Maverick returner from last year's meet.

The 2022 meet results can be seen here.
 
The leading returners
 
The Maverick men return four of their seven men from last year's regional meet squad.  Kevin DeGree (63^rd), who was the fourth Maverick finisher, Triston Charles (99^th), Aidan Mobley (119^th) and Peter Martin (128^th) also return to this year's roster.  Charles was also the Mavs' third finisher at the RMAC Championships, finishing 30^th and just two spots shy of a Second Team All-RMAC honor, something he did earn in 2021.
 
MacGill was the top Maverick finisher every time she raced in 2022 and took 14^th at the regional championships to earn all-region honors.  Kendall White was the Mavs' second runner and is poised to take over leadership of the team this year.  She was 44^th at the regional meet.  Megan Hodges (99^th), Jessie Beck (109^th) and Arianna Kincaid (145^th) also return after running at last year's regional.
 
Impact Transfers
 
The Mavericks have added five transfers to this year's men's and women's rosters, combined, many of whom should have prominent roles on the Maverick squad in 2023.
 
Kirstin Williams is women's transfer and joins the Mavericks after graduating from NCAA Division I Utah Tech in her hometown of St. George, Utah, where she competed in each of the past three WAC Cross Country Championships.  She also set the Trailblazers' indoor school-record in the 5K (18:17.08).
 
The men's list of transfer includes Nick Cockerel from NCAA Division II Saint Leo, Jacob Dalrymple from NAIA Multnomah, Alex Spink from NCAA Division II Cal Poly Pomona and Ricky Diaz from Hartnell College at the junior college level.  Cockerel came to CMU in January and was a member of the Michigan state Otsego High School championship team with fellow Mavericks Chase Brown and Tristin Canales, who both redshirted last year.
 
Dalrymple, a native of Las Vegas, Nevada, took 49^th at the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships for Multnomah last year after competing for Southwestern Oregon Community College for two years earlier in his career.
 
Diaz, who hails from King City, California, was a member of four conference title cross country and track & field teams at Hartnell and was a CCCAA State Championship qualifier in both the 1,500 and 10,000 meters on the track last spring.  He also helped the Panthers finish third at the state cross country championships in 2021 and fourth last year. 
 
Spink had limited time due to injury in Pomona.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will be off next weekend before hosting their lone home meet of the year— the Gig Leadbetter Maverick Stampede.  That meet will be on Friday, Sept. 25 at Lincoln Park.