COLORADO SPRINGS — Just ahead of the conference football media day, Colorado Mesa is tabbed as the No. 4 team in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this fall.

The Mavericks received 50 points in voting by the 10 conference head coaches, who could not vote for their own team. The RMAC released the preseason poll Wednesday (July 31).

Colorado School of Mines, last season's RMAC champion and NCAA Division II national runner-up, garnered seven first-place votes and 79 points in being picked to win the title again. Western Colorado, which reached the Division II playoffs last season, received the other three first-place votes and is picked second, followed by CSU Pueblo.

Black Hills State, which tied with the Mavericks for fourth place at 5-4 in conference play last season, is picked sixth, receiving 49 points.

South Dakota Mines, Chadron State, Adams State, New Mexico Highlands and Fort Lewis round out the poll.

The conference will host its annual Football Media Day Kickoff event on Friday (Aug. 2) at the DoubleTree by Hilton in the Denver Tech Center. Head coaches and two student-athletes from each program will address the media starting at 9 a.m. in reverse order of the preseason poll, so the Mavericks will take the stage at noon. The event will stream live on the RMAC Network.

Colorado Mesa players report to campus this weekend for physicals and meetings, with the first practice of fall camp Monday morning, Aug. 5. CMU's season opener is at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 28 at Texas A&M-Kingsville in Kingsville, Texas. The home opener is at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14 against Central Washington at Stocker Stadium.