COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's track & field team placed a program record and conference-leading six members on First Team Academic All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference squad for the 2026 outdoor season, which was released on Monday by conference officials.
 
The Maverick women also led the conference with 31 selections to the RMAC's All-Academic Honor Roll.
 
The Mavs' list of six first team honorees, which doubled the program's former record of three, included Kaiya Graves, Autumn McQuitty, Kammi Merritt,  Brooke Miller, Hannah Schissler and Shirley Weaver.
 
The 25-woman First Team Academic All-RMAC squad was selected by a vote of the conference's athletics communications directors, who were not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes.  To be eligible for nomination, student-athletes must have a 3.50 or higher cumulative grade point average, be in at least their second consecutive year at their nominating institution and have used a season of eligibility.
 
Honor roll recognition requires a 3.30 or higher GPA as well as meeting the other criteria.
 
The Mavs' list of honorees can be found below.
 
The Maverick men also had three first team selections and 25 honor roll picks.
 
Graves, a junior history major from Laurel, Montana, holds a 3.96 GPA, and set school-record and NCAA Division II Championship provisional qualifying marks in both the discus and javelin throws with marks of 47.30 meters (155 feet, 2 inches) and 44.56 meters (142-11) this season.  She earned U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Region honors in both events and claimed All-RMAC honors with a fourth place finish in the discus at the conference championships.
 
McQuitty, a junior mass communications major from Alamosa, Colorado, holds a 4.00 GPA.  She has now been named to the First Team Academic All-RMAC squad in six consecutive cross country and track and field seasons.  In the 2026 outdoor season, she posted career-best altitude-adjusted times in all three of her distance running events, with marks of 4:38.23 (1500), 17:13.68 (5K) and 36:13.50 (10K).   She also placed ninth in the 10K and 11^th in the 5K at the RMAC Championships and won the 10K at the Mines Kit Mayer Classic.
 
Merritt, a sophomore sprinter and hurdler from Star Valley, Wyoming, holds a 3.70 GPA and is majoring in exercise science.  She set school-records in three different events this season and claimed Second Team All-America honors from the USTFCCCA in the 400 Hurdles with a 14^th place finish in the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships.  She also claimed two silver medals at the RMAC Championships, posting a school-record time of 58.89 in the 400 hurdles while helping the Mavs claim second in the 4x400-meter relay.
 
She also set school records of 55.27 seconds in the 400 and 3:47.52 in the 4x400-meter relay this season and scored a team point with an eighth place finish in the 100 meters this season.  Merritt had also been picked to the First Team Academic All-RMAC unit for the 2025-26 indoor season.
 
Miller, a redshirt senior nursing major out of Homer, Alaska, has now been selected to the first team all-academic squad four times throughout her career.  She holds a 3.97 GPA and earned her fifth career All-RMAC honor with a fifth place finish in the 800 meters at this season's RMAC Championships.  She also had a season-best time of 2:12.81 at the Bryan Clay Invitational and won that discipline at the High Desert Dental Maverick Invitational.
 
Miller is CMU's record holder in both the indoor (2:12.30) and outdoor (2:09.79) 800 meters as well as the indoor distance medley relay (12:43.53).

Schissler, a sophomore sprinter out of Carr, Colorado, has a 3.93 GPA and is majoring in studio art.  She had also been named to the First Team Academic All-RMAC squad during the indoor season.  She claimed a USTFCCCA All-America honor with a 16^th place finish in the 200 meters at the NCAA Championships after winning that event at the RMAC Championships. 
 
Schissler also took third in the 100 meters and helped the Mavs' 4x100 and 4x400-meter relay teams finish second while racking up a team-leading 20 points to help the Mavs claim a strong third place finish at the conference meet.  She also claimed four All-RMAC honors and was a USTFCCCA All-South Central Region pick in the 200 meters.
 
Weaver, a sophomore biology major from Fort Collins, Colorado, has a 4.00 GPA.  She was a NCAA Division II Championship Provisional qualifier in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and broke the school record twice in that discipline, capping the year with a time of 10:50.52 at the APU Franson Last Chance meet.  She also finished eighth at the RMAC Championships and qualified for the conference meet in the 1,500 meters as well.  This is her initial First Team Academic All-RMAC honor.
 
Colorado Mesa's RMAC Academic Honor Roll Selections (31)
 
Elaina Arcand (R-Sr., Graphic Design)
Aaliyah Bos (R-Jr., Business Administration)
Caitlyn Boyle (R-Fr., Environmental Science)
Quin Dedrick (R-Jr., Exercise Science)
Emily Fowler (Jr., Exercise Science)
Kaiya Graves (Jr., History)
Augustine Hancock (Sr., Criminal Justice)
Waycee Harvey (So., Studio Art)
Lauren Hodges (R-Sr., Nursing)
Megan Hodges (R-Sr., Nursing)
Emily Hruby (So., Business Administration)
Wehazit Kelati (R-So., Radiology)
Gianna Kirking (R-Jr., Psychology)
Addy Kirkpatrick (Sr., Radiology)
Nadine Klive (Sr., Outdoor Recreation Studies)
Olivia Langner (R-So., Biological Sciences)
Kate Linstedt (R-Jr., Civil Engineering)
Kylie Mayer (R-Fr., Exercise Science)
Autumn McQuitty (Jr., Mass Communications)
Kammi Merritt (So., Exercise Science)
Brooke Miller (R-Sr., Nursing)
Jaylynn Morgan (R-So., Exercise Science)
Kaitlyn Pearson (So., Exercise Science)
Kendra Ritzmann (So., Biology)
Jessie Schaffer (So., Criminal Justice)
Hannah Schissler (So., Studio Art)
Natalie Smythe (R-Jr., Health & Fitness Promotion)
Jordan Staniszewski (R-So., Exercise Science)
Elly Thiem (R-Fr., Psychology)
Abby Varner (R-Fr., Nursing)
Shirley Weaver (So., Biology)