GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Six Colorado Mesa University athletes were named to the 2025-26 NCAA Division II Academic All-District® Women's Cross Country/Track & Field teams as selected by College Sports Communicators.  The list of Maverick honorees includes Kaiya Graves, Autumn McQuitty, Kammi Merritt, Brooke Miller, Hannah Schissler and Jordan Staniszewski.
 
Merritt and Schissler were also advanced to the national ballot for Academic All-America® honors, which CSC will announce on July 15.
 
McQuitty and Miller are repeat selections after earning the same honors in 2024-25.
 
All six of the Maverick selections were also named to the First Team Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All-Academic squads in at least of the three competitive seasons of 2025-26 (Cross Country, Indoor Track & Field, Outdoor Track & Field).
 
To be eligible for nomination for Academic All-District® honors, student-athletes must have a 3.50 or higher cumulative grade point average, be at least a sophomore, both academically or athletically and meet an athletic performance threshold of being ranked in the top 50 of their region for at least one individual track & field event or being amongst the top 50 finishers at the NCAA regional cross country championship.
 
Furthermore, Institutions were limited to six nominations per gender for the Academic All-District team.
 
Six Maverick men were also honored.
 
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 outdoor 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.  She set career-best times in four separate track events this year after a strong cross country season, which helped the Mavs qualify as a team for their second straight NCAA Division II Championship meet.
 
Merritt, a sophomore sprinter and hurdler from Star Valley, Wyoming, holds a 3.72 GPA and is majoring in exercise science.  She set school-records in three different events this outdoor 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 Outdoor 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 was also second in the 400 at the RMAC indoor Championships.
 
Miller, a redshirt senior nursing major out of Homer, Alaska, has a 3.95 GPA.  She was selected to the RMAC All-Academic First Team for the fourth time of her career at the end of the outdoor season and placed fourth and fifth at RMAC indoor and outdoor championships, respectively, in the 800 meters.  She also holds the Maverick record in both the indoor (2:12.30) and outdoor (2:09.79) variants of the event as well as the indoor distance medley relay (12:43.53).

Schissler, a sophomore sprinter out of Carr, Colorado, has a 3.89 GPA and is majoring in studio art.  She was named to the First Team Academic All-RMAC squad during both the indoor and outdoor seasons.  She claimed a USTFCCCA All-America honor with a 16^th place finish in the 200 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships after winning that event at the RMAC Championships.  She also took third in the 200 and fifth in the 60 meters at the RMAC Indoor Championships.
 
Staniszweski, holds a 3.93 GPA and is majoring in exercise science.  The redshirt sophomore out of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, earned a spot on the First Team RMAC All-Academic unit in cross country after earning Second Team All-RMAC honors with a 28^th place finish at the conference meet.  She was also the Mavs' No. 2 runner at the regional meet, helping the Mavs to qualify for a second straight national meet.   She then continued her strong form on the track, helping the Mavs set a school-record time in the indoor distance medley relay before earning Second Team All-RMAC honors with a sixth place finish in the 5,000 meters at the RMAC Outdoor Championships.