COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks were picked fifth and eighth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Cross Country Preseason Coaches' Polls, that were announced by conference officials on Thursday afternoon.
 
The Maverick women were tied for fifth in the 15-team poll with 130 points while the Maverick men picked up a second place vote and finished eighth in the men's poll with 105 points.
 
The polls asked each of the conference's head coaches to rank their opposition 1-14 without voting for their own team.  Teams received 14 points for a first place vote, 13 for a second place vote and so on.
 
The Maverick women finished sixth at last year's RMAC Championships, their best finish since 2014, and went on to qualify as a team for the NCAA Division II National Championships for the second straight year.  The Mavs then recorded a 20^th place finish at the national meet, their best in program history after recording a seventh place finish at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships, their best finish since taking a program-best sixth in 2014.
 
Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Travis Floeck returns six of his nine runners from the RMAC Championships and five of his seven from the regional and national championship units.
 
The Maverick men had a youthful squad in 2026 and finished 11^th at the RMAC Championships before improving to a ninth place finish at the regional championships.  Floeck has eight of his nine RMAC Championship and six of his seven regional championship representatives back this season.
 
The Colorado School of Mines topped both polls with 190 points.  The Oredigger women, who received eight first place votes and six second place predications, won their first conference crown in 2025 and went on to take second at the NCAA meet.  Adams State, which finished fourth at the national meet, was picked second in the RMAC poll with 189 points, just one shy of Mines.  The Grizzlies received the other seven first place votes and seven second place nods.
 
UCCS was picked third in the women's poll with 165 points while Western Colorado was tabbed fourth with 158.  The Mavs were tied with CSU Pueblo and ahead of Fort Lewis, which had 126 points.
 
Colorado Christian (100), MSU Denver (92), Black Hills State (88), Chadron State (56), New Mexico Highlands (48), Regis (46), South Dakota Mines (43) and Westminster (14) rounded out the bottom half of the women's poll.
 
Despite winning the RMAC title a year ago, Adams State finished two points behind Mines in the men's preseason poll.  Mines had eight first place votes and six second place votes.  The Adams State Grizzlies received 188 points and picked up seven first place votes, six second place votes while being named third on the remaining ballot.
 
Western Colorado finished third in the men's poll with 163 points while UCCS (144), Fort Lewis (136), CSU Pueblo (123) and Colorado Christian (121) finished just ahead of the Mavs.
 
MSU Denver, which received 98 points, was picked ninth and ahead of Black Hills State (87), South Dakota Mines (65), New Mexico Highlands (52), Regis (43), Chadron State (41) and Westminster (19).
 
CMU will open the season on Sept. 19, splitting their squad between meets at MSU Denver and Western Colorado.  After heading to the NCAA Division II Pre-Nationals meet in Lawrence, Kansas on Oct. 11, the Mavs will host the Gig Leadbetter Maverick Stampede on Saturday, Oct. 24.

That meet will be a final tune-up for the championship half of the season, which includes the RMAC Championships on Nov. 7 in Rapid City, South Dakota.  The Mavs will then head to the NCAA South Central Regional Championships in Lubbock, Texas on Nov. 21 in hopes of qualifying for the national meet on Dec. 4 in Lawrence, Kansas as part of NCAA Division II Sports Festival in the greater Kansas City Metropolitan area.