GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Maverick men's golf team claimed victory at last year's Travis Roy Memorial Invitational and then went on to win the program's first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference team title.
 
The nation's 22^nd-ranked Mavs will look to duplicate that history as they open up the 2026-27 season and their conference title defense at the 54-hole, 3-day tournament in Sheridan, Wyoming on Sunday.
 
The Mavs are one of 12 teams in the field, which will battle it out at The Powder Horn Golf Club.  The tournament, hosted by South Dakota Mines, will also be contested under the play six, score four format.  In that format, the best four scores from a team in each round will be counted towards the team score.
 
Live scoring is slated to be available throughout the tournament on the SCOREBOARD website at this specific link.
 
Who's Competing
 
Maverick Head Coach Scott Sullivan has announced his expected 6-man lineup, which includes four returning members from last year's RMAC Championship squad along with two program newcomers.
 
Dylan Everett headlines the lineup as he enters his senior season after earning First Team All-RMAC honors last year.  Sophomore Henry Starr will play out of the No. 2 position while senior Baptiste Laborde will play out of the No. 3 spot.
 
Transfer Will Alexander will play in the No. 4 spot while senior Luke Wagstaff will be in the No. 5 spot.  Freshman Colby Hutter will round out the line-up for the season-opener.
 
RMAC "Invitational"
 
The list of 12 teams expected to play in Wyoming, includes all seven Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference squads, giving the squads an early chance to size each other up.
 
Additionally, there are five other teams from around the Western United States, including a pair of South Central Regional foes in Texas A&M International and West Texas A&M.
 
Augustana, MSU Billings and Westmont are also competing.
 
RMAC Poll
 
The Mavericks topped the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, which was released on Aug. 25.  After winning the conference crown, the Mavs received five of six possible first place votes and tallied 34 points overall.
 
CSU Pueblo was picked second with 28 points and received a first place vote along with three second place predictions.  The Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Christian were tied for third in the poll with 26.
 
Westminster (15), Fort Lewis (11) and South Dakota Mines (7) rounded out the poll.
 
Preseason Honors
 
Maverick senior Dylan Everett was also named to the 8-man Preseason All-RMAC team, which was made of the top returning players from last year's all-conference voting process.
 
He earned First Team All-RMAC accolades last year after posting a 72.39 scoring average to rank second on the team.  He had four top ten finishes throughout the season and posted 15 par or better rounds, including nine in the 60's.
 
National Poll
 
The Mavs are one of four teams in the tournament field that are in the top 25 of the preseason edition of the Bushnell/Golfweek Division II Coaches Poll, recently released by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
 
The Mavs, tabbed 22^nd, are one of three RMAC teams in the poll, sitting just behind No. 18 Colorado Christian and No. 19 CSU Pueblo. 

West Texas A&M, ranked 16^th, is also ranked.  The Colorado School of Mines is also receiving votes in the poll.
 
A look back
 
The Mavericks capped the 2026 RMAC Tournament Championship for the first time in program history, earning an automatic spot for the NCAA South Central/West Super Regional, which the Mavs played in for the seventh straight year while finishing ninth.
 
The Mavs won three of their 11 tournaments last year and placed third of fourth in four others.  They finished with a 287.51 team scoring average, the second best in program history and ended up with a No. 20 national ranking in the NCAA Division II SCOREBOARD rankings.
 
Travis Roy Title Defense
 
The Mavericks and senior Dylan Everett will look to defend their Travis Roy Memorial Invitational titles in the season-opener.
 
The Mavs posted a 36-hole total of 563 (-13) to win the 2025 team title by three shots over CSU Pueblo.  They posted a 15-under par score of 273 on the second day, which was their best round in relation to par for the entire fall and the second best of the season in relation to par.
 
Everett posted scores of 69 and 67 to win the individual title by five strokes with an 8-under par total of 136.  Former Teammate Leo Lavalle posted an impressive round of 65 on the second day and was one of three men to tie for second place behind Everett.
 
Meet the Newcomers
 
The Mavs have five newcomers on their 11-man roster for the 2026-27 season.
 
The group includes four freshman and transfer Will Alexander, who attended and was on the NCAA Division I University of San Diego Torrero roster.  He hails from Lavardens, France and was a standout prep player at the Merchiston Castle School in Scotland.
 
The freshman class including Cruz Carter of Scottsdale, Arizona, Colby Hutton of Las Vegas, Nevada, Ben Sander of Parker, Colorado and Charlie Spencer of Sydney, Australia.
 
Hutton, who is expected to make his CMU debut on Sunday, won the 5A Nevada State individual championship in the spring and helped the Bishop Gorman High School Gaels win 2023 and 2026 team titles.
 
Carter also helped his Notre Dame Prep team win a pair of Arizona State titles and personally earned honorable mention all-state honors.
 
Sander earned first team all-state honors in the fall of 2023 while at Regis Jesuit High School, where he claimed All-Continental League accolades in all four years of his prep career.
 
Spencer was named as the 2024 and 2025 Champion Golfer of the Year while representing The Scots College in Australia's largest city.
 
Dates for the Calendar
 
The Mavericks will play in five tournaments this fall.  After the season-opener, they will host the San Juan Intercollegiate presented by Timberline Bank at The Bridges Golf & Country Club in Montrose.  That tournament, which the Mavs also won in 2025, will be played on Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 21-22
 
The Mavs will then head to Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula for the Shootout at PGA Riviera Maya (Sept. 27-29) before taking a brief respite.

They will then cap the fall with two October tournaments in Texas, competing at the Ryan Palmer Foundation Invite in Amarillo on Oct. 12-13 before going back to San Antonio for the NCAA South Central/West Regional Preview on Oct. 26-27 at the Dominion Country Club, which will also play host to the regional championship tournament in the spring.
 
The Mavs have not yet announced their spring schedule.