Women's Preseason Poll
Men's Preseason Poll

COLORADO SPRINGS - With the outdoor track & field season underway, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference has announced its preseason coaches' polls with Colorado School of Mines sitting at or near the top.

With both teams coming off RMAC indoor titles, the Oredigger women are the outdoor preseason favorites, and the men have been picked second by the conference's coaches. 

The Mines women earned 159 points and six first-place votes to edge out UCCS (151/2) for first place. The Orediggers' indoor championship was buoyed by a dominant pole vault grouping and deep distance crew, and was complemented by 14 first-team all-RMAC performers including 800m champion Aryelle Wright and the gold-medal 4x400 relay. The women hope to win their first-ever RMAC outdoor title after finishing third last year.

The men earned 128 points and three first-place nods to be behind UCCS (135/5) and ahead of Colorado Mesa (125/4) in the poll. They have a similar make up to the women's team led by strong pole vault and distance squads, along with 2023 hurdles double-champion Everett Delate, indoor 800m champion Tim Thompson, and 10 indoor first-team all-RMAC performers overall. The men, fourth a year ago, are bidding to win the RMAC "triple crown" for the second time in program history after they already captured the conference titles in cross country and indoor track & field.

Mines will split up for this weekend's action, with the Spank Blasing Invitational at CSU Pueblo, and the Hurricane Collegiate Invitational at the University of Miami.