COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Adams State University freshman Ava O'Connor and James Dunne have been named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, conference officials announced on Thursday.
 
In addition, six male athletes and one relay were named to the 2021-22 RMAC Men's All-Conference First Team and five were named to the Second Team, thanks in part to their performances at the RMAC Championships in February. On the women's side, five women and one relay earned First Team honors and three were named Second Team honors.
 
Major awards were voted on by the conference's head coaches while first, second and third-place finishers are named First Team All-Conference and fourth, fifth and sixth-place finishers are named Second Team All-Conference in all individual events. For relay events, the first-place team is named First Team All-Conference and second-place team is named Second Team All-Conference.
 
First Team members included, Leroy Elliott (60m hurdles; 1st place), David Cardenas (800m; 1st place), Davonte Jett-Reynolds (3,000m; 1st place), Mikah Paiz (mile; 3rd place), John Hochanadel (weight throw; 3rd place) and the distance medley relay of Andrew O'Keefe, Jonah Vigil, Cardenas and Jett-Reynolds.
 
On the women's side, O'Connor (mile; 1 st), Brianna Robles (3,000m; 1st), Zeaniah Wedgeworth (60m hurdles; 2nd), Jessica Simon (800m; 3rd), Emily Schoellkopf (3,000m; 3rd) and the distance medley relay of Nicole Lawrence, Butler, Simon and Robles, earned First Team accolades.
 
Jonah Vigil (60m; 4th place), Mitchell Dervin (5,000m; 4th place), Sam Dirkes (shot put; 4th place), Alec Hall (mile; 5th place) Camwrin Harris (long jump; 6th place), Sadie Butler (60m hurdles; 4th place), Sarah Wills (mile; 6th place and Nicole Lawrence (5,000m; 6th place) were the athletes that earned second team honors.
 
The Grizzlies are in Pittsburg, Kansas where the NCAA Division II National Championships are set to begin on Friday with 20 individual Grizzlies are set to compete in 11 events.