Las Vegas, N.M. — The 2024 RMAC Cross Country Championships proved successful for the Grizzlies, who secured individual titles in both the men's and women's races, earned a team title on the women's side, and placed runner-up in the men's competition.
In the men's 8K race, Romain Legendre set the pace, finishing first to claim the 2024 RMAC Cross Country Champion title with a time of 23:33.78. Teammate Juan Rosales crossed in seventh at 24:17.47, followed closely by Kidus Begshaw in eighth at 24:18.94. Housem Hrabi rounded out the RMAC First Team All-Conference honors for the Grizzlies with an 11th-place finish in 24:31.98.
Adams State's RMAC Second Team All-Conference finishers included Nathan Scherbarth in 18th (24:48.29), David Milan in 22nd (24:50.82), Max Aldrich in 23rd (24:51.38), and Emil Bezecny in 28th (25:10.14). Zak Beckwith was the final Grizzly to cross the line, taking 38th with a time of 25:32.66.
On the women's side, Ava O'Connor led the Grizzlies, winning the 2024 RMAC Women's 6K Cross Country Championship with a time of 19:28.25. Tristan Spence followed in fourth place (19:45.14), with Elena Carey in sixth (19:58.12) and Precious Robinson in eighth (20:15.50). Emily Schoellkopf and Morgan O'Keefe rounded out the RMAC First Team All-Conference honors for Adams State with times of 20:33.14 and 20:38.51, finishing 11th and 12th, respectively.
Katie Hughes followed in 15th with a time of 20:44.14, while Maggie McCleskey completed the Adams State roster with a 23rd-place finish in 21:16.14.
"I am just really proud of the kids today and they way that they competed. I certainly think this is the first step in the championship season and I think that the kids have been grinding training wise for a couple of months now so to be able to amp up the intensity and get ready for the national meet this was a good building block," said Head Coach Damon Martin
In the team standings, the Adams State women secured victory with 30 points, ahead of CSU Pueblo (88 points) and UCCS (95 points). The Adams State men took second place with 45 points, trailing Colorado School of Mines, which won with 24 points. Western Colorado finished third with 100 points.
Both Romain Legendre and Ava O'Connor were named 2024 RMAC Runners of the Year.
