COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Charlie Kieffer (Fairfield, Conn.) is one of seven University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's cross country student-athletes to earn 2020 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All-Academic honors.  The redshirt senior is making his fourth appearance on the RMAC All-Academic Team, and his second straight appearance on the First Team.  Earning RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll status are Cole Dunton (Lee's Summit, Mo.), Evan Graff (Montrose, Colo.), Gary Kurtz (Brighton, Colo.), Walker Rudolph (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Patrick Schmidt (Sachse, Texas) and Will Young (Pewaukee, Wis.).
 
A 2019 RMAC All-Academic First Team selection and a two-time RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll performer, Charlie Kieffer (3.913 GPA, Mechanical Engineering) competed in two meets this season.  He started the season at the UCCS Rust Buster, finishing 25^th overall in 28:11.4.  He ran his second race of the season two weeks later at the UCCS XC Open, posting a time of 28:34.6 to finish 30^th overall.
 
A Mechanical Engineering major with a 3.544 GPA, redshirt-sophomore Cole Dunton is making his second appearance on the RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll (2019).  Dunton competed in two races this season, finishing 15^th at the UCCS Rust Buster in 27:24.4, and 39^th at the UCCS XC Open in 29:20.8.
 
Redshirt sophomore Evan Graff (3.740 GPA, Criminal Justice) ran in the first two meets of the season for the Mountain Lions.  Graff finished fourth overall in 26:19.4 to start the season on Sept. 4 at the UCCS Rust Buster.  Two weeks later he finished fourth again at the UCCS XC Open, crossing the finish line in 26:49.1.  This is Graff's second consecutive year being named to the RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll.
 
For the third time in his career, redshirt-senior Gary Kurtz (3.694 GPA, Psychology) has been named to the RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll.  Kurtz helped the Mountain Lions qualify for the Division II National Invitational after his performance in the RMAC Championship race on Oct. 24.  Kurtz ran his fastest 8K time of the season at the conference championships, finishing 53^rd in 26:42.6.  He also competed in the Mountain Lions first two home meets of the season, finishing 16^th at the UCCS Rust Buster and 17^th at the UCCS XC Open.
 
Walker Rudolph (3.726 GPA, Biology), who has qualified for the RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll for the second straight year, finished 51^st at the RMAC Championship race on Oct. 24, helping the Mountain Lions qualify for the Division II National Invitational later this month.  Rudolph ran in all three meets for UCCS in 2020, recording his fastest 8K time of 26:35.6 at the conference championship meet.
 
Redshirt sophomore Patrick Schmidt (3.921 GPA, Computer Science) competed in the UCCS XC Open on Sept. 18, recording a personal best 8K time of 31:45.6.  Schmidt finished 56^th overall in his only meet of 2020.
 
Sophomore Will Young owns a 3.931 GPA in Math and is making his second appearance on the RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll.  Young competed in two meets for the Mountain Lions this season, earning a 12^th place finish in 27:13.1 at the UCCS Rust Buster, and a 27^th place finish in 28:15.4 at the UCCS XC Open two weeks later.

The Mountain Lions will close out the 2020 season on Saturday, Nov. 14 in Lubbock, Texas after qualifying for the 2020 Division II Cross Country National Invitational meet.