COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference announced today the 2019-20 Female and Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year.  University of Colorado Colorado Springs student-athletes Maia Austin (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Will Ross (Colorado Springs, Colo.) were named to the 2019-20 RMAC Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention Team.
 
To be eligible for consideration, individuals must compete in one of the conference sponsored sports, carry at least a 3.30 grade-point average (GPA), be of good character and must have participated at the active member institution for two or more seasons in at least one sport. True freshmen and first-year transfers are not eligible for this award.  All nominees who meet those requirements, but were not selected for the award, automatically qualify for honorable mention.
 
Maia Austin and Will Ross amassed numerous awards this past year.  Both student-athletes were voted to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America and Academic All-District First Teams, and to the United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Team.  Earlier this spring, Austin and Ross were chosen as the 2019-20 UCCS Department of Athletics Student-Athletes of the Year and the 2019-20 RMAC Indoor Track and Field Academic Athletes of the Year.
 
A three-sport student-athlete for the Mountain Lions, Austin holds a perfect 4.0 GPA as an Exercise Science major. Austin, who runs cross country for the Mountain Lions in the fall season, was named the 2019 RMAC Women's Cross Country and the 2020 RMAC Women's Indoor Track & Field Summit Award winner for both sports, becoming the first student-athlete in school history to win two RMAC Summit Awards.
 
At the RMAC Indoor Track & Field Championship meet, Austin registered a silver medal finish in the women's mile with an improved provisional qualifying time of 4:52.76 to cement her place at the NCAA Championships. The mile wasn't the only event Austin qualified for as she helped the women's DMR team clock the ninth fastest time in Division II at 11:39.28 earlier in the season inside Mountain Lion Fieldhouse. Though her converted mile time at conference championships punched her ticket to nationals, Austin's raw mile time of 5:00.04 at the New Mexico Team Open back in February gave the junior her a new personal best. An RMAC Track Athlete of the Week selection for the week of Feb. 12, 2020, Austin helped the Mountain Lion women win their second indoor conference championship in the last three years. 
 
In the fall season, Austin ran in four meets for the Mountain Lions, including all three post-season meets to help UCCS qualify for the NCAA DII National Championship meet.  In her second meet of the season, she set a new PR time in the 6K at the RMAC Championship race, crossing the finish line in 30^th place in 21:54.9.  Two weeks later, she finished 28^th at the NCAA South Central Regional Meet in 23:00.2, before helping the Mountain Lions to a 15^th place finish at the National meet (22:10.0).

Ross boasts a 3.891 GPA as a Mechanical Engineering major. Ross, who was voted the RMAC Field Athlete of the week on Feb. 18, was crowned RMAC Champion in both the long jump and triple jump as both of his jumps at the RMAC Championship meet set new school records and personal bests.  He notched distances of 7.45m in the long jump and 15.36m in the triple jump.  A national qualifier for the 2020 NCAA Championships in both events, Ross claimed the ninth best long jump mark in DII and the fourth best triple jump mark in DII.
 
Chloe Cook of Colorado School of Mines and Kyle Rosenbrock of Colorado State Pueblo are the 2019-20 Female and Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year, respectively.