GOLDEN, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's cross country team ran to a third place finish Saturday afternoon at the 2021 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Cross Country 8k championship meet at Applewood Golf Course in Golden, Colo.  Afewerki Zeru earned a second-place finish with a time of 24:27.1.  As a team, the Mountain Lions finished third with 84 points, matching the program's best finish at a conference championship meet.
 
INSIDE THE RMAC MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY 8K CHAMPIONSHIP

• Course | Location: Applewood Golf Course | Golden, Colo.
• Course Length: 8K

 
AROUND THE COURSE

• Afewerki Zeru's second place finish is the highest any Mountain Lion has placed at a RMAC Championship Meet.  He held the previous best finish in 2019 with fourth place finish.
• Matthew Schramm, Mark Simmons and Branden Bohling each earned All-RMAC Second Team accolades after placing within four spots of each other.  Schramm crossed the finish line first among the trio, with a 16th place finish in 25:42.8. Right behind Schramm was Simmons in 17^th place (25:46.1) as Bohling earned a 19^th place finish in 25:53.1.  The last runner to score for the Mountain Lions was Gavin Harden with a time of 26:20.6 that put him in 31^st place overall.
• Rounding out the Mountain Lions top nine runners was Will Young (39^th place, 26:35.6), Evan Graff (43^rd place, 26:41.9), Troy Cournoyer (77^th place, 27:41.9) and Justin Banta (28:00.2).

 
RACE LEADERS

• Colorado School of Mines took home the team and individual titles as Dillon Powell was the first runner to finish the 8k race in 24:07.20, leading the Orediggers to 28 team points.

 
BEYOND THE FINISH LINE

• Afewerki Zeru earned All-RMAC First Team honors with his second place finish, marking the second time in his career with the first team accolade (2019).
• Matthew Schramm and Mark Simmons both earned their third career All-RMAC Second Team award.  This is the third straight year Schramm received all-conference second team honors while Simmons earned the award in 2018 and 2019.
• Branden Bohling received his first career All-RMAC Second Team recognition with his 19^th place finish.
• UCCS' four All-RMAC performers is the most the program has ever received at a conference championship.
• Five teams running today are nationally-ranked in the USTFCCCA Top 25: No. 1 Colorado School of Mines, No. 3 Adams State University, No. 5 Colorado Christian University, No. 10 Western Colorado University and No. 13 UCCS.

 
UP NEXT

• UCCS will compete next at the NCAA South Central Region championship meet, which will be held on Saturday, Nov. 6 in Lubbock, Texas.

 
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.