COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 7, 2022) – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) announced the 2021-22 All-Sports Cup final standings Monday afternoon with Colorado State University Pueblo taking home fourth place overall off 709 points. Colorado School of Mines claimed the top honor with 927 total points.
 
Colorado Mesa University finished second with University of Colorado – Colorado Springs in third. Metropolitan State University Denver rounded out the top five 42 points behind CSU Pueblo.
 
The fourth-place finish by the collective Pack is the highest finish for the cup since the 2016-17 season when CSU Pueblo placed third.
 
2021-22 Season in Review
 
Championship Appearances
 
The ThunderWolves had storied seasons throughout the academic year across all 21 sports. Volleyball, men's soccer, women's basketball and men's golf were all able to qualify for the respective NCAA Division II Regional Tournaments while the men's golf, men's track and field, women's track and field and women's cross country teams all punched tickets to the NCAA Division II National Championships. Wrestling's Ruben Garcia fought his own way to the NCAA Championships after a third-place finish in the Regionals.
 
The eight national appearances on the year marked one of the most tallies in the RMAC. 
 
Domination on the Course
CSU Pueblo men's golf proved itself as one of the most dominant teams throughout the conference, as the ThunderWolves blew by its competition in the conference championship and claimed their second consecutive RMAC Championship for the first time in program history. 
 
The Pack men's golf program placed four players in the top 10 and claimed the top conference prize by 10 strokes. Then, the ThunderWolves squad followed up with its first NCAA Regional Championship after the team made a storming comeback at the Pueblo Country Club and took the top-rank at the tournament by one stroke, clinched on the final hole.
 
After it clinched its second-consecutive trip to the NCAA National Championships, CSU Pueblo kept itself in the top quarter of the field. The Pack advanced past the "day three cut" for the first time in program history after the team finished second in normal round play. The strong run by the ThunderWolves closed with a 4-1-0 loss to Georgia Southwestern University in the first round of match-play.
 
Andrew Ni claimed RMAC Player of the Year. Josh Koschke notched RMAC Coach of the Year while Ni, Jamie Roberts, Matt Millar and Liam Duncan earned First Team All-RMAC. Ni and Roberts highlighted the season for the Pack with All-Region honors with the team finishing the 2022 season as the most decorated squad in program history.
 
#DevelopingChampions on the Track
In the winter and spring seasons, the Matt Morris led men's and women's track and field programs were forces in the RMAC and in the nation. 
 
On the women's side, the distance medley relay (DMR) showed up to the National Championships as underdogs, but emerged as a force. 
 
Yasmine Hernandez qualified provisionally for both the mile and 800m run as the second and third-best runner in each event, respectively, but ultimately chose to team up with Hailey Streff, Taylor Holland and Helen Braybrook for the DMR. Streff was in the same camp as Hernandez, as she too qualified provisionally for the mile and 800. 
 
The selfless choices by the four runners ultimately paid off. The race saw Streff burst to the front and the Pack relay squad never looked back. Hernandez threw her arms up at the finish line and gave a "whoop" while making the wolf-head gesture with her hands. The Pack DMR squad dominated throughout the race and claimed the National Championship by over three seconds. 
 
Hernandez eventually took home third-place and was followed by Streff in sixth in the 800m.
 
In the throwing pit, no one in the nation was able to match-up with the ThunderWolves' Justin Jenks and Nate Miller in the shot put. During the indoor season, Miller kicked off in December with a then-national-best 19.54m mark in the shot put. Jenks then followed up in February and threw a nation's best 19.55m at a meet hosted by Pittsburg State University. The two entered the NCAA Division II National Championships ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country but were edged out in the final competition.
 
Miller brought the Pack a second-place finish followed closely by Jenks in third in the National Championships.
 
The Pack were able to add Jack Dickson, Carl Schmidt, Reece Sharman-Newell and Nikolaus Franzmair to the All-American list after a seventh-place finish in the DMR. Jenna McKinley also racked up her second All-American honor in the indoor championships after she took home a sixth-place finish in the shot put.
 
The outdoor season saw similar success for the Pack. During the season, Sharman-Newell was able to blaze to an unbelievable pace in the 800, as the freshman raced to a 1:45.56 at the Bryan Clay Invite and logged the fastest time in the nation of 2022 at the time. He, Kaleb Tipton and Nathan Hood each qualified for the National Championships in the 800 to go along with Tyrell Smith in the 100, Schmidt in the 4x400m Relay, and Miller and Jenks in the shot put. 
 
On the women's side Hernandez once again had a choice between the 800 and 1500m runs after she entered the National Championships season as the top runner in the 1500 and second-ranked racer in the 800m. Hernandez chose the 1500m and entered the championships along with Streff, Braybrook and McKinley.
 
Hernandez once again highlighted the Pack's efforts. In the 1500m run, Hernandez stayed patient throughout the race and made her move on the final lap to edge out her opponent and claim her first career individual National Championship title. 
 
Streff placed seventh in the 1500m run and claimed another All-American title for her impressive career.
 
In the men's disciplines, Hood led the way with a fourth-place finish in the 800 while Sharman-Newell and Tipton placed fifth and seventh, respectively. All three runners were able to claim All-American titles thanks to their efforts. Schmidt, Sharman-Newell, Hood and Smith claimed All-American honors after an eighth-placed effort in the 4x400m relay.
 
Lastly, Miller and Jenks placed fifth and sixth to each notch All-American honors once more.
 
On top of the track season, the women's cross country team in the fall also punched its ticket to the National Championships thanks to strong efforts from Hernandez, Claire Pauley, Margot Thomas-Gatel, Braybrook and Streff. 
 
The Pack track season's two individual National Championships only reinforce the CSU Pueblo motto of #DevelopingChampions.
 
A Season Filled with Firsts and Milestones
While the individual sports of golf and track saw success for both the athletes and teams separately, the Pack's team sports successful campaigns as well. CSU Pueblo athletics also were introduced to fresh faces.
 
Bianca Duran and Bobby Applegate each began their first seasons as head coaches in the 2022. Duran headed a gritty and scrappy softball squad while Applegate was at the helm of a baseball team that claimed 27 wins on the season – the most since 2018.
 
The men's soccer program showed out in a big way for CSU Pueblo this season and punched its first ticket to the NCAA National Tournament. Nick Burgess and Josua Hall each notched All-Region First Team accolades while Vinzent Zingel racked up second team honors. 
 
The Pack's men's soccer squad not only made it to the national stage for the first time in program history, but also claimed its first program win in the tournament with a 1-0 victory over Seattle Pacific. 
 
CSU Pueblo men's soccer's historic season ended at the hands of the eventual National Champions in the second round, but the Oliver Twelvetrees led squad will be back on the pitch in 2022 looking to build upon the now fearsome ThunderWolves team.
 
Another first-year head coach, Susanne Divelbiss saw a first for CSU Pueblo women's swimming and diving. Divelbiss led her squad to the highest finish at the RMAC Championships after the Pack raced their way to fifth in the conference across its four-day tournament.
 
The Pack swim team was able to mark the fifth-place feat at the Championships without having a diver score for the team, making the finish all the more impressive for the Pack and first-year head coach.
 
On the court in Massari, Austin Albers was able to lead his volleyball squad to its best season since 1996. The Pack were led by Payton Stack and Jazzy Espinoza who each earned All-RMAC First Team accolades. 
 
CSU Pueblo volleyball reach 20 wins for the first time since 1996 and also clinched its first NCAA National Tournament berth since 1996. The Pack have improved from five wins in 2018 to 20 in 2022, marking one of the best program turnarounds in CSU Pueblo Athletics. 
 
The Pack volleyball's run in the RMAC ended in the semifinals at the hands of the nation's top-ranked MSU Denver squad. After the ThunderWolves earned the eighth-seed in the National Tournament, the historic season ended in the first round, once again due to the force of MSU Denver. 
 
Also on the court was women's basketball which burst onto the national stage with the best turnaround in the NCAA. The Pack won three games in 2020-21, but in 2021-22, the new and improved ThunderWolves squad led by Tommie Johnson won itself 23 contests, finished as the RMAC Tournament Runner-Up and punched its first ticket to the NCAA National Tournament since 2018.
 
Alisha Davis burst onto the scene in 2022, and despite a limited season due to illness midway through, the transfer was able to rack up 3.0 blocks per game (74 total) and average 16.6 points, making her one the best two-way players in Division II. Davis' 3.0 blocks per game set the program's record and now sits in the top-10 all-time in CSU Pueblo history with 74 blocks.
 
Davis' teammate JaNaiya Davis finished the campaign second all-time in both CSU Pueblo assists and steals while she also shot the most efficient free throw percentage (.896) in the history of CSU Pueblo women's basketball.
 
CSU Pueblo's 2021-22 women's basketball season proved to be one of the most successful in the history of the already storied program.

Overall, CSU Pueblo athletics had one of its best overall program years in the history of the school. The ThunderWolves claimed 24 First Team All-American honors, 29 total All-American tallies, 84 total All-RMAC awards, 158 Academic All-RMAC honors, two National Player of the Week recognitions, 10 RMAC Athlete of the Week nods and two Academic All-American accolades. Through the hard work of its student-athletes, the Pack has developed into one of the top athletic brands in not only the RMAC, but NCAA Division II athletics.