COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) recognized the top student-athletes in the sport of men's cross country on Thursday afternoon for excelling on the course and in the classroom with the release of the First Team Academic All-RMAC selections as well as the RMAC Academic Honor Roll. Representing Black Hills State among the league's First Team Academic All-RMAC selections and the RMAC Academic Honor Roll honorees was senior David Standish.
 
Standish competed in five meets during the season, recording three top-30 marks and a pair of top-10 finishes. Crossing the finish line with career-best results of sixth place, he notched 8K times of 26:06.9 and 26:51.3 respectively at the Mount Marty XC Invite and the Blue Hawk Invitational. He opened the year with a career-best 6K time of 19:47.5 at the Gage McSpadden Memorial before posting a career-best 8K time at the UAH Chargers Cross Country Invitational and ending the season with a career-best 10K time of 34:58.3 at the NCAA Division II South Central Regional as he finished 94^th overall in the 2024 finale. In the classroom Standish has accumulated a 3.99 GPA as an exercise science major.
 
The RMAC Academic Honor Roll recognizes student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport who academically maintain at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA, have completed two consecutive semesters at their current institution, and have used a season of competition.
 
Each institution's athletic communications directors nominate student-athletes who academically maintain at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average, along with the other criteria for the Academic Honor Roll, for recognition on the First Team Academic All-RMAC in each sport. The league's athletic communications directors for that sport vote to compose the First Team Academic All-RMAC and select the Academic Player of the Year. They are not permitted to vote for their own student-athletes.