COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) announced the 2025 men's cross country preseason coaches' poll on Thursday afternoon in addition to the 2025 Preseason All-RMAC Team. A year ago, Black Hills State finished 12
th at the RMAC Cross Country Championships, totaling 312 points, then a couple weeks later finished tenth in the NCAA Division II Cross Country South Central Regional with 329 points. In this year's preseason poll, the Yellow Jackets are predicted 11
th with 67 points in the vote by the leagues' coaches.
The Yellow Jackets return each of their top-4 runners from last year's regional meet, including All-South Central Region performer
Gavin Kuhlenbeck. In 2024 Kuhlenbeck set a career-best mark at the 8K distance, running to a school-record time of 23:57.6 for fifth place at the UAH Chargers Invitational, which saw a field of 336 athletes compete. Joining the senior will also be
Turner Christians,
Dominic Eberle, and
Braik Hurm, all of which finished 76
th or better in the regional race of 162 athletes. Christians and Hurm, who both will be upperclassmen this year, each set career-best times at the 6K, 8K, and 10K distances a year ago, while Eberle worked his way into a scoring position for the Green & Gold as just a freshman last year.
The trio of
Emmett Swartzentruber,
Sean Shipp, and
Gage Kuhlenbeck, highlight a group of six newcomers for BHSU. Swartzentruber will arrive in the Black Hills as a state champion in Iowa, clinching the 2023 IHSAA Class 2A state title with a 5K time of 15:51.0 for Mid-Prarie. Shipp, a local athlete from Custer High School, helped lead the Wildcats to a fifth place team finish in the 2023 SDHSAA Class A meet with a sixth place finish and a 5K time of 16:00.17, and then a year later in 2024 his fifth place finish (16:49.99) pushed the team up to second on the podium. Kuhlenbeck, will join his older brother Gavin this upcoming season, bringing with him a resume that includes three trips to the WIAA Division I Championship in Wisconsin, where he closed out his prep cross country career with an 18
th place finish and a 5K time of 16:07.1 for Hamilton High School in 2024.
| 2025 RMAC Men's Cross Country Preseason Coaches' Poll |
| Rank |
Team (1st-2nd-3rd) |
Points |
| 1. |
Colorado School of Mines (11-2-0) |
191 |
| 2. |
Adams State (4-10-0) |
186 |
| 3. |
Western Colorado (0-2-7) |
161 |
| 4. |
UCCS (0-1-4) |
156 |
| 5. |
CSU Pueblo (0-0-1) |
131 |
| 6. |
Colorado Christian (0-0-3) |
130 |
| 7. |
Fort Lewis |
124 |
| 8. |
Colorado Mesa |
105 |
| 9. |
MSU Denver |
98 |
| 10. |
New Mexico Highlands |
70 |
| 11. |
Black Hills State |
67 |
| 12. |
South Dakota Mines |
57 |
| 13. |
Chadron State |
42 |
| 14. |
Regis |
38 |
| 15. |
Westminster |
19 |
