COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) announced the 2025 women'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 tenth at the RMAC Cross Country Championships, totaling 315 points, then a couple weeks later finished 13^th in the NCAA Division II Cross Country South Central Regional with 399 points. In this year's preseason poll, the Yellow Jackets are predicted tenth with 87 points in the vote by the leagues' coaches.
 
The Yellow Jackets return their top-3 runners from last season's regional meet and bring back five of the seven runners that competed in that race. Evie Boyd, who was the lead runner for the Green & Gold in the finale last year, posted a career-best 6K time of 22:17.8 at the RMAC Cross Country Championships, and notched a career-best 4K time of 15:31.1 in the season-opening Gage McSpadden Memorial Invite. Krieger, who joins Boyd as an upperclassman on this year's squad, ran her fastest career 6K at the UAH Chargers Invite with a time of 22:40.1 as she placed 80^th in the field of 272 athletes. Rounding out the top trio for Black Hills State, is Emma Hofmeister, who is coming off a strong freshman campaign that included a pair of top-10 finishes. Hofmeister was the top finisher for BHSU at the RMAC Championships as she ran a season-best 6K time of 22:14.9. Other notable returners for the Yellow Jackets include Gracie Craig and Abigail Robberson.
 
Black Hills State will welcome seven newcomers this season, including the duo of Nicole Clark and Abby Hardersen who will each look to make an early impact. Clark was a 3-time state qualifier for Natrona County High School, as she posted a seventh place finish in the WHSAA Class 4A Cross Country Championship in both 2022 and 2023 with times of 19:46.29 and 19:52.9 respectively. She closed out her senior season with an 11^th place finish at the state meet with a time of 20:08.3. Hardersen will arrive in Spearfish as a 4-time state qualifier for Kildeer High School in North Dakota, where she posted three top-20 finishes. As both a sophomore and a senior she cracked the top-15 of the NDHSAA Class B Cross Country Championship, notching a time of 20:36.5 for 15^th in 2022 and 20:19.1 for 13^th in 2024.
 

2025 RMAC Women's Cross Country Preseason Coaches' Poll
Rank	Team (1st-2nd-3rd)	Points
1.	Adams State (13-1-0)	195
2.	Colorado School of Mines (0-9-2)	170
3.	CSU Pueblo (1-2-7)	160
T-4.	Western Colorado (1-0-3)	156
T-4.	UCCS (0-3-1)	156
6.	Fort Lewis	122
7.	Colorado Mesa	113
8.	Colorado Christian (0-0-2)	112
9.	MSU Denver	89
10.	Black Hills State	87
11.	South Dakota Mines	59
12.	Chadron State	55
13.	New Mexico Highlands	45
14.	Regis	40
15.	Westminster	16