GUNNISON, Colo. –  The 2026 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men’s Indoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Western Colorado University, Friday-Saturday, will feature several nationally ranked competitors and teams as they battle to be crowned the best in the RMAC.

Prior to the start of the season, Colorado School of Mines was picked to win the 2026 Indoor title in a poll voted on by the league’s 13 head coaches, while defending champion University of Colorado Colorado Springs was picked to finish second. The Orediggers, seeking their first men’s Indoor Track & Field RMAC title since the 2024 season, enter the championship meet ranked No. 7 in the United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association’s NCAA Division II rankings. Other teams ranked by USTFCCCA looking to make some noise are No. 4 Adams State University and No. 10 Colorado State University Pueblo.

RMAC competitors have flooded the NCAA Division II performance list, making for a competitive weekend filled with performances from the nation’s best. 

The 2025 NCAA Division II Cross Country National Champion, Kidus Begashaw, is set to compete in the 3000-meter run on Saturday, looking to capture his first RMAC event title. Begashaw, a 2025 3000-meter All-American, currently holds the No. 1 time in the country of 7:50.1, and will compete alongside teammate Housem Hrabi who holds the No. 5 time of 7:51.5. 
CSU Pueblo’s Tim Anstett and Caleb McLeod hold the No. 4 (1:47.99) and No. 13 (1:49.48) times in the 800-meter run among Division II runners, respectively, and will compete head-to-head in the third heat of Friday’s preliminaries. In the mile, Jon Sweepe from CSU Pueblo holds the third-best time nationally of 3:48.73, while Adams State’s Louis O’Loughlin and Jack Gumm hold the No. 7 and No. 13 times of 3:59.15 and 4:01.33, respectively, and enter the championship looking for the upset. 

Chadron State College’s Chayton Bynes has excelled in the triple jump this season and currently holds the No. 1 mark in Division II and the No. 18 mark across all NCAA divisions at 16.01 meters. Black Hills State University’s Drew Lehman looks to challenge Bynes for the RMAC Triple Jump title, as he enters the meet with the No. 10 mark of 15.26 meters. Adams State’s Sam Dirkes has the top shot put mark in the conference and third best in the nation of 19.10 meters.

With some of the nation’s top track & field performers competing, the 2026 RMAC Men’s Indoor Track & Field Championship is set to be full of exciting and action-packed competition as conference titles are on the line. 
 
About the RMAC
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, headquartered in Colorado Springs, is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 institutions located in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Utah. The RMAC currently competes in 22 NCAA Division II sports and has earned 71 national championships and 53 national runners-up since 1992. Founded in 1909, the RMAC is the most historic athletic conference in the western United States and Division II.

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