By: Nash Loibl, Advanced Graduate Assistant / Strategic Communications

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – New Mexico Highlands University junior Ivan Smith Jr. is the 2025-26 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men’s Wrestling Academic Athlete of the Year, the league announced Wednesday. Smith Jr. spearheads a 10-member First Team Academic All-RMAC roster as selected by the league’s athletic communication directors.

Smith Jr. captured his first Academic Athlete of the Year honor, capping an exceptional 2025-26 season. The junior from Farmington, New Mexico, earned NCAA Division II All-American honors at 165 pounds and finished as the runner-up at NCAA Super Region VI, while also securing First Team All-RMAC recognition. He went undefeated in RMAC duals and climbed as high as No. 6 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association rankings. Smith posted an outstanding 32-3 overall record, closing the regular season on an eight-dual winning streak highlighted by three straight major decisions. Of his 32 victories, 22 came with bonus points, showing his dominance on the mat. Smith Jr. has been equally outstanding in the classroom, maintaining a 3.99 grade-point average in social work while earning 2025 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors, recognition as a 2025 NWCA Scholar-Athlete, and a place on the NMHU Dean’s List.

Smith Jr. leads a 10-member First Team Academic All-RMAC group with six of the conference’s seven men’s wrestling sponsoring institutions represented. Western Colorado’s Sage Harrison and Colorado Mesa’s Keyton Young join Smith Jr. as the lone returners on the First Team Academic All-RMAC roster. Meanwhile, Devin Gomez (Western Colorado), Juan Garcia (Colorado Mesa), Brandon Paredes (Chadron State), Brady Samuelson (Colorado Mesa), and Cody Thompson (Colorado School of Mines) all made the jump from Honor Roll to First Team.

In addition, the RMAC recognized 63 student-athletes, including the 10 First Team Academic All-RMAC honorees, on its 2025-26 Men’s Wrestling Academic Honor Roll.

The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Academic Honor Roll recognizes student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport who academically maintain at least a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average, 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.  

About the RMAC
The RMAC is a premier NCAA Division II conference located in Colorado Springs, Colo., with 15 member institutions. The RMAC sponsors 22 varsity NCAA sports and has produced 65 NCAA Division II national champions and 54 national runners-up since 1992.