COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Adams State University senior Lieke Hoogsteen is the 2025-26 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Academic Athlete of the Year, leading a 25-member First Team Academic All-RMAC Team as selected by the league’s athletic communication directors. 
 
Hoogsteen claims the conference’s highest academic honor in women’s indoor track and field after entering the season with a 3.99 GPA as a Cellular and Molecular Biology major at Adams State. This is Hoogsteen’s second consecutive year earning an Academic All-RMAC distinction. 
 
The Mymegen, Netherlands, native capped her final indoor track & field season with a strong campaign, solidifying herself as one of the top middle-distance runners in the nation. Hoogsteen earned her first indoor track & field conference crown by winning the 800-meter. She finished with a commanding 4-second advantage over the rest of the field, clocking 2:07.74 at 7,723 feet of elevation. The three-time indoor All-American then ran to her first national championship, clocking an 800-meter time of 2:04.73. She also took third place in the distance medley relay with teammates Isila Apkup, Marie Garrett, and Maggie McCleskey, finishing in 11:28.26. 
 
The 25-member First Team Academic All-RMAC group saw seven familiar faces. Colorado School of Mines senior Margaux Basart and Western Colorado University senior Allison Beasley earned their third Indoor Track & Field Academic All-RMAC distinction. Colorado State University Pueblo junior Jadyn Herron, Colorado School of Mines redshirt senior Grace Strongman, Fort Lewis College senior Hannah Hartwell, Colorado Mesa University junior Autumn McQuitty, and Adams State senior Maggie McCleskey earned their second Academic All-RMAC distinction. 
 
In addition, the RMAC recognized 197 student-athletes, including the 25 First Team Academic All-RMAC honorees, on its 2025-26 Women’s Indoor Track and Field 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 participated in a season of competition.  
 
Each institution’s athletic communications directors nominate student-athletes who maintain at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average. The nominees must also meet the other criteria for the Academic Honor Roll. These student-athletes are considered for 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 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.