By: A.J. Vazquez, Strategic Communications & Marketing Intern

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –  Colorado Christian University graduate student Matthew Storer is the 2026 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Academic Athlete of the Year, leading a 25-member First Team Academic All-RMAC Team as selected by the league’s athletic communication directors. 

Storer claims the conference’s highest academic honor in men’s outdoor track and field after entering the season with a perfect 4.00 grade-point average in his Master of Business Administration program and a 3.713 undergraduate GPA at Colorado Christian. Earlier this year, he also earned the RMAC Indoor Track & Field Academic Athlete of the Year award. 

The Colorado Springs, Colorado, product closed his season with a Second-Team All-America finish in the 10,000-meter run at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championship. At the Bryan Clay Invitational, Storer recorded a personal-best time of 29:33.14 in the 10,000 meters. He concludes his career as an eight-time All-American and a three-time Academic All-RMAC selection. 

The 25-member First Team Academic All-RMAC squad features five familiar faces. Chase Brown (Colorado Mesa University), Izaak Siefken (Colorado Mesa), Jon Sweepe (Colorado State University Pueblo), and Tim Thompson (Colorado School of Mines) repeated as Academic All-RMAC honorees.  

In addition, the RMAC recognized 212 student-athletes, including the 25 First Team Academic All-RMAC honorees, on its 2026 Men’s Outdoor 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.   

2026 Men’s Outdoor Track & Field First Team Academic All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
(as selected by RMAC athletics communications directors)
Student-Athlete	School	Class	GPA	Major	Hometown
Matthew Storer(1, 3x)	Colorado Christian	Gr.	3.71	Business Administration	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Caleb McLeod	CSU Pueblo	So.	3.88	Pre-Business	Fife, Scotland
Xavier Freeman	CSU Pueblo	Jr.	3.80	Construction Management	Pueblo, Colorado
Chase Brown (1)	Colorado Mesa	RJr.	4.00	Civil Engineering	Bloomingdale, Michigan
Izaak Siefken (1)	Colorado Mesa	RSr.	3.80	Mechanical Engineering	Broomfield, Colorado
Michael Roberts	UCCS	Sr.	3.87	Business	Arvada, Colorado
Jonah Fallon	Colorado School of Mines	RJr.	3.86	Computer Science	Batavia, Illinois
KJ McInnis	UCCS	RJr.	3.73	Digital Media	Denver, Colorado
Garrett Mackey	Colorado School of Mines	RSo.	3.90	Mechanical Engineering	Portland, Oregon
Joseph Impellitteri	UCCS	RJr.	3.76	Communications	Hebron, Kentucky
Owen Johnson	South Dakota Mines	So.	4.00	Chemical Engineering	Lakeville, Minnesota
Jon Sweepe (1)	CSU Pueblo	So.	3.88	Construction Management	Peoria, Arizona
Jeremiah Vaille	Colorado School of Mines	RSr.	3.73	Civil Engineering	Dillon, Colorado
Klay Grant	Colorado Christian	Sr.	3.99	English	Muskegon, Michigan
Tim Thompson(1)	Colorado School of Mines	Sr.	3.71	Quantitative Biosciences and Engineering	Fort Collins, Colorado
Caleb Christensen	Chadron State	Jr.	3.94	Mathematics	Guernsey, Wyoming
Tim Anstett	CSU Pueblo	Jr.	3.72	Business Management	Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Braden Struhs	Colorado School of Mines	RJr.	3.59	Environmental Engineering	Parker, Colorado
Dillon Arvayo	UCCS	Sr.	3.96	Business	Tucson, Arizona
Juan Rosales	Adams State	Sr.	3.79	Sociology	Murrieta, California
Felipe Castro Engel	CSU Pueblo	Sr.	3.90	Exercise Science	Santiago, Chile
Brock Drengenberg	Colorado School of Mines	RSr.	3.50	Environmental Science	Dixon, Illinois
Kale Edmonds	Colorado Christian	Sr.	3.99	History: Secondary Education	Gretna, New England
Merek Ranstrom	South Dakota Mines	Jr.	3.65	MechanicalEngineering	Fort Collins, Colorado
Aidan Brownell	Colorado Mesa	So.	3.61	Business Administration	LaSalle, Colorado
Notes: Gold background indicates RMAC Academic Player of the Year.  A (1) indicates the student-athlete was a 2024-25 First Team Academic All-RMAC honoree, and a 3x or 4x indicates the student-athlete is a three-time or four-time First Team Academic All-RMAC selection.

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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