By: Cody Bush, Associate Commissioner / Strategic Communications

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – For the second consecutive year, a Colorado School of Mines student-athlete is the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as Alex Dunagan was named the recipient of the league’s top academic award on Wednesday.

Dunagan will be recognized during the 2026 RMAC Hall of Fame & Awards Banquet on Thursday, July 9, at COS City Hub in Colorado Springs. Doors will open at 5 p.m. MT, and the induction and awards ceremony will follow promptly at 6 p.m. Tickets are available at RMACSports.org/Tickets. 

Dunagan, a baseball athlete from Cypress, Texas, completed his collegiate career this May with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering while maintaining a 4.00 GPA. He was named the RMAC Baseball Academic Player of the Year and the Summit Award winner at the RMAC Baseball Championship in 2026 and is a two-time First Team Academic All-RMAC selection (2025 and 2026).

On the field, he batted .346 with 25 doubles, 12 home runs, and 73 RBI over 54 games. He earned all-tournament honors at the RMAC Baseball Championship, leading the Orediggers to the championship game. Dunagan was tied for the Division II lead with 25 doubles and ranked No. 23 in RBI, leading the RMAC in both categories. He finished his career ranked among Colorado School of Mines’ career Top 20 in both doubles and slugging percentage.

Dunagan becomes the fourth Orediggers’ student-athlete to claim the league’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor. He joins Gokul Natesan, the league’s first Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2016-17, 2022-23 recipient Duncan Fuehne, and 2024-25 honoree Hunter Potrykus.

Along with Dunagan, 13 RMAC student-athletes were nominated for the 2025-26 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor: Adam State University’s Benjamin Tonnessen, Black Hills State University’s Cam Lowe, Colorado Christian University’s Matthew Storer, Colorado Mesa University’s Izaak Siefken, Chadron State College’s Brodie Eisenbraun, Colorado State University Pueblo’s Zach Rakowsky, Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Nick McNeil, New Mexico Highlands University’s Ivan Smith, South Dakota Mines’ Owen Johnson, University of Colorado Colorado Springs’ Nick Walker, Western Colorado University’s Chance Wiening, and Westminster University’s Benjamin Weber.

The RMAC Male & Female Scholar-Athlete Awards are the highest academic honors bestowed by the conference. A student-athlete must have completed at least two academic terms at a member institution while maintaining a 3.50 cumulative grade-point average, and participated in an RMAC-sponsored championship sport.

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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