The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference track and field coaches voted Chadron State College sophomore star Isaac Grimes the Men’s Field Athlete of the Year for the 2019 outdoor track and field season, among its major awards released Thursday. The award comes back to back with the equivalent one he earned in the indoor track and field season earlier this spring.
The Moreno Valey, California, native led NCAA Division II in the men’s long jump, from March 30 through the conference championship meet, with a leap of 7.74 meters first, then 7.80 meters (25-07.25) one week later. He also led the conference rankings in the event by more than a foot and a half. Grimes’ winning jump of 7.57 meters (24-10) at the 2019 RMAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships was still further than any other athlete in the league this season.
Grimes also competed as the second leg of the CSC men’s 4×100 relay team which finished seventh..
Also announced were the All-RMAC First Team and Second Team earned by virtue of place finishes at the conference meet. First Team All-RMAC consists of the top three individual finishers from each event at the championships, as well as the first-place relay teams. Second Team All-RMAC consists of the fourth, fifth and sixth place individual finishers, along with the second-place relay teams.
CSC’s women earning First Team all-conference honors were Fountain, Colorado’s Chasidy Horton and Cheyenne, Wyoming’s Allie Williamson. Horton set a new personal best and NCAA provisional mark in the women’s heptathlon with 4,564 points to finish as runner-up. Wiliamson took bronze by hitting her season-best high jump of 1.60 meters (5-03).
Michelle Carbajal of Gypsum, Colorado, earned her fifth career all-conference honor by going 11.26 meters (36-11.50) in the women’s triple jump to take sixth.
For the men, freshman Brodie Roden of Riverton, Wyoming, and junior Javan Lanier from Aurora, Colorado, join Grimes on the All-RMAC First Team. Roden was third in the 200 meters in 21.85 seconds, while also earning a Second Team spot in the 100 meters with a fifth-place time of 10.86 seconds. Lanier placed third in the men’s long jump by going 7.10 meters (23-03.50).
Freshmen Brock Voth of Berthoud, Colorado, and Joss Linse of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, both earned Second Team certificates in the men’s triple jump, finishing fourth and sixth, respectively.
The other RMAC Athletes of the Year selected were Deshon Elcock of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs for men’s track, Skylyn Webb of UCCS for women’s track and Colorado School of Mines’ Gina Coleman for women’s field.
The men’s Freshman of the Year award went to Mines’ Luke Julian. Kyla Sawvell of Black Hills State was the top rookie for the women.
The RMAC Coaches of the Year were conference champions Matt Sparks for his men’s team and Ross Fellows for the UCCS women.
Grimes will continue his season at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships, in Kingsville, Texas, May 23-25.