CMU Athletics Recap Look Forward to Spring
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted so many facets of life including the sporting world and CMU athletics. CMU’s athletic department, working within NCAA and RMAC guidance, evolved operational recommendations specific to use of athletic facilities, testing, signage and integration of campus-wide protocols this past fall to keep student-athletes safe and on the field when possible.
Moving into the spring, flexibility and adaptability will continue to be key. Maverick fans are encouraged to stay up-to-date with the latest information, including attendance protocols, on cmumavericks.com and the CMU athletic social media channels.
Fall Sports
Men’s & Women’s Golf
Due to the socially-distanced nature of the sport, the Maverick men’s and women’s golf teams had the most “normal” season of any CMU athletic program. As in previous years, golf is split between fall and springs seasons. In the fall, both teams played in three tournaments. The men recorded a pair of second place finishes and a third place finish while the women finished second, third and fourth in their outings.
Both squads will resume in March with other regular season tournaments leading into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) championship, slated for Apr. 19-21. The Mavericks will hope to qualify for their respective NCAA tournaments held in May.
Football
The RMAC canceled the 2020 football schedule, but let individual institutions schedule games at their discretion. The Mavericks were one of four teams in the RMAC and one of about ten in all of Division II that played in the fall. The Mavericks went 2-1 in their season, including an overtime win over Chadron State in their home season-opener on Oct. 10, which was also the first game played under new Head Coach Tremaine Jackson. Two other fall season games were canceled due to rising COVID-19 case counts at the state and national level.
Cross Country
Cross Country was another sport that was able to compete, although it was in a limited fashion compared to a “normal” year. The Mavericks competed in two regular season meets, hosting the Maverick Open at Lincoln Park Golf Course on Oct. 10. They then competed at the RMAC Championships two weeks later. Based on their finish at the conference meet, the Maverick men as a team and two women’s individuals qualified for the NCAA D2 XC Invitational in Lubbock, Texas. This invitational was a pseudo-replacement for the regional and national meets, which were canceled. The Maverick men took second as a team and ended up eighth in the final national rankings. Kira MacGill led the Maverick women and was named as the RMAC Freshman of the Year.
Volleyball & Soccer
The RMAC moved the volleyball and soccer seasons to the spring semester. The volleyball team will begin their campaign on Jan. 24 and will play one or two matches each week leading into the RMAC Championships, which will be held Apr. 8-11. All matches will be against RMAC opponents. Many of their matches will be contested in 3-team pod formats. The Mavericks will play a total of five home matches.
The men’s & women’s soccer teams, who will have new head coaches in Jon Fridal (men’s) and Megan Remec (women’s), will also have abbreviated conference-only schedules beginning in March. The women currently have ten games on the schedule, five of which will be at home. The men’s team has six scheduled games, including three at home. The RMAC Tournaments will begin on Apr. 20.
The NCAA volleyball and soccer championship tournaments have been canceled.
Winter Sports
CMU’s winter sports include basketball, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, and wrestling, all of which have been impacted significantly at varying levels by the pandemic. The NCAA has reduced the number of championship qualifiers, but the details vary by sport.
Basketball
The number of permitted contests was reduced to 22 games (from 26) and the Mavericks are playing a conference-only schedule, which began in December. Teams must play a minimum of 11 games in order to be eligible for the RMAC and NCAA tournaments and the Mavericks are well on track to meet that number. To date, the Maverick men are off to a 7-0 start and are ranked ninth nationally. The CMU women are a RMAC-best 7-1 and are receiving votes in the national poll.
Wrestling
The Maverick men hosted a triangular in early December and resumed their season with two dual-meet wins in Hays, Kansas, last weekend. They begin a stretch of RMAC duals this Saturday hosting Adams State University and are looking forward to the NCAA Regionals on Feb. 27 at Adams State. The location of the national tournament is yet to be determined, but will be with a reduced bracket size.
The CMU women begin their abbreviated season this weekend with a trip to South Carolina and Tennessee, and are planning to host Jan. 29-30. The WCWC National Championships are slated for March 5-6 in Adrian, Michigan. The NCAA does not sponsor women’s wrestling as a championship sport yet.
Swimming & Diving
The season has been ever-changing. After a 4-week delay from the normal early October start, the Maverick women were able to get two dual meets in before the holiday break but like their male counterparts, saw their traditional pre-Thanksgiving A3 Performance Invitational canceled. Both teams did resume their season this past weekend at Air Force and have meets scheduled at BYU and Utah later this month. The Mavericks will then host the RMAC Championships from Feb. 17-20 at the El Pomar Natatorium. Like other winter RMAC Championships, fans will not be admitted. The NCAA Championships, which will be reduced in size, are slated for Mar. 17-20 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Indoor Track & Field
The Mavericks have yet to compete, but are planning to compete in two small meets in February at UCCS and Western Colorado University leading up to the Feb. 26-27 RMAC Championships in Gunnison. The NCAA Championships are slated for Mar. 12-13 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Spring Sports
Other than a slight reduction in the permitted number of contests, the spring sports are planning for a mostly “normal” season.
Baseball/Softball
The Maverick baseball team will begin their season with a non-conference weekend home game against Northwest Nazarene at Suplizio Field. The Mavericks begin a 36-game RMAC schedule on March 5 at Adams State University while the RMAC Tournament is scheduled to begin on May 12 with the NCAA Tournament slated to begin May 20.
The softball team is set for a RMAC-only 40-game regular season beginning Feb. 27 at MSU Denver. Twenty of those games are slated at home in the traditional 2-day, 4-game series weekend scheduling format. The RMAC Tournament is slated for May 6-8 at the highest seed and the NCAA tournaments begin a week later.
Lacrosse
The CMU women’s lacrosse team, which will be under the direction of new Head Coach Shannon McHale, will begin their season on March 14 with their first of three non-conference games at home against Colorado College. They will begin RMAC play on March 27 while the RMAC Tournament will be held May 7-9.
The men’s lacrosse team, which was an undefeated 7-0 before the rest of the 2020 season was canceled, will begin the 2021 season on the road with a few non-conference games. They begin RMAC play on April 3 and will play four of their final five regular season games at home. The RMAC Tournament is May 7-8.
Tennis
Although most of the fall season was canceled, the Maverick tennis teams did play in an early October scrimmage in Denver and several players played as individuals in an ITA Tour event later that month.
They will begin what looks to be a busy spring on Feb. 5 in Nebraska and have a comprehensive schedule of regional opponents at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels. As a new member to the PacWest for the sport, they hope to meet a few PacWest opponents during the regular season and qualify for the PacWest Tournament, slated for Apr. 21-24 and the NCAA Tournament in May.
Beach Volleyball
The exact schedule has yet to be determined, but the Mavericks plan to open the season in late February.
Outdoor Track & Field
The exact schedule has not been determined, but after the Mavericks wrap-up the abbreviated indoor schedule they plan to compete in several meets leading into the RMAC Championships, slated for Apr. 30-May 2 at CSU-Pueblo and the NCAA Division II Championships in Allendale, Michigan, scheduled for May 27-29.