COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Seniors Nate Mann and Lydia Peters were the first across the line for the Chadron State men's and women's cross country teams as the Eagle women placed 12th at the RMAC Cross Country Championships while the men's team placed 13th.

The Chadron State women's team recorded 386 points and equaled their 12th-place finish from last year's meet, which itself had been the program's highest since 2017. The men scored 357 points, and their 13th-place finish is one spot higher than at least year's championships and equals the program's place from 2023.

Redshirt senior and Queen Creek, Arizona native Nate Mann, who made his return to the RMAC Championships after utilizing a redshirt year last season, was the Eagles' top placer on the day, crossing the line 56th and scoring 50 team points by running the men's 8K race in 26:20.06. 

The women's team ran closely together, with all five scoring runners placing in the top 85 and four Eagles scoring between 76-85 points. Peters ran out in front of the main Eagle pack to finish the 6K women's race in 23:33.4, crossing the line 71st and scoring 62 team points for CSC. 

The group of Eagle scoring runners included Samantha Rodewald, last season's top RMAC finisher who crossed the 2025 race in 24:02.48 for 76 points and 86th place, as well as Kyndall Carnahan (24:19.06, 93rd, 81 points), Katelyn Beshara (24:19.07, 94th, 82 points), and Izabella Miller (24:29.42, 97th, 85 points).

Behind Mann, Sheridan, Wyoming's Blaine Johnson was the CSC men's No. 2 runner on the day, finishing 68th for 60 scoring points and a time of 26:41.00. Mann and Johnson both set new collegiate best times at the 8K distance. 

Freshman Kaden Boltz was the third Eagle runner to finish, taking 79th place for 71 scoring points and running the distance in 27:03.74. There was some distance between Boltz and the rest of the male Eagle runners, with Adam Beard a minute behind in 28:17.76, good for 103rd place and 86 team points. Boady Hunter, one of two true freshmen in CSC's top five along with Boltz, crossed in 28:45.40 for 108th place and 89th place. 

Other CSC athletes who competed but did not factor into team scoring were: on the men's side, Miles Mitchell (28:56.06), Mizaiha Babers Webb (30.04.81), Andrew Walsh (30:40.86) and David West (34:32.0), and on the women's side, Paige Kehmeier (25:12.89), Ivy Hise (25:20.66) and Zelma Rudd. Both races had a total of 125 competitors.

Next up for most of the Eagles is the NCAA South Central Regional Championships in Pueblo, Colorado on Saturday, November 8. Some of CSC's roster may compete in the Bauer XC Classic next Saturday, November 1. At regionals, Chadron State will be competing in the hopes of qualifying either a team or an individual for the NCAA National Championships on November 22 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Eagle VB Quieted By Hardrockers

CHADRON, Neb. – With a rare one-match weekend, Chadron State volleyball fell short against regional rivals South Dakota Mines in an RMAC conference game Saturday night, with the Hardrockers winning by set scores of 25-19, 25-20, 25-15 in the Chicoine Center. 

Kally Kirkwood had seven kills, tied for the team lead, on an errorless 13 attempts for a .538 hitting percentage and also shared the team lead with two blocks on the night. Mataya Ward (.040, 25 attempts) and Shelby Harding (.278, 18 attempts) also had seven kills apiece for the Eagles, with Harding tallying the second-most kills in one match of her career.

Rylee Ward and Jillian Donovan shared the team lead with nine digs while Harding had seven. Alejandra Briseno played in every set of the match for the first time in three weeks and contributed a season-high six digs. 

The loss, which is CSC's second of the season to the Hardrockers, extends the Eagles' current losing streak to eight games and drops CSC's record to 4-16 overall and 1-9 in the RMAC. South Dakota Mines improved to 7-13 overall and rallied back to .500 at 5-5 in conference play. 

In the first set, South Dakota Mines won the first three points of the match before Chadron tied it up with two Hardrocker errors sandwiched around an Avery Lacy ace. The teams then began alternating points as the Hardrockers and Eagles were tied at every point score between 3-3 and 12-12.

South Dakota Mines landed the big punch with a 5-0 run that established a 16-12 lead. After the Eagles closed the deficit to two at 18-16, SDM outscored Chadron State 7-3 the rest of the way to close the first set. 

Chadron State made the first move to try to even the match score, taking a 7-4 lead after back-to-back kills from Shelby Harding, who had four of her seven match kills in set number two. 

A third Harding kill plus an SDM attack error gave CSC its biggest lead at 10-6, but the Hardrockers rallied to tie the score for the first time at 13-13 and took the lead for the first time at 16-15, then hammered home seven kills out of their last eight points to win the second set. 

The Hardrockers were motivated to finish in the minimum three, racing out to an 11-2 advantage in the third set. One of the two CSC points during that Hardrocker run was a kill from true freshman Sydney Strode, a Parker, Colorado native who was part of the starting lineup in the third set for the first collegiate action of her career. 

The Eagles showed some fight, winning five straight points, including two kills from senior Natali Keni, but the Hardrockers responded with a 5-1 run to take back control and comfortably saw out the rest of the match with a 25-15 third-set win. 

South Dakota Mines had the statistical edge in kills (45-31), digs (52-49) and aces (7-2). They hit .304 for the match and hit .290 or better in all three sets while Chadron State hit .154 as a team, with a match-best .250 in set number two. 

Chadron State will play two matches next weekend while the Chicoine Center will host three as Chadron will be the location of an RMAC "Power Pod." The Eagles will face Black Hills State on Thursday, October 30 and New Mexico Highlands on Saturday, November 1, with the Yellow Jackets and Cowgirls facing one another in Chadron in between on Halloween night.