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  • Metro State volleyball wins Division II national title, program’s first and fifth in school history

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    Auraria’s court queens rule Division II.

    Metro State volleyball won the national title on Saturday, beating Concordia-St. Paul 3-1 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It’s the first Division II national championship for the program, and the fifth overall for Metro State, which also claimed men’s basketball crowns in 1999-2000 and 2001-02 as well as women’s soccer titles in 2004 and ’06.

    The Roadrunners capped their magical season by beating Concordia-St. Paul 25-22, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21. Megan Hagar (18 kills) and Brooke Gennerman (16) led the way offensively, while the Roadrunners defense racked up 17 blocks.

    Hagar, who also had a team-high 18 digs, finished off the dramatic final point with a thunderous kill to clinch the title. Hagar stepped up to fill the void left by the injury to MSU Denver star outside hitter Annika Helf in the Elite Eight.

    Mia Accomazzo also contributed 13 digs, Kryssa Moerman and Karyna Werley both had 5 blocks each, GabriElle Brewer lead the team with 29 assists and Werley had 25 in a balanced team effort that showed off MSU Denver’s depth.

    Winning the national title punctuated this year’s postseason breakthrough for Metro State, which had lost in the regional final each of the prior four seasons. And it underscored the impact of head coach Jenny Glenn, a 45-year-old Granby native and Middle Park High School alum.

    In her 10 seasons leading the Roadrunners, Glenn is 252-53. Her theme this season of “true identity” — in which the coach emphasized the positive traits of each player that were unrelated to winning or losing on the court — allowed MSU Denver to play relaxed in the most pressure-packed matches of the year.

    Since losing to Colorado School of Mines on Oct. 3, the Roadrunners ripped off 23 straight matches to close the season, setting a program record with 32 wins. In Sioux Falls, MSU Denver beat Wingate in a five-set thriller in Thursday’s Elite Eight and ended Tampa’s undefeated season in Friday’s Final Four before triumphing over Concordia-St. Paul in the title.

    Metro State’s feat is the first national championship in volleyball for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

    This story will be updated.

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    Kyle Newman

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  • Colorado Mines football runs wild in blowout win over Adams State

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    The Colorado School of Mines football program of recent vintage returned to Golden on Saturday afternoon.

    Looking like the program that played in back-to-back NCAA Division II championship games, the Orediggers piled up 763 yards of offense en route to a dominant 72-14 victory over Adams State at Marv Kay Stadium.

    Quarterback Joseph Capra threw six touchdown passes in the first half, and Mines rumbled for 481 rushing yards to move to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in RMAC play ahead of a trip to unbeaten Western Colorado next week.

    Max Barnes carried the ball 18 times for 201 yards and one touchdown, and Columbine High grad Josh Snyder had 109 yards and a score on 12 carries in the Orediggers’ second straight win.

    Pierce Richards hauled in three of Capra’s first-half TD passes, and the sixth went to Blake Smotherman from 3 yards out to give Mines a 49-14 lead going into the break. Capra finished with 226 yards on 14-of-18 passing with zero interceptions and no sacks.

    Mines scored touchdowns on each of its first 10 possessions, and tacked on a field goal on the 11th.

    The Orediggers will need more of that next week when they head to Gunnison to face the fifth-ranked Mountaineers (7-0, 5-0), who hammered South Dakota Mines, 34-13, in Rapid City, S.D., on Saturday. Western Colorado has yet to beat a team by fewer than 17 points this season and now gets Mines, CSU Pueblo (7-1, 6-0) and Chadron State (6-2, 6-0) in a critical stretch in the RMAC title chase.

    RMAC football

    Saturday’s scores

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    Matt Schubert

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  • Colorado Mesa stuns Colorado Mines football with last-minute touchdown to retain Nyikos Cup

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    The Nyikos Cup is headed back to Grand Junction.

    Colorado Mesa quarterback Cole Hansen found running back Brandon Belgrave for a 13-yard scoring pass on fourth down with 11 seconds to go, and the Mavericks hung on to claim a stunning 28-24 victory over Colorado School of Mines at Marv Kay Stadium on Saturday.

    It marked the second straight win for the Mavericks (2-3, 1-2 RMAC) in the rivalry series following last year’s dramatic 14-13 victory in Grand Junction. The Orediggers dropped to 3-2 and 1-2 in RMAC play with the loss.

    The winning score was part of a monster day for Belgrave, as the former Lutheran High star carried the ball 24 times for 213 yards and two touchdowns. Mesa rumbled for 385 yards on the ground, with Aiden Taylor adding 111 yards on 16 carries and Arapahoe High’s Hansen going for 54 yards on six carries.

    That was enough to negate an efficient afternoon from Mines quarterback Joseph Capra. The Denver South alum completed 22 of 28 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for 90 yards on eight carries.

    Capra started off hot, hooking up with Aksel Richard and Nick Stone for touchdown passes on back-to-back drives to give Mines a 14-3 lead with 13:00 left in the second quarter. After Mesa pulled to within a point going into halftime, tailback Braelon Tate scored from 3 yards out to push Mines’ advantage to 21-13 with 2:15 left in the third quarter.

    Belgrave’s second rushing touchdown on the day brought the Mavs to within two with 12:56 left, and his two-point conversion run knotted the score at 21-all.

    Jackson Zimmermann’s interception in the Orediggers’ end zone appeared to turn the tide for Mines. The Orediggers took the ball the other way for a 31-yard go-ahead field goal from Preston Kyle with 1:56 left. But Mesa answered with a 12-play, 75-yard march that ended with the Mavs rolling the dice on fourth-and-3 rather than kicking a game-tying field goal — a gamble that paid off with Hansen to Belgrave for the win.

    RMAC football

    Saturday’s scores

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    Matt Schubert

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  • Colorado Mesa hands Colorado Mines first RMAC loss in three years with stunning fourth-quarter rally

    Colorado Mesa hands Colorado Mines first RMAC loss in three years with stunning fourth-quarter rally

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    The Colorado School of Mines football team’s three-year RMAC win streak ended in the same place the last one did — inside Stocker Stadium on the Western Slope.

    Colorado Mesa quarterback Liu Aumavae threw a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, and the Mavericks rallied from 13 points down to upset fourth-ranked Mines, 14-13, and claim the Nyikos Cup on Saturday.

    A two-point conversion put the Mavericks (3-2, 2-1 RMAC) over the top, with Sam Horneck getting it done on a reverse option pass that handed Mines (4-1, 2-1 RMAC) its first RMAC loss in three years.

    The Orediggers’ last conference defeat also came at Colorado Mesa — a 26-21 loss on Oct. 23, 2021, that ended a 14-game conference win streak. Mines won 23 straight RMAC games after that en route to two NCAA Division II championship game trips. But after playing with fire in back-to-back narrow road wins to start the season, the Orediggers were unable to stave off the Mavericks on Saturday.

    Mines quarterback Evan Foster hooked up with Max McLeod for a 10-yard touchdown in the first quarter to open the scoring. McLeod finished with seven catches for 92 yards, breaking Brody Oliver’s program record of 4,010 career receiving yards in the process.

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    Matt Schubert

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