COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. --- On Friday afternoon ahead of the RMAC Cross Country Championships, the Conference announced its selections for the Summit Award.
 
The RMAC Summit Awards are presented to student-athletes with the highest cumulative GPA that are also competing at the site of the finals for their sport's championship. All GPAs are based on a straight-grading scale to ensure consistency among nominees. All ties are broken by the total number of credit hours completed through the most recently concluded semester.
 
To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be a sophomore or above, who have participated in their sport at their institution for at least two years. Student-athletes must be active members of their teams, traveling and competing at the RMAC championship event. Graduate students are not eligible to win the award.
 
Margaret Thompson from the Hardrocker Women's Cross-Country team was selected as the Women's Summit Award winner after holding a 4.0 GPA as a mechanical engineering major. Thompson has had success beyond just the classroom, making appearances at the 2019 RMAC Championship and the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championship in 2019. In 2021 she finished in 6^th at the Gage McSpadden Memorial invite held by Black Hills State with a time of 6:49.2. More recently at the Fort Hays State Tiger Open, Margaret recorded a personal best time of 20:44.6.

Head coach Steve Johnson added, "we're very excited for Margaret, she is one of the hardest working student-athletes I've had the privilege to coach and is very deserving."

Thompson will be honored Saturday, Oct. 23 upon the conclusion of the 2021 RMAC Championships, which are set to be hosted by the Colorado School of Mines at Applewood Golf Course in Golden, Colo. For the press release from the RMAC and for more information on the championship events, visit the pages linked above.
 
About South Dakota Mines
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 11 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.