Adams State athletics roared back to life during the winter months and added another national title to the Grizzlies’ name.
Stephanie Cotter, the Grizzlies outstanding All-American runner, put a punctuation on the Indoor Track & Field season by winning her second straight indoor mile title at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships held in Birmingham, Alabama.
Cotter is also the defending NCAA Division II cross country champion, a title she won in 2019 but then could not defend in 2020 after COVID-19 put a halt to the 2020 cross country season.
In addition to Cotter’s great performance in indoor track, other Grizzlies vied for national titles and the men’s basketball team kept Grizzly fans on the edge of their seats throughout the winter of COVID. All the athletes performed with no fans in the stands, watching only through the magic of live stream and the internet.
Other Winter Sports Performances
Basketball
The Grizzlies finished the basketball season 10-9, but not before qualifying for the RMAC tournament, upsetting Metro State University in the opening round before bowing out in a semifinal loss to Colorado Mesa.
Wrestling
Two Adams State grapplers, Isaiah De La Cerda and Noah Hermosillo, also put in bids for national titles after each won their respective weight division in the NCAA Super Region VI titles and moved on to compete in the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships held in St. Louis, Missouri.
De La Cerda, an Alamosa High graduate, earned NCAA All-American honors by finishing seventh in the 125-pound weight division, and Hermosillo became an NCAA All-American after finishing sixth in the 149-pound weight class at the national championships.
Track
On the indoor track, Cotter wasn’t alone in earning NCAA All-American honors.
Adams State’s men’s distance medley relay team of Alec Hall, Johan Vigil, David Cardenas and Carson Bix finished sixth to earn All-American honors.
Vigil then turned around and finished seventh in the men’s 200 meters to earn NCAA All-American honors. Other All-American performances came from men’s miler Ahmed Sado, who finished eighth in the men’s mile; and Briana Robles who made All-American after finishing sixth in the women’s 5,000-meters run.
All of Adams State’s spring sports are in full swing, and the fall sport athletes are using the spring months to prepare for Fall 2021 competitions.
